Old Crow, Yukon
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Old Crow has about 282 inhabitants (Yukon Bureau of Statistics, December 2006), most of them belonging to the Gwichʼin-speaking Aboriginal Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. It is situated on the Porcupine River in the north of the Yukon Territory, Canada and is served by the Old Crow Airport, which is important because it is the only Yukon community that cannot be reached by car.
The people of Old Crow are dependent on the Porcupine caribou herd for food and clothing. The Porcupine caribou herd migrates to the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to give birth to their young. Most people in Old Crow believe the herd is seriously threatened by oil-drilling in the ANWR and have been lobbying hard to prevent it.
A large number of apparently human modified animal bones have been discovered in the Old Crow area that have been dated to 25,000 - 40,000 years ago by carbon dating, several thousand years earlier than generally accepted human habitation of North America.
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[edit] Climate
Old Crow has a dry and cold subarctic climate. Average annual temperature is −13 °C. Old Crow experiences annual temperature average daily highs of 24 °C in July and average daily lows of −43 °C in January. Record high temperature was 39 °C in August 1935 and the lowest was −66 °C in January 1985. Old Crow has little precipitation with an average annual snowfall of 129 cm and 144 mm of rainfall. Snow can fall in any month. Nevertheless, despite being above the Arctic Circle, Old Crow is in the subarctic taiga.
[edit] Postal services
Old Crow post office opened 25 February 1959. The first postmaster was Robert Bruce.[1]
[edit] Population data
According to the Canada 2006 Census[2]:
| • Population: | 253 (-15.4% from 2001) |
| • Land area: | 14.15 km² (5.46 sq mi) |
| • Population density: | 17.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (46 /sq mi) |
| • Median age: | (males: 39.0, females: 39.5) |
| • Total private dwellings: | 153 |
| • Dwellings occupied by permanent residents: | 118 |
| • Mean household income: | $28,244 |
[edit] References
- ^ Woodall, Robert G. (1976) The Postal History of Yukon Territory, Canada, p. 232. Batley, Yorkshire, England: Harry Hayes, ISBN 0-905222-12-1
- ^ 2006 Community Profile
[edit] Further reading
- Josie, Edith. Old Crow News: The Best of Edith Josie, 1964. Whitehorse, Yukon: Whitehorse Star, 1964.
- McSkimming, Robert James. Territory, Territoriality and Cultural Change in an Indigenous Society: Old Crow, Yukon Territory. [S.l: s.n.], 1975.
[edit] External links
- Old Crow's official website
- Vuntut Gwitchin Government website
- Old Crow: Land of the Vuntut Gwitch'in
- Community profile
- Webpage about the Old Crow Airport on the Canadian Owners & Pilots Association Places to Fly Airport Directory
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