Lower Post

History

Early fur traders named it Lower Post to distinguish between the upper and lower Liard trading posts. Lower Post, or Fort Liard (its original name), had been established by an American, Rufus Sylvester, in 1872. Four years later the Hudson's Bay Company took it over and a couple of years afterwards two of its officials brokered peace between the local Kaska Dena and a raiding party of two hundred Taku. Before Lower Post became a community, it served as a fishing spot, a crossing and a meeting place. Because many different indigenous people stopped here for trading, the community still has a diverse ethnic make-up today. In the early 1940s, it served as a stopover for scheduled airline passenger service between Whitehorse and Edmonton via Fort Nelson. One of the aboriginal languages spoken in Lower Post is Kaska, of which there are very few fluent speakers. There are no services provided at Lower Post, with residents using services at nearby Watson Lake, Yukon. Electricity is supplied by ATCO Electric Yukon as opposed to BC Hydro. The local school, Denetia School, is a K-7 elementary school that is British Columbia's most northern school and part of the School District 87 Stikine. The school currently operates as a one-room school focusing on outdoor experiential education called P.A.C.E.S. In 2011 it had a class of twelve students. In 2016, approximately 81 people lived in Lower Post, which is a decrease from the 2011 population of 105.

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  204
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  191
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  152
• Short-billed Gull

  Larus brachyrhynchus Richardson, 1831 · Aves
  138
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  131
• Red-necked Grebe

  Podiceps grisegena (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  106
• Yellow-rumped Warbler

  Setophaga coronata (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  94
• Violet-green Swallow

  Tachycineta thalassina (Swainson, 1827) · Aves
  86