Selkirk First Nation
The Selkirk First Nation is one of the Canadian First Nations in the Yukon . Their traditional residential area ranged from the Yukon westward to the Dawson Range , up the lower Pelly to the South Macmillan River . The most important fish camps were above and below Fort Selkirk and on the Pelly.
The Selkirk belong to the Athabaskan language family , more precisely to the Northern Tutchone . With the help of the Yukon Native Language Center , they have developed their own font.
The First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun in Mayo and the Little Salmon / Carmacks First Nation in Carmacks belong to the same language group . These have come together to form the Northern Tutchone Tribal Council .
The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development counted exactly 509 members of the Selkirk First Nation in December 2009, and in September 2018 as many as 653.
history
Early history
The earliest livelihoods are likely to have been the caribou herds , but also moose , sheep and marmots , as well as hares and ground squirrela , which are related to ground squirrels . There were also birds and fish - primarily salmon . The harsh climate forced a semi-nomadic life, with families gathering in spring and summer camps to fish, but also in the short fall to hunt.
Possibly from their trading partners, the coastal Tlingit , some Tutchone plank houses took over. But most of them lived in shelters made of twigs, branches and furs. The clothes were also adapted to the climate and the way of life.
Shamans excelled as healers and were responsible for establishing contact with spiritual powers. These helped to find hunting prey or to cure it.
From the end of the Ice Age to 5000 BC Chr.
People lived in what is now Selkirk, which is the far east of Beringia , for more than 10,000 years . The oldest find from the region was found around 100 km to the northeast. It was a caribou antler tool that dates back to 9300 BC. BC could be dated. The hunters of that time also followed woolly mammoths , bison and horses .
Around 8000 BC Most of the ice had melted by the 4th century BC, but lakes covered the region for two millennia. Forests were only slowly reestablishing themselves. The oldest tool tradition of the Yukon is called Northern Cordilleran , a mountain region in northern British Columbia , after its first place of discovery . The stone spearheads were quite large, the tools were obtained from coarse stones, and graver typical of this culture. The residents were extremely mobile and carried little with them.
Microblades, 5000 to 3000 BC Chr.
Around 5000 BC The massive tools were replaced by composite tools in which bones, antlers and, above all, very small blades played an important role. These microblades , around 5 cm long and 1 cm wide, were inserted into wooden or bony holders. This technology can be traced back to the late Ice Age of Siberia without any evidence of corresponding immigration being provided.
Only 3 km above Fort Selkirk, very small microblades less than 2 cm long were found on the Yukon , which may be due to a lack of suitable stones. But they consisted of at least ten different types of very fine-grained flint . People probably collected them in different places. The finds are 5000 to 7000 years old.
Notched tips
Again around 3000 BC The technology of tool manufacture changed. The microblades disappeared and were replaced by side-notched spearheads ( projectile point ), as well as a wide range of scratches. For the first time, the typical seasonal migration that was later based on fishing can be identified. The annual spawning courses of the salmon were established. This phase is known as the Northern Archaic tradition .
A camp from around 1000 BC was found west of Fort Selkirk. BC, which was used by a small family group to cook a meal or two and to make stone tools - this is indicated by the fireplace and some stone chips.
Further up on the Pelly, above Pelly Farm, numerous stone tools and animal bones have been found since the 1950s, which indicate frequent visits. In addition to tools, the bones of bison , caribou, elk, beavers and birds were found.
Volcanic eruptions in the White River area and the late prehistoric period (approx. 100–1750)
The Selkirk region is still characterized by strong volcanism today. Here you will find the Fort Selkirk Volcanic Field , the Pelly Formation , a lava flow, or the Ne Ch'e Ddhawa volcano around 7 km above Fort Selkirk. In the White River area , near the Alaska- Yukon border , two of the largest volcanic eruptions occurred around AD 100 and 800. The second catastrophe with enormous ash showers, which probably brought life in the region almost to extinction, was followed by the phase known as Late Prehistoric .
Copper was processed for the first time, with copper from the White River area being traded in a wide area. It was made into tools such as awls and arrowheads, but also into jewelry. Decorative elements, such as points, can be identified, but above all a bow and arrow. Their use is believed to be due to the influence of the Eskimos . Overall, this culture is so similar to today's that the elderly (Elders) often recognize the use of excavated tools and can also indicate where they were found, because they agree with the migration and usage customs of their childhood, sometimes even the present.
This applies to Kah-Tung or Three Way Channel, where king salmon (Chinook) was traditionally caught. The most important fish traps and weirs were located there. Here, 19 km below Fort Selkirk, was the village of Kah-Tung, which Frederick Schwatka described in 1883 . On the east side of the island numerous artifacts were found, such as 2.75 m long, conical fish baskets made of tree fiber, posts for the fish traps, three long hammer stones to sink these posts, an arch made of birch wood. Around 100 m further east was the actual village, on the far eastern edge of the island. As the elders remembered, the village was built so far away from the river as not to disturb the fish. The site had been in use for several centuries but was abandoned after 1900 because the Yukon shifted its bed and the site dried up. The find was only due to the fact that the island was neither flooded nor cleared at this point.
Fort Selkirk
For the Selkirk, the site of what would later become Fort Selkirk was an important trading post, but its name has been lost. When Robert Campbell of the Hudson's Bay Company chose a site on the other side of the Lower Pelly for the first Fort Selkirk, he did so because there were many people on the south side. He had to move to the Selkirk when he realized that his place was not flood-proof.
The settlement dates back to the northern Archaic period and was established between 3000 BC. and 750 or 850 AD for the first time and only inhabited for a short time. Only after the volcanic catastrophe was a larger seasonal camp built, with hundreds of tool remains found immediately above the ash layer. These include arrowheads, including one made of copper, knives, scrapers, hammer stones and net weights. However, the acidic soil has decomposed practically all organic remains. 28 different types of rock were used for tools. Obsidian , i.e. volcanic glass, chalcedony and agate come from outside the tribal area. A copper fragment for making tips was also discovered.
Long before the Chilkat - Tlingit traded with the hinterland, and long before the Hudson's Bay Company , it was an important trading hub for the northwest. The obsidian came from the St. Elias Mountains , copper came from the sources of the White River, red and gold agates and white chalcedony came from the Carmacks area near Miller's Ridge and from Mount Nansen further to the west, and some stones came from the area the southern Tutchone and the Tagish in British Columbia . The trade of the Europeans and Americans followed seamlessly, which is reflected in glass beads and even a musket ball that were found.
Europeans
Robert Campbell of the Hudson's Bay Company was arguably the first European in the Selkirk area. Their area was one of the few that had not been visited by Europeans. Campbell's reports provide the first written record. He called the Indians Gens de Bois (People of the Forest) or Lewes River Indians . The Indians called themselves Thí ts'ächän after a salmon fishing spot on Victoria Rock, so they were called Tthí ts'ächän Huch'än . They were one of eleven groups of northern Tutchone, whose ancestral seats were on Tatlmain Lake and Stewart River , on the lower Macmillan River , on Aishishik and Hutshi Lake , on the White River, on Braeburn and Tatchun Lake , Little and Big Salmon Rivers .
Around 1800 Tthí ts'ächän (Victoria Rock) was about 2 km below Fort Selkirk. There was the most profitable place for fishing for king salmon . Ketal salmon (chum) were also caught near Fort Selkirk before the river shifted.
Europeans and Tlingit encouraged winter hunting, so that the settling phases of the Selkirk became shorter. This in turn promoted the dispersal of families.
The Fort Selkirk trading post, because it was so remote and received little goods, had little effect on the material culture of the Selkirk. However, the appearance of the Europeans affected the trade between Chilkat and Selkirk. When Robert Campbell moved his post in 1851, the Chilkat under their chief Kohklux attacked the post and put the whites to flight. When they returned, all the goods had disappeared and the post was destroyed. The Hudson's Bay Company gave up the post and for four decades it was once again a trading hub between Chilkat and Selkirk.
Frederick Schwatka (1883), Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1898)
When Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka was leading an expedition down the Yukon, he described a large fishing village called Kitl-ah-gon at the traditional salmon trap at Minto . He called the Selkirk "Ayan", which is the southern Tutchone word for "stranger". If you follow Schwatka, Kah-tung, its main village was around 18 km below Fort Selkirk. 150 to 200 inhabitants lived here under the leadership of their chief Kon-itl.
Dawson was formed during the Klondike gold rush and was connected to Whitehorse by a winter road in 1902, bypassing Fort Selkirk . The Chilkat no longer came to Fort Selkirk, and long-distance trade disappeared.
Alaska Highway, Minto, Pelly Crossing (after 1942)
The Alaska Highway changed the Selkirk way of life from 1942 onwards. Nevertheless, the Selkirk used the fort until around 1950. They worked on the steamers and in the logging, at the same time continued to live from traditional trapping, hunting and fishing. But when the ships stopped operating after 1950 and the shop in the fort was closed, the Selkirk gradually moved back to Minto, which was on the new all-weather route between Whitehorse and Mayo .
When a shop and school opened in Pelly Crossing in the 1960s , they moved again. Although most of them still live there today, Fort Selkirk has remained something of the center of their traditional territory. Since 1982 the Indians have been working to make the fort a historic site. Excavations took place here from 1987 to 1989. For the facilities there, the river's hydropower is to be used in conjunction with solar energy for power supply and hot water preparation.
Land claims and self-government
Nine of the eleven member tribes of the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) have now signed agreements on land claims and self-government with Canada and the territory. On July 21, 1997, the Selkirk First Nation signed an agreement that regulated their land claims and brought them what is known as self-government. Most of the government's tasks have since been in their hands. Its area covers around 4,740 km², and the First Nation will receive a sum of 16,604,860 dollars over 15 years . In a mixed constitution, the chief is elected, but his advisors are appointed by the wolf and crow clans.
Current situation
In 2000, two small visitor centers were opened in Fort Selkirk, one in the Stone House on the western edge, the other in the reconstructed Big Jonathan House on the eastern edge of the village. Maria Van Bibber, born in 1927, is learning new tour guides. The most famous representative of the tribe is the musician Jerry Alfred , who received the Juno Award for indigenous music in 1995 and who became famous beyond the borders of Canada.
literature
- Catharine McClellan: "Tutchone", in: Handbook of North American Indians , Vol. 6, Subarctic , Ed. June Helm, Smithsonian Institution, Washington 1981, pp. 493-505.
See also
- First Nations history
- List of Indian tribes recognized in Canada
- List of North American Indian tribes
Web links
- Website of the Selkirk First Nation, at the Council of Yukon First Nations ( Memento of April 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Selkirk First Nation website , under construction
- Website for Fort Selkirk in the Virtual Museum ( Memento from January 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- Big Jonathan House in Pelly Crossing
Remarks
- ↑ Selkirk First Nation .
- ^ KD West, JD Donaldson: Evidence for winter eruption of the White River Ash (eastern lobe), Yukon Territory, Canada . Abstract, 2000 ( Memento of April 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
- ↑ Selkirk First Nation Final Agreement (PDF; 636 kB) and on the website of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development .