Kwadacha

Coordinates: 57°25′15″N 125°37′20″W / 57.42083°N 125.62222°W / 57.42083; -125.62222
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kwadacha
Fort Ware
778

Kwadacha, also known as Fort Ware or simply Ware,

Prince George-Peace River
.

The community is home to

Kwadacha First Nation, a Sekani First Nation but a member of the Kaska Dena
tribal council.

History

The area is part of the traditional territory of the Sekani-speaking people, the Kwadacha, and called Tahche in their language.[3]

In 1927, the

Kwadacha First Nation
. .

In 1938, the fort was renamed Fort Ware after William Ware (1872-1957).

Chief Factor company store at Telegraph Creek in 1911 to the District Manager of Fur Trade (1927-1932).[4] William reportedly portaged across Canada to set up Telegraph Creek Trading Post, meeting and hunting with Louis Riel along the way.[4]

The HBC post was closed on 31 May 1953.[3]

Flooding from Bennett Dam

The community of Fort Ware was relocated from its original location due to the flooding of the lower Finlay Valley by Lake Williston in the late 1960s.

Some current inhabitants of Fort Ware are relocatees (and their descendants) who formerly lived at locations (such as Finlay Forks, located at the confluence of the

Lake Williston
. Finlay Forks was one of several native communities that were flooded out during the creation of Lake Williston (British Columbia's largest lake and one of the world's largest man-made lakes).

Infrastructure

Transportation

No provincial highways reach the community, but a logging road extends north from the

Alaska highway
. These trails are not accessible by vehicle and thus is said to take around two weeks to traverse.

A bridge has been completed across the river that lies on the south side of the village.

The community has a small public airport known as Fort Ware Airport.[5]

Communication

Telephone service was installed in the community by Northwestel in early 1986, connected by satellite to the long-distance network. Dial-up internet was provisioned circa 2005. There is no cellular service. Most air service and call traffic is exchanged southward to Mackenzie and Prince George.

Geography

The mountains which flank the western side of the Trench northwest from Fort Ware are the Omineca Mountains, vast subgroup of the Stikine Ranges. The nearby Muskwa-Kechika Management Area and Kwadacha Wilderness Provincial Park comprise a vast and rugged alpine region spanning the northern Rockies to the north and east of Fort Ware, which are for the most part even more inaccessible than Fort Ware, as are the Omineca Ranges.

See also

Further reading

  • Sims, Daniel (2017). Dam Bennett: The Impacts of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam and Williston Lake Reservoir on the Tsek'ehne of Northern British Columbia (PDF). library.ualberta.ca (PhD).

References

  1. ^ Fort Ware at the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB)
  2. ^ Front End Engineering and Design Study (FEED) of the Kwadacha Community Energy Project
  3. ^ a b c d "BC Geographical Names". apps.gov.bc.ca.
  4. ^ a b "Telegraph Creek". Doug Gent's History PAges.
  5. ^ "CAJ9 - Fort Ware Airport | SkyVector". skyvector.com. Retrieved 10 October 2021.