Fort Chipewyan

History

Fort Chipewyan is one of the oldest European settlements in the Province of Alberta. It was one of Canada's important fur trading posts in the late 1700s and early 1800s, serving as a distribution and collection point for furs, goods and men trading in the Peace, Slave, Athabasca and Mackenzie river basins. It was established as a trading post of the North West Company in 1788. The first fur trading post in the area was the NWC's Pond House, or Pond's Fort on the Athabasca River, about from its mouth, established in 1778. Fort Chipewyan on the shore of Lake Athabasca was founded in 1788. It was built on a prominent peninsula, now known as Old Fort Point, on the south shore of Lake Athabasca, about to the east of the Athabasca River delta. It became one of the most famous in the whole extent of Rupert's Land. In 1798, the NWC's Fort Chipewyan was relocated to a site on the north shore, the site of today's hamlet. In 1802, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) set up a post, Nottingham House, on English Island at the mouth of Slave River, the outlet of Lake Athabasca. It was abandoned in 1806. From about 1815 to 1821 the HBC operated a competing Fort Wedderburn (named after Andrew Colvile's family) on Coal or Potato Island from the North West Company's fort. This fort was established by John Clarke. Sir George Simpson stayed here 1820–1821, during which time he reorganized the fur trade. Old Fort Point, the site of the first Fort Chipewyan, established in 1788 southeast of the present site of Fort Chipewyan, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1930. Historic places in the community include the site of the third Fort Chipewyan, established in 1803, the Anglican Church built in 1880 and Day School built in 1874, and the Roman Catholic Mission Church…

Geography

It is located on the western tip of Lake Athabasca, adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park, approximately north of Fort McMurray. Fort Chipewyan has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) with long, very cold, dry winters and short, warm, wetter summers. The highest temperature ever recorded in Fort Chipewyan was on 30 June 2021. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 1 February 1917.

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  55
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  23
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  22
• Snow Bunting

  Plectrophenax nivalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  19
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  17
• Pine Grosbeak

  Pinicola enucleator (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17
• Canvasback

  Aythya valisineria (A.Wilson, 1814) · Aves
  13
• Black-billed Magpie

  Pica hudsonia (Sabine, 1823) · Aves
  12