Old Crow
| Old Crow | |||
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 Old Crow and Porcupine River |
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| Location in Yukon | |||
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| State : |
 Canada
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| Territory : | Yukon | ||
| Coordinates : | 67 ° 34 ′ N , 139 ° 50 ′ W | ||
| Residents : | 253 (as of 2006) | ||
Old Crow (in Gwich'in: Teechik - "river mouth", today: Van Tat - "Old Crow Flats") is a place in the Canadian Yukon below the confluence of the Old Crow River (Chyahnjik) in the Porcupine River (Ch'ôonjik) . The settlement is largely inhabited by members of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation , of whom, according to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development (AANDC), 240 of the 543 tribal members still live in Old Crow and the surrounding reservation areas (as of June 2015). In September 2018 there were 569 members of the Vuntut Gwitchin.
The place can only be reached via a winter road, by boat or by plane (Old Crow Airport).
history
Early history
The Van Tat Gwich'in / Crow River Kutchin ("people in the midst of the lakes (the Old Crow Flats)") lived from the beginning of the caribou of the region around the Porcupine River (Ch'ôonjik) , which is now generally called Porcupine River Herd is known as well as in the plains of the Old Crow Flats (Van Tat) , which are characterized by numerous small lakes and swamps ; this regional band of the Gwich'in was therefore also called the Middle Porcupine River Kutchin . They followed the caribou herds and the fish migration and therefore originally inhabited a huge area; some traditional camps of the Van Tat Gwich'in / Crow River Kutchin (some were later converted into trading posts and permanent settlements) were Rampart House (Gindèhchìk, abandoned as a settlement in 1947), LaPierre House (Zheh Gwatsàl, on the Bell River , approx. 120 km west of Old Crow), Whitestone Village (Chuu Tl'it), Schaeffer Lake (K'ìi Zhìt, also called Neetaii), Crow River (Chyahnjik) and Crow Flats (Van Tat). Sometimes they also hiked as far as Fort Yukon (Gwicyaa Zhee / Gwichyaa Zheh) at the confluence of the Yukon River (Yuukon - "big river") and Porcupine River (Ch'ôonjik) the home of another Gwich'in band, the Gwichaa Gwich'in / Yukon Flats Kutchin ("People of the Yukon Flats (Yukon Plains) "), now called Gwichyaa Zhee Gwich'in ("People of Fort Yukon"). The Gwich'in have been in the area today for more than 10,000 years. There may be older traces, but they are controversial. The so-called Northern Archaic people are the first residents who can be assigned to a narrower cultural area. They appeared around 4500 BC. Around 2200 BC. The tools changed, the arctic culture of small tools ( micro blades ) prevailed, or there was an immigration, possibly from Eskimos .
First Europeans, trading posts, Eskimos
Alexander Mackenzie was probably the first European to meet Gwich'in in 1789. At that time they were divided into nine tribes. Mackenzie put the name "Quarrellers" on them.
The northernmost trading post was Fort Good Hope at the confluence of the Bluefish River (Shriijaa Njik) in the Mackenzie River (Nagwichoonjik) . The Gwich'in mainly traded beavers and minks for blue and white pearls and metal objects . With 20,000 muskrats and 2,000 mink, the Gwich'in and the Hare (skin) Dene (K'ahsho Got'ine) (a regional group of the North Slavey ) who lived further south produced three-quarters and one-third of that, respectively, around 1823 Total yield of the territory. The northernmost fort depended on the meat supply of the Gwich'in. These were probably not dependent on the British and French, because they also traded with the Russians in Alaska through intermediaries.
In 1826 Eskimos (in Gwich'in: Ch'ineekaii) apparently carried out a kind of punitive expedition. There were more than five hundred men on the sixty or so canoes, manned by eight to nine men. Without the fur traders' rifles, the Gwich'in would hardly have been able to keep them from direct access to the fort and its rich stores. They defended their monopoly by force of arms and held it until around 1850 when epidemics decimated them.
As the caribou moved north, the Eskimos cut off the Gwich'in from the giant herd. These in turn asked for more guns in the fort, but there weren't enough, so the Indians went hungry. In the summer of 1827, for fear of the Eskimos, the head of the fort proposed the Hare and "Loucheux" (Gwich'in) to move the fort further away from the "Esquimeaux" (Eskimos).
Missionaries, contacts of the Vuntut Gwichin to Alaska
Archdeacon Robert McDonald appeared as the first missionary in 1862. He had been a priest since 1853 and translated the Bible, hymn, and prayer books into the local Takudh. He married Juli Kuttuq in 1876. To this day, the chiefs are also the priests, such as David Salmon from Chalkyitsik Village (Jałgiitsik - "place of the fish hook") or Trimble Gilbert from Arctic Village (Vashrąįį K'ǫǫ) . In the 1860s Robert McDonald (1829–1913) proselytized with the Gwich'in.
In 1867, when the border with Alaska was drawn, the Vuntut Gwichin moved to the Canadian Rampart House (Gindèhchìk), a trading post right on the border.
In the 1870s, Chief Deetru 'K'avihdik (Crow May I Walk) - whose name was translated into English as "Old Crow" (Old Crow), in whose honor the river (Old Crow River), the plains (Crow Flats ) and the settlement (Old Crow) were named.
First camp in Old Crow
Chief John Tizya was arguably the first to set up camp around 1904 on the site of today's Old Crow. The first fur trading post was opened in 1911. In 1912 three families moved from Rampart House to Old Crow, followed by other Van Tat Gwich'in families. In 1918, the Reverend Toddy proposed the construction of a mission building because John Tizya held services in his home. There were now two trading posts in the village, and the Van Tat Gwich'in gradually moved from Rampart House (Gindèhchìk) to Old Crow, followed by the church, the school and the police (1929) in the 1920s. Rampart House (Gindèhchìk) was finally abandoned as a settlement in 1947.
In 1926 the first church was built in Old Crow. Archdeacon A. C. McCullum was ordained here. The building was used as a church until 1959, but it still exists today. In 1935, the St Luke's Mission House, an Anglican mission station, was established. Today's St Luke's Anglican Church replaced the first church building in 1959. Ellen Bruce, ordained here in 1987, was the second Native American woman to serve as a priestess in Canada, the first in the north. She received the Order of Canada.
In 1943 Chief Moses, the 18-year-old chief, received the British Empire Medal , among other things for collecting money for orphaned children in the bombing of England. In 1964, the Peter Moses Building was built in his honor , which served as a community hall for two decades. A community hall was built in the early 1980s.
National park, land rights
In 1995 the Vuntut National Park was founded to protect the Porcupine herd. It is managed by Parks Canada and the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. At the same time, the Vuntut Development Corporation holds 49% of the shares in the local airline Air North . It connects Old Crow with Vancouver (South Terminal).
In 1998 the administration building of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, the Sarah Abel Chitze Building, was built . The namesake had died on August 14, 1998 at the age of 102 and had been a spokeswoman for the tribe. The house of the same name is reminiscent of Edith Josie. She had come out from 1963 with columns about the region, such as in the Daily News Miner in Fairbanks or in the Whitehorse Star . She was originally from Eagle , Alaska, but had moved to Old Crow with her parents around 1940. She received the Canadian Centennial Award in 1967 , the Order of Canada in 1995 , the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2000 and died on January 31, 2010 at the age of 88 in Old Crow.
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation , Registered Population
- ↑ OLD CROW FLATS (Van Tat K'atr'anahtii) Special Management Area ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
