Rampart House, treasured site to the Vuntut Gwitchin, becomes official historic site
CBC
The sound of laughter, fiddle tunes and feet jigging on the hardwood floor of the old general store could be heard across the historic site of Rampart House as members of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation gathered last week to celebrate their connection to the site and its new protected heritage designation.
Down the hill from the once-thriving community, a dozen river boats lined the shore of the Porcupine River, right at the border between the Yukon and Alaska. More than 50 people made the 80-kilometre trip downriver from the fly-in community of Old Crow, Yukon, on a scorching July day.
A few elders, including Lorraine Netro, arrived by helicopter.
"It's emotional," she said. "It's such a day to celebrate ... Rampart House is, you know, the beginning for so many of our families."
The event on Thursday was a signing ceremony for an updated management plan for the site, as well as an official designation of Rampart House as a Yukon Historic Site.
Like many at the gathering, Netro has deep roots at Rampart House. Her grandfather walked from Circle, Alaska, to Rampart House and raised a family there.
"This place was selected as a community for a very special reason, it was a gathering place for all the Gwich'in people from Alaska, for Vuntut Gwitchin and our relatives in the Northwest Territories," Netro said.
According to Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Pauline Frost, also at last week's gathering, there hadn't been so many people at Rampart House in many decades.
"Can you only imagine what that was like a 100 years ago? The people that are here today… the children that are running around and playing, I can only imagine, that's what it was like, 'cause it's bringing life back to this place."
In the 1800s, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading post at Fort Yukon, at the confluence of the Porcupine and Yukon Rivers. But in 1867, when the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia, the company had to move upriver, out of American territory.
The company reestablished a new post — only to find out it was still in Alaska.
After surveys, the company moved a second time, further upriver and across the border to what is now known as Rampart House. That increasingly rigid international border cut a line right through Gwich'in families and communities.
"They had a Gwich'in name for the border, néentaii tl'yah, means 'strong rope'," said elder Allen Benjamin. Both sides of his family come from Rampart House.
"It's like they put a long rope to divide two countries… it caused a lot of problems in terms of hunting and fishing."
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