Kwadacha, also known as Fort Ware or simply Ware, is an aboriginal community in northern

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, located in the

Rocky Mountain Trench The Rocky Mountain Trench, also known as the Valley of a Thousand Peaks or simply the Trench, is a large valley on the western side of the northern part of North America's Rocky Mountains. The Trench is both visually and cartographically a ...

at the confluence of the Finlay, Kwadacha and Fox Rivers, in the

upstream from the end of the Finlay Reach (north arm) of

Williston Lake Williston Lake is a reservoir created by the W. A. C. Bennett Dam which is located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Geography The lake fills the basin of the upper Peace River, backing into the Rocky Mountain Trench which ...

. The population is about 350. It is in the federal electoral riding of Prince George-Peace River. The community is home to Kwadacha First Nation, a

Sekani Sekani or Tse’khene are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in the northern interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The n ...

First Nation but a member of the Kaska Dena tribal council.

History

The area is part of the traditional territory of the

-speaking people, the Kwadacha, and called ''Tahche'' in their language. In 1927, the

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) established an outpost of Fort Grahame, naming it the Whitewater trading post. It was first built in

Deserters Canyon Deserters Canyon is on the Finlay River in the Omineca Country, Omineca region of central British Columbia, Canada. The canyon is just upstream (north) from the tip of the Finlay Arm on Lake Williston, the reservoir created by the W. A. C. Bennet ...

farther along Finlay River, but was later relocated near the meeting of Fox, Kwadacha and Finlay Rivers. It became a "full-fledged" post in 1929. The fort introduced the local Kwadacha people to its wares as well as commercial trapping, still a mainstay of life in the region and for the Kwadacha First Nation. . In 1938, the fort was renamed Fort Ware after William Ware (1872-1957). Ware had worked for HBC since 1895, rising from Chief Factor company store at Telegraph Creek in 1911 to the District Manager of Fur Trade (1927-1932). William reportedly portaged across Canada to set up Telegraph Creek Trading Post, meeting and hunting with

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

along the way. The HBC post was closed on 31 May 1953.

Flooding from Bennett Dam

The community of Fort Ware was relocated from its original location due to the flooding of the lower Finlay Valley by Lake Williston in the late 1960s. Some current inhabitants of Fort Ware are relocatees (and their descendants) who formerly lived at locations (such as Finlay Forks, located at the confluence of the Finlay and

Parsnip River The Parsnip River is a long river in central British Columbia, Canada. It flows generally north-westward from the Parsnip Glacier in the Hart Ranges to the Parsnip Reach of Williston Lake, formed by the impounding of the waters of the Peace R ...

s). Before the Bennett Dam was completed on the

Peace River The Peace River () is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in the Peace-Athabasca Delta to form the ...

in 1967, the combined flow of the Finlay and Parsnip were the beginning of the Peace River, but which itself is now the Peace Arm of Lake Williston. Finlay Forks was one of several native communities that were flooded out during the creation of Lake Williston (British Columbia's largest lake and one of the world's largest man-made lakes).

Infrastructure

Transportation

No provincial highways reach the community, but a logging road extends north from the Prince George region. A 70 km logging road connects the community with the Tsay Keh Dene village, whose people are closely related. Additionally there are a series of horse trails following the rocky mountain trench north, ending at the

Alaska highway