Ross River, Yukon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ross River is an unincorporated community in the Yukon Territory in Canada. It lies at the juncture of the Ross River and the Pelly River, along the Canol Road, not far from the Campbell Highway. Primary access to the Campbell Highway is a nine-mile access road of superior alignment, not the six-mile Canol Road section which is no longer maintained. It is serviced by Ross River Airport, used mainly for charter and scheduled flights to and from Whitehorse and Watson Lake.

In 2001, the community had a population of 337.

It is the home of the Ross River Dena Council.

[edit] History

The confluence of the Ross and Pelly Rivers has long been used as a gathering place for First Nation peoples, particularly in the late summer. The first permanent settlement was established in 1901 when Tom Smith started a small fur trading post on the north bank of the Pelly and called the spot Smiths Landing. That winter approximately 15 First Nation families over wintered near the post, creating the beginnings of the permanent community of Ross River. By 1903 a second, rival, trading post was set up on the south bank of the Pelly opposite Smiths Landing. The settlement attracted an increasing number of people, mostly the Kaska but including many First Nation people from the Mackenzie River region who would travel over the divide to meet others, trade, and sometimes stay. By 1914 over 1,000 people were gathering at Ross River in the late summer. But a severe influenza epidemic in 1916 hit the community’s First Nation people hard, and increasing economic activity and new trading posts along the Mackenzie River reduced the numbers of people gathering and settling at Ross River.

World War II and the years immediately following brought massive changes to Ross River. The building of the Canol Road and pipeline between 1942 and 1944 brought a massive, but temporary, influx of outsiders to the area and the new road made the community much more accessible. The late 1940s and early 1950s also saw a collapse of fur prices and the permanent closure of most of the region’s fur trading posts — including Pelly Banks, Sheldon Lake, Rose Point, Frances Lake and Macmillan River. By 1952 Ross River was designated as a band village and had the only remaining trading post in the region. The Canol Road shifted the commercial centre of the community to the south bank of the Pelly River at the new ferry crossing point and the federal government began pressuring the First Nation to move across the river from the Old Village. By the mid 1960s that pressure resulted in the complete abandonment of the Old Village and the community of Ross River assumed the shape it has today.

Mining exploration increased in the region around Ross River through the 1950s and an exploration and mining boom occurred in the 1960s and 1970s with the discovery and development of the Faro mine. Although Ross River Dena people did work in mining exploration — it was Ross River Dena citizens Arthur John, Jack Ladue, Robert Etzel and Joe Etzel who led Al Kulan to Vangorda Creek where he staked the first claims of what would become the Faro mine — the mining boom did little to benefit most of the First Nation.