The Mackenzie River’s English name actually comes from Alexander Mackenzie, who was the first European to travel the entire length of the river. Its Inuvialuktun name is Kuukpak, which means “Great River” and its Gwich’in name is Nagwichoonjik, meaning “river flowing through a big country.”

After hearing Mackenzie’s story, the Hudson’s Bay Company (a British fur trading company) sent some of their fur traders to find a way through the mountains from the Mackenzie River to the Yukon River. But it wasn’t a quick or easy process. The North was a very hostile landscape. It was bitter cold, and the mountains were difficult to travel across. There was also a lot of competition between Russian and British fur traders at this point, and fights between the two groups also slowed them down. 

In 1825, the Russians and the British agreed on a boundary line to mark their separate trading territories in North America, and to hopefully stop the fighting. This boundary line followed the 141st meridian, and eventually became the permanent border between Yukon and Alaska.

For many years this boundary had no importance to the people who actually lived in the North. They would often move across it without even realizing. But years later, after Russia sold Alaska to the U.S.A. in 1867, the Indigenous peoples of Yukon were forced to choose a national allegiance of Canada or America, even though their traditional territories ran through both countries.

Even though some Indigenous people welcomed the arrival of the European traders, others didn’t want to share the secrets of their traditional lands. Fur traders were often abandoned by the Indigenous people who were paid to guide them to Yukon. This happened to John Bell after he set up a trading post along the Peel River in the Northwest Territories in 1840. (That trading post would later become the town of Fort McPherson.) Bell tried a few times to cross the mountains and head west in search of the Yukon River, but his local guides kept deserting him. Despite efforts to keep him away, Bell finally did make it to the river in 1845.   

Two years later, in 1847, Alexander Hunter Murray set up a trading post along the Yukon River, right in the middle of Gwich’in territory. He called it Fort Yukon. This trading post would become the largest and most important post for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the area, although it was later found out that the post was actually built across the border, in Alaska. Today a small town in Alaska called Fort Yukon still exists where the trading post once stood.

The Yukon River gets its name from the Gwich’in phrase chųų gąįį han which means “white water river,” referring to the river’s colour. In English, that phrase sounds like “Yuk Han.”

The Indigenous Role

Early traders relied heavily on the Indigenous peoples of Yukon, who had been living successfully in the harsh northern environment for a long time. They needed the furs that Indigenous people brought to trade, but would also trade with them for things to eat, like meat and fish. 

The Indigenous people were much less dependent on the traders. They had a strong relationship with the land and knew how to survive there without help from the Europeans and their trade goods. They were used to travelling across Yukon throughout the year, and already had well-established routes along the rivers and across the mountains (many of which they never shared with the traders). They also knew the best hunting spots. 

Indigenous peoples had significant influence over the fur trade, because they were the ones supplying most of the furs. When it came to trading with the Europeans, the Indigenous people knew in advance what things they wanted in exchange, and couldn’t be fooled by any “trinkets” the traders would offer them. They traded for a few items in particular: guns, ammunition, tobacco, and beads, for example. 

These items had to fit rigid specifications to be considered a good trade. If what the Hudson’s Bay Company traders were offering in exchange wasn’t good enough, the Indigenous people would walk away from the trade, or take their furs to the Russians instead. One time, a group of Indigenous people rejected an entire box of beads because they were the wrong colour!

To the Indigenous people, trade items could make their lives a bit easier, but didn’t take away from their traditional skills. They were very flexible and could quickly adjust to new circumstances; they had lived through many changes in the past, after all—including the ending of the Ice Age. When fur trapping became a major activity in the North, Indigenous people spent less time hunting and focused on setting and checking trap lines instead. And as guns became more common among First Nations, over time they stopped hunting together in large groups quite as often. It was much easier for one or two people to shoot a caribou with a rifle than it was for a group to ambush a herd of caribou with bows and arrows. 

Although Indigenous people were able to adapt to many things, there was nothing they could do about the new diseases brought in by Europeans. They had never been exposed to things like measles, influenza, chicken pox, smallpox, and scarlet fever before, and had no protection against them. Thousands of Indigenous people became really sick and lost their lives to these illnesses. 

The End of an Era

In 1867 Russia sold Alaska to America for $7.2 million. Soon after this purchase, the Americans demanded that any fur trading done by the Hudson’s Bay Company in Alaska had to stop. Because their most successful trading post, Fort Yukon, was actually located in Alaska, the company knew they would eventually have to abandon the post.

The Indigenous people were not pleased with this. They had good relationships with the Hudson’s Bay traders and didn’t want to trade their furs with the Americans instead. By 1869, the First Nations were no longer allowed to trade their furs with British men. In retaliation, the First Nations refused to sell any food to the Americans. 

By 1870, the Hudson’s Bay Company had to abandon Fort Yukon completely. This marked the end of an era for the trading company. After giving up their best trading post, the Hudson’s Bay Company would never have a strong presence in the northern fur trade again. As the Americans took over instead, they brought along values of the American frontier (also known as the Old West or the Wild West), which included a more competitive trading style, and an unsympathetic attitude towards Indigenous peoples.