Fort Ross, Nunavut

Abandoned human settlement in Nunavut, Canada

For other uses, see Fort Ross (disambiguation).

Abandoned trading post in Nunavut, Canada

Fort Ross

Abandoned trading post

The post's store building in 2017

Map indicating Fort Ross, with nearby settlements shown

Fort Ross

Fort Ross location in Nunavut

Show map of Nunavut

Fort Ross

Fort Ross (Canada)

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Coordinates: 72°00′N 094°14′W﻿ / ﻿72.000°N 94.233°W﻿ / 72.000; -94.233[1]
Country| Canada
Territory| Nunavut
Region| Kitikmeot
Established| 1937
Founded by| Hudson's Bay Company
Named for| John Ross and James Clark Ross
Elevation

[2]

| 5 m (16 ft)
Population

• Total| 0
Time zone| UTC-07:00 (MST)

Fort Ross is an abandoned former trading post on Somerset Island, in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. Founded in 1937, it was the last trading post to be established by the Hudson's Bay Company. It was operational for only eleven years, being abandoned in 1948, as severe ice conditions in the surrounding waters made the site hard to reach and economically unviable.[3]

## Geography

[edit]

An Inuk child and dog at Fort Ross in 1945

The post is situated at the eastern end of Bellot Strait, on a southeastern peninsula of Somerset Island, between Hazard Inlet and Brentford Bay.[4] The site is close to the shore of the small Depot Bay, at an approximate elevation of 5 m (16 ft) above sea level.[2] The nearest inhabited places are Taloyoak, 275 km (171 mi) to the south, Resolute, 300 km (190 mi) to the north, and Arctic Bay, 325 km (202 mi) to the northeast. The site is 500 km (310 mi) from Cambridge Bay, the regional centre, 1,400 km (870 mi) from Iqaluit, the territorial capital, and 3,100 km (1,900 mi) from Ottawa.

## History

[edit]

The post manager's house being built in September 1937

Fort Ross was established in 1937 by the Hudson's Bay Company. Its establishment was meant to capitalize on fur opportunities on the island, and to facilitate company trade passing through the Bellot Strait. Its exact location was chosen by its first manager and longtime trader Lorenz Learmonth.[3] The post was named after related Arctic explorers John Ross and James Clark Ross.[5]

Its four buildings: the post manager's house, a power house, a warehouse, and a store, were built over 5 days in September 1937, following the 2 September arrival of the icebreaker SS Nascopie, which brought construction and food supplies.[6] Also arriving on the Nascopie were the post's first inhabitants: Lorenz Learmonth and other staff for the post, including two clerks, and three Inuit families from Cape Dorset who built their homes near the four post buildings.[5] Explorer Henry Larsen reached it in 1942, during his traversal of the Northwest Passage, the first successful navigation from west to east.

After the annual resupply of the post in 1941, the next two resupplies by the Nascopie, of 1942 and 1943, failed to reach Fort Ross due to ice conditions. After the Nascopie was forced to turn back in September 1943, plans were made to evacuate the staff of the post, as food supplies had dwindled significantly, despite rationing and supplementing the supplies through hunting. As all Canadian planes suited to perform the evacuation were unavailable due to the country's participation in World War II, the Canadian government requested assistance from the United States In November, a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Douglas C-47 Skytrain was outfitted for the trip. On 4 November, some supplies were airdropped, and USAAF Captain J.F Stanwell-Fletcher parachuted down to the post to prepare a landing site for the plane, in what was the first parachute jump north of the Arctic Circle. The largest lake on Somerset Island, Stanwell-Fletcher Lake, was later named after him. On 7 November, after a landing strip was prepared on a small lake about 16 km (10 mi) away from the post, the plane landed, deposited the remaining supplies for the Inuit population, and quickly took off again, successfully evacuating the three staff of the post.[7]

In 1944, the Nascopie was able to reach Fort Ross, and the post was reestablished, with a new manager. However, pack ice continued to make resupply of the post and trade through the Bellot Strait difficult, and the post was abandoned in 1948. The post, along with the resident Inuit, relocated 275 km (171 mi) to the south, establishing Spence Bay (now Taloyoak).[3]

Only two of the four buildings remain: the post manager's house and the store. The store building was recently[when?] refurbished and strengthened, and is still used as a shelter by Inuit caribou hunters from Taloyoak, and as a refuge for researchers and small boat travellers passing through. In the summer of 2006, CBC's The National visited Fort Ross in their travels on the Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent in a special series focused on climate change.[3]

## Notable residents

[edit]

* Bill Lyall[8]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Fort Ross". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada.
2. ^ a b "Geospatial Data Extraction tool". maps.canada.ca. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
3. ^ a b c d "Northwest Passage: The National visits Canada's North". CBC News. 27 October 2006. Archived from the original on 3 November 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2008.
4. ^ "Somerset Island Map". www.arctic.uoguelph.ca. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
5. ^ a b "Fort Ross – First east-west trade post". Above&Beyond. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
6. ^ "The Far Flung Corners of Empire". www.uphere.ca. July 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
7. ^ Heslop, Barbara (March 1944). "Arctic Rescue" (PDF). The Beaver. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
8. ^ "The Lyalls of Taloyoak". Archived from the original on 16 August 2004. Retrieved 8 April 2021.

* v
* t
* e

Subdivisions of Nunavut

Regions|

* Kitikmeot (Unorganized)
* Kivalliq (Unorganized)
* Qikiqtaaluk (Unorganized)

Electoral districts|

| Federal|

* Nunavut

|

Territorial|

* Aggu
* Aivilik
* Amittuq
* Arviat North-Whale Cove
* Arviat South
* Baker Lake
* Cambridge Bay
* Gjoa Haven
* Hudson Bay
* Iqaluit-Manirajak
* Iqaluit-Niaqunnguu
* Iqaluit-Sinaa
* Iqaluit-Tasiluk
* Kugluktuk
* Netsilik
* Pangnirtung
* Quttiktuq
* Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet
* Rankin Inlet South
* South Baffin
* Tununiq
* Uqqummiut

Communities|

* Arctic Bay
* Arviat
* Baker Lake
* Bathurst Inlet
* Cambridge Bay
* Chesterfield Inlet
* Clyde River
* Coral Harbour
* Gjoa Haven
* Grise Fiord
* Igloolik
* Iqaluit Apex
* Kimmirut
* Kinngait
* Kugaaruk
* Kugluktuk
* Naujaat
* Pangnirtung
* Pond Inlet
* Qikiqtarjuaq
* Rankin Inlet
* Resolute
* Sanikiluaq
* Sanirajak
* Taloyoak
* Whale Cove

Weather stations and
Canadian Armed Forces bases|

* Alert
* CFS Alert
* Ennadai
* Eureka
* Isachsen
* Nanisivik Naval Facility

Mine sites|

| Operating|

* Baffinland Iron Mine
* Doris North
* Meadowbank Gold Mine

|

Defunct|

Bent Horn Mine

* Cullaton Lake/Shear Lake Mine
* Jericho Diamond Mine
* Lupin Mine
* Nanisivik Mine
* Polaris mine
* Rankin Inlet Mine

DEW line and NWS sites|

* Bernard Harbour
* Bray Island
* Brevoort Island
* Broughton Island
* Byron Bay
* Cambridge Bay
* Cape Dyer
* Cape Hooper
* Cape Mcloughlin
* Cape Mercy
* Cape Peel West
* Cape Young
* Clifton Point
* Clinton Point
* Croker River
* Dewar Lakes
* Durban Island
* Edinburgh Island
* Ekalugad
* Gjoa Haven
* Gladman Point
* Harding River
* Hat Island
* Kangok Fjord
* Keats Point
* Keith Bay
* Kivitoo
* Lady Franklin Point
* Lailor River
* Loks Land
* Longstaff Bluff
* Mackar Inlet
* Matheson Point
* Nudluardjuk Lake
* Pelly Bay
* Qikiqtaryuaq
* Resolution Island
* Ross Point
* Rowley Island
* Sanirajak
* Scarpa Lake
* Shepherd Bay
* Simpson Lake
* Sturt Point

Former|

* Amadjuak
* Brooman Point Village
* Craig Harbour
* Dundas Harbour
* Iglunga
* Killiniq
* Nanisivik
* Native Point
* Nuwata
* Padlei
* Port Leopold
* Tavani

Hudson's Bay Company
trading posts|

* Amadjuak
* Apex
* Arctic Bay
* Baker Lake
* Bathurst Inlet
* Bay Chimo
* Belcher Islands
* Blacklead Island
* Cambridge Bay
* Cape Dorset
* Charlton Island Depot
* Chesterfield Inlet
* Clyde River
* Coats Island
* Dundas Harbour
* Eskimo Point
* Fort Hearne
* Fort Ross
* Frobisher Bay
* Gjoa Haven
* Igloolik
* Kent Peninsula
* King William Island
* Kugaryuak
* Lake Harbour
* Mansel Island
* Nueltin House
* Padley
* Pangnirtung
* Pangnirtung Fox Farm
* Perry River
* Ponds Inlet
* Port Burwell
* Port Leopold
* Repulse Bay
* Southampton Island
* Tavane
* Tree River
* Wager Inlet

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