Fort Reliance, Northwest Territories

Fort Reliance is the site of a Hudson's Bay Company fort located on the east arm of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada.

This article is about the Northwest Territories post. For the trading post in the Yukon Territory, see Fort Reliance.
Fort Reliance, Northwest Territories
Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada.
Typewinter camp; trading post
Site information
Controlled byHudson's Bay Company
Official nameFort Reliance National Historic Site of Canada
Designated1953
Site history
Built1833
Materialslogs

History

Fort Reliance was originally built in 1833 by George Back during the Arctic Land Expedition to the Arctic Ocean via the Back River. The expedition, partly scientific and partly searching for the missing John Ross, used Fort Reliance as a winter camp.[1]

Back's fort was made up of a main house with several smaller ones that were constructed from logs. The houses had stone and clay chimneys for heating. The outline of the logs along with the chimneys and some storage pits still exist.[1]

In 1855, the Hudson's Bay Company's Chief Factor James Anderson, for whom the Anderson River is named, rebuilt the fort. It was intended to be used as winter quarters while searching for the lost expedition of John Franklin, but it was again abandoned after one season.[2]

It was not a fur trading outpost although the site was later used by trappers in the Thelon River area. In 1897, a log cabin, using one of the chimneys, was built by an American trapper, Buffalo Jones.[3]

Fort Reliance was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1953.[4] It is described by Parks Canada as the "oldest continuously operating Hudson's Bay Company post, 1833". Together with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Parks Canada is working to preserve and protect the site, which has resulted in the chimneys being rehabilitated.[1][5]

Climate
Climate data for Fort Reliance
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 2.1
(35.8)		 6.1
(43.0)		 8.6
(47.5)		 16.1
(61.0)		 26.1
(79.0)		 29.4
(84.9)		 34.3
(93.7)		 30.0
(86.0)		 27.2
(81.0)		 17.9
(64.2)		 6.7
(44.1)		 4.1
(39.4)		 34.3
(93.7)
Average high °C (°F) −23.5
(−10.3)		 −21.0
(−5.8)		 −14.9
(5.2)		 −2.5
(27.5)		 7.9
(46.2)		 15.6
(60.1)		 19.2
(66.6)		 16.8
(62.2)		 9.6
(49.3)		 0.8
(33.4)		 −10.9
(12.4)		 −20.4
(−4.7)		 −2.0
(28.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) −28.1
(−18.6)		 −26.1
(−15.0)		 −21.0
(−5.8)		 −8.6
(16.5)		 2.5
(36.5)		 9.9
(49.8)		 14.3
(57.7)		 12.9
(55.2)		 6.5
(43.7)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 −14.6
(5.7)		 −24.4
(−11.9)		 −6.6
(20.1)
Average low °C (°F) −32.7
(−26.9)		 −31.1
(−24.0)		 −27.0
(−16.6)		 −14.6
(5.7)		 −2.9
(26.8)		 4.2
(39.6)		 9.3
(48.7)		 8.9
(48.0)		 3.4
(38.1)		 −4.8
(23.4)		 −18.2
(−0.8)		 −28.4
(−19.1)		 −11.2
(11.8)
Record low °C (°F) −53.5
(−64.3)		 −51.2
(−60.2)		 −50.0
(−58.0)		 −41.1
(−42.0)		 −31.1
(−24.0)		 −7.2
(19.0)		 −1.1
(30.0)		 0.0
(32.0)		 −7.8
(18.0)		 −23.3
(−9.9)		 −43.3
(−45.9)		 −45.7
(−50.3)		 −53.5
(−64.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 11.0
(0.43)		 9.9
(0.39)		 9.6
(0.38)		 14.5
(0.57)		 19.2
(0.76)		 30.5
(1.20)		 33.2
(1.31)		 50.0
(1.97)		 32.2
(1.27)		 28.5
(1.12)		 19.7
(0.78)		 13.7
(0.54)		 271.9
(10.70)
Source: Environment Canada[6]

References
  1. Old Fort Reliance Archived 18 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  2. James Anderson
  3. Buffalo Jones
  4. Fort Reliance. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
  5. National Historic Sites of Canada System Plan
  6. Environment Canada—Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000. Retrieved 17 June 2011.


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