Fort McPherson ( Gwich'in: ''Teetł'it Zheh'' , ''at the head of the waters'') is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

located in the

Inuvik Region The Inuvik Region or ''Beaufort Delta Region'' is one of List of regions of the Northwest Territories, five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. According to Municipal and Community Affairs the region consists of eig ...

of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Peel River and is south of

Inuvik Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the List of municipalities in the Northwest Territories, third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Re ...

on the

Dempster Highway The Dempster Highway, also referred to as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories Highway 8, is a highway in Canada that connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. The highway crosses t ...

. The

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

people who make up the majority are

Gwichʼin The Gwichʼin (or Kutchin or Loucheux) are an Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking First Nations in Canada, First Nations people of Canada and an Alaskan Athabaskans, Alaska Native people. They live in the northwestern part of North America ...

(Teetł'it Gwich'in) and the two principal languages spoken are

and English. Originally the site of a

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 ...

post the community was named for Murdoch McPherson. Most people have vehicles and regularly make trips to either Inuvik, or

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

History

Fort McPherson was the starting point of

Francis Joseph Fitzgerald Francis Joseph Fitzgerald (12 April 1869 – 11 February 1911) was a Canadian who became a celebrated Boer War veteran and the first commander of the Royal North-West Mounted Police detachment at Herschel Island in the Western Arctic (1903). F ...

's famous tragic journey of "The Lost Patrol". All four men on the Patrol, including Fitzgerald, were buried at Fort McPherson on 28 March 1911. In 1938, the graves were cemented over into one large tomb (to the right of the flag pole in above image), with cement posts at the four corners connected by a chain. In the centre is a memorial to the

Royal Northwest Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory ...

Patrol of 1910.

National Historic Site

In 1969, the area comprising the boundaries of the community of Fort McPherson, as it was mapped in 1898, was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

, in recognition of the fact that the site had served as the principal

trading post in the MacKenzie Delta region for over 50 years, and had been the first

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...

post in the

Western Arctic Northwest Territories () is a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada. The electoral district covers the entire territory. This riding was created in 1962 from Mackenzie River riding. It was composed of the ...

Transportation

Fort McPherson is accessible by road all year from

Dawson City Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...

and

, with the exception of spring break-up and fall freeze-up on the Peel River. The community also has access to Inuvik via the Dempster Highway and crosses the

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

Tsiigehtchic Tsiigehtchic ( ; "mouth of the iron river"), officially the ''Hamlet of Tsiigehtchic'', is a Gwichʼin community located at the confluence of the Mackenzie River, Mackenzie and the Arctic Red Rivers, in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territor ...

. There is also a small airport at Fort McPherson,

Fort McPherson Airport Fort McPherson Airport is located south of Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocea ...

, that has seasonal flights to

Inuvik (Mike Zubko) Airport Inuvik (Mike Zubko) Airport is located east of Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA officers at this airport can ...

Aklak Air Aklak Air is an Inuvialuit owned airline based in Inuvik in Northwest Territories in Canada. It operates year-round and seasonal scheduled services, as well as charter flights throughout the western Arctic. Its main base is Inuvik (Mike Zubko) ...

when the road across the Peel is closed. The former

Fort McPherson Water Aerodrome Fort McPherson Water Aerodrome was located adjacent to Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada on the Peel River. The airport was listed as abandoned in the 15 March 2007 Canada Flight Supplement. See also *Fort McPherson Airport Fort ...

was listed as closed in the 15 March 2007

Canada Flight Supplement The Canada Flight Supplement (CFS) () is a joint civil/military publication and is a supplement of the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP Canada). It is the nation's official airport directory. It contains information on all registered Ca ...

Demographics

In the

2021 Canadian census The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canada, Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, whic ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Fort McPherson had a population of 647 living in 255 of its 318 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 700. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2021 census 645 people identified as

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

, 560 as

, 30 as

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

, 85 as

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homelan ...

, and 105 non-Indigenous.

Climate

Fort McPherson experiences a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Dfc''). The highest temperature ever recorded in Fort McPherson was on 6 August 2024. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 14 January 1894.

Notes

References

External links

Fort McPherson Hamlet website
{{Authority control Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories Gwich'in Hudson's Bay Company forts National Historic Sites in the Northwest Territories Populated places in Arctic Canada