8 miles north of the Arctic Circle

Gwichyaa Zhee (Fort Yukon) is one of the oldest settlements and the oldest English speaking community in Alaska. It is also the largest Athabascan vilage. The community was established in 1847 with the arrival of Alexander Hunter Murray of the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company. While the trading post was in Russian America, when the Alaska Purchase went through Alaska traders expelled the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Alaska Commercial Company took its place. At its peak, For Yukon was the Hudson’s Bay Company’s most important fur producer west of the Rockies, it was the most important fur center in Alaska from the 1920s until the 1940s.

The population is predominately Gwich’in and was 583 at the 2010 census. For more facts about Fort Yukon look on Wikipedia. The community is a thriving one. The community has its own public broadcasting company (Gwandak Radio), a new-ish health center (that staffs 3-5 medical providers, a dental clinic and behavioral health staff) and several entrepreneurial operations (Sarah Beaty Ceramics, Porcupine River Timber, Fort Yukon Enterprise, and Yukon Cargo are a few).

Situated beneath the aurora belt, residents get to view fantastic displays of the aurora borealis. On the confluence of the Yukon and Porcupine Rivers, the community is accessible by both boat (in the summer months) and aircraft (year round).

Timeline

1847 - Arrival of Hudson’s Bay Company
1862 - Mission school established, over the next 40 years Reverend Robert McDonald translates the Bible and hymn book into Gwich’in
1869 - Alaska Commercial Company takes over
1898 - Post office is established
1914 - Tuberculosis infects roughly 75% of the population
1924 - Congress passes the Citizenship Act recognizing Native Americans as U.S. citizens
1939 - Native Village of Fort Yukon established under the Indian Reorganization Act
1949 - Flooding devastates the community (the Red Cross came in and built new homes in what is now referred to “uptown”)
1958 - White Alice Communications System was activated, and the Air Force “Ground-Control Intercept” station was established
1959 - Fort Yukon incorporated as a city
1959 - Alaska becomes the 49th state
1978 - Yukon Flats National Wildlife Monument designation protecting the Yukon Flats region
1979 - White Alice site deactivated
1983 - The Air Force station was inactivated and re-designated as a Long Range Radar site.
1994 - The Council of Athabascan Tribal Governments (CATG) is founded
2008 - CATG dedicates the new Yukon Flats Health Center
2010 - Snowdrift B& B founded