Fort Shepherd
Fort Shepherd is located just off the
Columbia River in
British Columbia, Canada. The area in which the fort was located runs for more than eight kilometers
along the west side of the
Columbia River. Fort Shepherd was an
Hudson's Bay fort, built in
1858 in response to the surveying of the 49th parallel in
1846. It was not very successful due to the land being unsuitable for farming and settling
and thus it closed two years later.
However, when gold was found at Pend d'Oreille River, the fort reopened in
1863. It was then used as a stopping place on the route to the
Kootenay Gold Rush and as a trading post for the Sinixt people, an Indigenous group, on whose
traditional territory the fort stood. With the later construction of the Dewdney Trail,
which led from
Hope to Wildhorse, the fort became increasingly successful -- for a time.
When the
Kootenay Gold Rush came to its end, the fort was finally closed in
1870 and burnt down in
1872. Today a “cairn” --erected in
1951 -- marks the fort's locations. The lower
Columbia River, which included Fort Shepherd, then and today is part of the traditional Sinixt territory.
Although the Sinixt were falsely
declared extinct by the Canadian government in 1956,
members of the group continue to live in the area.
The Sinixt used this area for fishing and hunting and continue the same traditions
today. It is unclear what steps have been taken for reconciliation with the Indigenous
peoples and this land, but the 2200 acres were donated in 2006 by the Teck Cominco Metals Ltd as a part of the Ecological Gifts Program. The area
is now designated as a conservancy area
in which the public can still hike, picnic, etc.