The Stickeen Territories , also colloquially rendered as Stickeen Territory, Stikine Territory, and Stikeen Territory, was a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

whose brief existence began July 19, 1862, and concluded July of the following year. The region was split from the

North-Western Territory The North-Western Territory was a region of British North America extant until 1870 and named for where it lay in relation to Rupert's Land. Because of the lack of development, exploration, and cartographic limits of the time, the exact boun ...

in the wake of the

Stikine Gold Rush The Stikine Gold Rush was a minor but important gold rush in the Stikine Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The rush's discoverer was Alexander "Buck" Choquette, who staked a claim at Choquette Bar in 1861, just downstream from the ...

. The initial strike attracted large numbers of miners — mostly American — to the region; by detaching the region from the exclusive trade zone of 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 ...

, British authorities were able to impose tariffs and licences on the speculators. The new territory, named after 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 ...

, was under the responsibility of the Governor of the

Colony of British Columbia The Colony of British Columbia refers to one of two colonies of British North America, located on the Pacific coast of modern-day Canada: * Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866) * Colony of British Columbia (1866–1871) See also * History of ...

, James Douglas, who was appointed "Administrator of the Stickeen Territories" and under British law, within the jurisdiction of the

Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...

. The boundaries of the Stickeen Territories were the 62nd parallel to the north, the 125th meridian to the east, the Nass and Finlay Rivers to the south, and the panhandle of

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 ...

to the west (only vaguely defined by treaty and disputed until resolved with the Alaska Boundary Settlement of 1903). A year later, the Stickeen Territories was dissolved, most of its former land being added to the

, except for the sector north of the 60th parallel, which was returned to the

. In 1895, most of this strip was again redistributed, this time to the District of Yukon, as newly constituted during the midst of the Klondike Gold Rush. The remainder of the strip stayed in 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 ...

References

{{coord, 58, 01, 00, N, 131, 00, 00, W, display=title, source:ThatlanBCarticle, name=Stickeen Territories Hudson's Bay Company Pre-Confederation British Columbia British North America Stikine Country States and territories established in 1862 1862 establishments in the British Empire Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas