Fort Reliance is an abandoned trading post in the Yukon territory, Canada, located on the east bank of the Yukon River, near Dawson City. Established in 1874 by François Mercier, Jack McQuesten, and Francis Barnfield for the Alaska Commercial Company, it operated as a key trading hub until 1877 and again from 1879 to 1886. The fort influenced the naming of nearby rivers like the Fortymile River. It was finally abandoned due to a gold strike on the Stewart River, which shifted regional focus. Today, Fort Reliance is part of the Trʼondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site, recognized by UNESCO for its cultural history involving Indigenous peoples and colonial settlers.
History
Fort Reliance was originally established as a fur trading post to accommodate trade with the Indigenous Hän people. The site of the fort was chosen by François Mercier and it was constructed by Jack McQuesten and Francis Barnfield with the help of the Hän. After the construction of the fort, McQuesten and Barnfield began trading with the local peoples. They were able to trade all of their goods for valuable furs. The first year proved the profitability of the fort. Fort Reliance would become a major trading hub in the region until it was abandoned by the traders in 1877 due to the theft of their goods by some of the Hän.5
Jack McQuesten returned to the fort in 1879 in order to avoid the competition with other trading post down river. He was discouraged from going back to Fort Reliance by a chief of a neighbouring tribe because, after the fort had been abandoned, some of the native women were killed by rat poison mixed with animal fat that was left behind by the traders. The chief feared for McQuesten's safety if he were to return to the fort. McQuesten decided to continue on to Fort Reliance and found that he was actually welcomed by the Hän upon his return. They even compensated him for the previously stolen goods and they did not blame the traders for the death of the women.6 The fort continued to be operated as a fur trading post, but eventually became a supply stop for gold prospectors on the Yukon. When gold was found on the Stewart River, a tributary of the Yukon river downstream from Fort Reliance, trade was diverted away from the fort and it was abandoned.7
Buildings
Fort Reliance consisted of several buildings of various types of construction. All that remains of these buildings are ground features such as pits or post holes. After it was abandoned, many of its buildings were used as fuel by the steamboats that sailed the Yukon River.8 The main buildings consisted of three or four log cabins built for the traders. The largest of these cabins was described by François Mercier to be roughly 7.6 m (25 ft) long by 9.1 m (30 ft) wide.9 The remains of five pit houses are found at the site. These pits were roughly 4.5 to 5 m2 (48 to 54 sq ft) square and four of the five had dug out entryways leading into them that were between 2.5 and 5 m (8 ft 2 in and 16 ft 5 in) long. The pit houses were likely inhabited by the Hän that traded at the site.
Native Hän occupation
The site of Fort Reliance contains signs of occupation by the Hän before the establishment of the fort and during its operation as a trading post. The remains of a Hän fishing village, Nuclaco, exists on a small island near the west bank of the Yukon River, just across from the fort. The site was occupied seasonally during the Chinook or king and chum salmon runs in the summer.10
Demographics
Historical population| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 83 | — |
Fort Reliance was erroneously reported on the 1880 United States census as being located within Alaska (Yukon Division), despite being some 80 km (50 mi) due east of the international boundary. It featured eighty-three residents, of which one was white and eighty-two were of the Tinneh tribe.11
References
"Fort Reliance". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. July 28, 2024. https://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique?id=KACFZ ↩
Webb, Melody. Yukon: The Last Frontier UBC Press, 1993. p. 65. https://books.google.com/books?id=z-WsBum6UckC ↩
Webb, Melody. Yukon: The Last Frontier UBC Press, 1993. p. 67. https://books.google.com/books?id=z-WsBum6UckC ↩
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "Tr'ondëk-Klondike". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved September 20, 2023. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1564/ ↩
Webb, Melody. Yukon: The Last Frontier UBC Press, 1993. p. 67. https://books.google.com/books?id=z-WsBum6UckC ↩
Webb, Melody. Yukon: The Last Frontier UBC Press, 1993. p. 67. https://books.google.com/books?id=z-WsBum6UckC ↩
Schwatka, Fred'k (1884). "The Middle Yukon". Science. 3 (71): 706–711. Bibcode:1884Sci.....3..706S. doi:10.1126/science.ns-3.71.706. JSTOR 1758852. PMID 17806506. https://zenodo.org/record/1834670 ↩
Russell, Israel C (1895). "A Journey up the Yukon River". Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York. 27 (2): 143–160. doi:10.2307/196861. JSTOR 196861. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Clark, Donald (1996). "Archaeological Examination of Fort Reliance, Yukon". Historical Archaeology. 30 (2): 93–100. doi:10.1007/BF03373591. JSTOR 25616459. S2CID 163460147. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Clark, Donald (1996). "Archaeological Examination of Fort Reliance, Yukon". Historical Archaeology. 30 (2): 93–100. doi:10.1007/BF03373591. JSTOR 25616459. S2CID 163460147. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
"Statistics of the Population of Alaska" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 1880. https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1880a_v1-17.pdf ↩