One of the earliest trading posts in Northern Canada will receive heritage designation on July 27.
Gindèhchik, also known as Rampart House, is located on the Porcupine River. It long served as a gathering place for Vuntut Gwitchin citizens who hunted and trapped in the area. In the late 1800s, the Hudson’s Bay Company began using it as a trading post.
Rebecca Jensen, manager of Yukon Historic Sites, says Gindèhchik is notable for being an early point of contact between settlers and the First Nation.
“(Here), families interacted with fur traders, explorers, missionaries, government officials, who then really had profound impacts on the livelihood, the wellbeing and the lives of the Gwitchin people and impacts to their culture,” Jensen says.
Heritage features at the site include a number of standing and collapsed buildings, as well as the outlines of locations where campsites once were.
On July 27, visitors will include people coming by boat and helicopter from both Old Crow, Fort Yukon and Whitehorse.
The site is co-owned by the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and the Yukon Government.
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