Fort Durham, also known as Fort Taku, Taku, Taco, and Tacouw, is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

near Taku Harbor, Alaska, within the limits of Juneau City and Borough and Tongass National Forest. It was one of three

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC) posts set up in

Russian America Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. The Fort Durham Site was declared a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1978.

Background

In 1834 the HBC tried to establish a post on the

Stikine River The Stikine River ( ) is a major river in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. Flowing west and ...

, British rights to which had been one of the terms of the Russo-British Treaty of 1825. However, the effort was blocked by employees of the Russian American Company (RAC), on the orders of Governor Ferdinand von Wrangel. Several years were spent by the HBC attempting to seek financial compensation from the RAC in response to be being blocked access from the Stikine River. Late in 1838 the Imperial Russian Government ordered the RAC to settle their dispute with HBC, eventually leading to the signing of the RAC-HBC Agreement in early 1839. One of the main terms was a ten-year lease of what is today the

Alaska Panhandle Southeast Alaska, often abbreviated to southeast or southeastern, and sometimes called the Alaska(n) panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian provi ...

. The HBC was guaranteed the right to establish posts, hunt, and trade furs along the coast in exchange for furnishing

with provisions and various food supplies.

Creation

Taking advantage of the agreement's terms immediately, the HBC sent James Douglas north in the ''

Beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

'' in 1840. Douglas explored the

Taku River The Taku River (Tlingit language, Lingít: ''T'aaḵu Héeni'') is a river running from British Columbia, Canada, to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska. The river basin spreads across . The Taku is a very productive salmon ...

and built Fort Durham (or Taku) on the coast just south of the river's mouth. He also took possession of Redoubt San Dionisio (Fort Saint Dionysius), which lay off the mouth of the Stikine River on Etolin Island, near today's

Wrangell, Alaska Wrangell (, ) is a List of boroughs and census areas in Alaska, borough in Alaska, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 2,127, down from 2,369 in 2010. Incorporated as a consolidated city–county ...

(and renamed it Fort Stikine), which the Russians had agreed to transfer to the HBC under the 1839 lease agreement.

Closure

In 1841 the HBC governor George Simpson ordered Fort Durham and other coastal posts closed, because the ''Beaver'' was able to conduct the coastal fur trade without the need for more than the single permanent post of Fort Simpson. The HBC closed operations at Fort Durham in 1843. The majority of the 8 Hawaiian

Kanakas Kanakas were workers (a mix of voluntary and Blackbirding, involuntary) from various Pacific Islands employed in British Empire, British colonies, such as British Columbia (Canada), Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Queen ...

employees at Fort Durham were reassigned to Fort Victoria.Koppel, Tom. ''Kanaka, the Untold Story of Hawaiian Pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.'' Vancouver, B.C.: Whitcap Books. 1995, p. 54.

References

{{authority control 1840 establishments in the British Empire Juneau, Alaska Durham Former populated places in Alaska Pre-Confederation British Columbia Durham National Historic Landmarks in Alaska Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska National Register of Historic Places in Juneau, Alaska

Background

Creation

Closure

See also

References