Fort Shepherd
Fort Shepherd was named for the Governor of the
Hudson’s Bay Company
John Shepherd (Governor 1856-1858) and was located on the
Columbia River in
British Columbia, Canada just north of its intersection with the Pend d’Oreille River. It was also
just north of the Canada US-Border because the HBC wanted to replace
Fort Colvile on the American side of the border to avoid onerous taxes. Completed by June of 1857,
the post was not fortified but comprised of four buildings with an open square between
them.
As a trading post, the fort served the Sinixt People who occupied the region and was
intended to replace the agricultural production of Fort Colvile but the land proved
unfavourable for farming so Fort Colvile continued to operate and Fort Shepherd closed
in the early 1860s.
Fort Shepherd reopened in 1863 when gold was discovered on the Pend d'Oreille River
and operated as an important staging point on the Dewdney Trail constructed in 1864
to link the
Fraser River to the Wildhorse Creek mining discoveries in the
Kootenays and a customs office was established there.
As the Kootenay gold rush declined, and the Dewdney Trail was less used, the fort
closed in 1870 and burnt down in 1872. Today a “cairn” — erected in 1951 — marks the
fort's locations.
The Sinixt were falsely declared extinct by the Canadian government in 1956, but members
of the group continue to live in the area and in 2021 the Supreme Court of Canada
recognized their continuing existence as tribe.
In 2006, 2200 acres on the west bank of the Columbia that were owned by Teck Cominco
Metals Ltd, including the site of the former fort, were donated to the Land Conservancy
of BC as a part of the Ecological Gifts Program. The area is now designated as the
Fort Shepherd Conservancy Area which the public can use for non-motorized recreational
use.
- 1. Hudson’s Bay Company Archives (HBCA), A.1/72, p.120; A.2/3, fos. 59, 61d, 65).
- 2. James Douglas to William Smith, July 20, 1857. HBCA, A 11/76. Garnet Basque, British Columbia Ghost Town Atlas, (Sunfire Publications Limited, 1982)
- 3. Basque, British Columbia Ghost Town Atlas.
- 4. Seymour, Frederick to Cardwell, Edward 7 October 1864, CO 60:19, no. 10958, 317; Birch, Arthur Nonus to Cardwell, Edward 3 March 1866, CO 60:24, no. 4650, p. 95.
- 5. https://sinixt.com/the-desautel-decision/.
- 6. Fort Shepherd Conservancy Area, The Land Conservancy.