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Fort Smith (Chipewyan language: Thebacha "beside the rapids") is a town in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. It is located in the southeastern portion of the Northwest Territories, on the Slave River and adjacent to the NWT/Alberta border. == History == Fort Smith was founded around the Slave River. It served a vital link for water transportation between southern Canada and the Western Arctic. Early fur traders found an established portage route from what is now Fort Fitzgerald, on the western bank of the Slave River to Fort Smith. This route allowed its users to navigate the four sets of impassable rapids (Cassette Rapids, Pelican Rapids, Mountain Rapids, and Rapids of the Drowned). The portage trail had been traditionally used by local aboriginal people for centuries.〔 The aboriginal population of the region shifted as the fortunes of the tribes changed. By 1870, Cree had occupied the Slave River Valley. The Slavey had moved north by this time and the Chipewyan had also begun moving into the area. Peter Pond of the North West Company was the first white trader to travel on the Slave River and make contact with aboriginal people in this region. He established a post on Lake Athabasca called Fort Chipewyan in the 1780s, at the head of the Slave River. The fur trade penetrated deeper into the Mackenzie River district in the 19th century dominated by the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company. York boats were used to run the Slave River rapids and where needed small portages were established to bypass the most dangerous areas. Nonetheless, serious mishaps were bound to happen, and the section of the Slave River became known as 'The Rapids of the Drowned'. In 1872, the Hudson's Bay Company built an outpost called Smith's Landing at the most southern set of the Slave River rapids. In 1874, another outpost was constructed at the most northern set of rapids. It was called Fort Smith. Both posts were named in honour of Donald Alexander Smith. In 1876, the Roman Catholic Mission was moved from Salt River to Fort Smith while the community was prospering. In 1886, the Hudson's Bay Company launched the steam-propelled vessel ''SS Wrigley'' to run from Fort Smith to the Mackenzie River. The steamer SS Grahame ran the Slave River from Fort McMurray to the head of the rapids at Smith's Landing beginning in 1882. In 1898, the Yukon Gold Rush brought many gold seekers over the portages and through Fort Smith. In 1908, a new HBC steamer paddlewheeler, the ''SS Mackenzie River'', was launched to operate on the Slave and Mackenzie Rivers below Fort Smith. (see Steamboats of the Mackenzie River) In 1911, government was established in Fort Smith when Ottawa sent an Indian Affairs agent and a regional medical doctor, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police opened a detachment. With these developments, Fort Smith became not only the transportation centre for the Western Arctic but the administrative centre as well. The mission sawmill produced lumber for the first hospital, St. Anne's, built in 1914 for the Grey Nuns. The sawmill also supplied the lumber for the first school built in 1915. Also maintained by the Roman Catholic Mission was St. Bruno's Farm that supplied produce, meat, and dairy products. Until it was closed in the 1920s, the farm supplied all the Church's Missions in the Western Arctic. It maintained a herd of more than 140 cattle.〔 Horse-drawn freight services were complemented by tractors in 1919, when the Alberta & Arctic Transportation Company commission two 75-horsepower tractors on the Slave River portage to haul commercial freight from one side of the rapids to the other. With the discovery of oil at Norman Wells in 1920, a federal government administration building was constructed to house the new Northwest Territories Branch and the first Court of Justice in the Mackenzie District. The first bank opens in Fort Smith in June 1921. The ''SS Distributor'' was launched in 1920 by the Lamson & Hubbard Trading Company to service its trading posts along the Mackenzie River. This group was taken over by the HBC in 1924. By the 1930s, a significant part of the Fort Smith economy was centered around ship and barge building with the HBC and Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL) establishing shipyards below Fort Smith. Wood Buffalo National Park was established in 1922 with its operations and administration headquarters in Fort Smith. In 1925, Fort Smith received the first Royal Canadian Corps of Signals air radio station in the Northwest Territories. An airport was later built in 1928. The discovery of gold in Yellowknife in 1938 also represented an economic boost to Fort Smith as many prospectors came passing through. In the same year, an Anglican Mission house was built and a church was added in 1939. In 1942-1943, Fort Smith played its own small part in the war effort when huge armies raged across the globe in the Second World War. With a population of 250, Fort Smith hosted 2,000 United States Army soldiers who were en route to the Canol Oil Pipeline Project at Norman Wells (see Canol Road). They brought hundreds of barge loads of supplies; and in order to move these, they built a tractor road from Fort Smith to Hay River and even farther north. The continued gold fever that fuelled Yellowknife's growth also allowed Fort Smith's population to grow fivefold in the decade following 1945. This was reflected in the increase in government administrative facilities and the growth of its role as a transportation hub for the Mackenzie District. Fort Smith was incorporated as a village in 1964; two years later, with a population of 2,130, the village became a town on October 1, 1966. The all-weather road to Hay River was officially completed in 1966 as well, permanently linking Fort Smith to the south. The completion of a southern rail link to Hay River in 1964 meant that Fort Smith's role as the transportation hub was largely negated; and, subsequently, shipping operations on the Slave River ceased in 1968. When Yellowknife became the official Territorial capital in 1967, Fort Smith still remained the administrative centre of the Government of the NWT's vast region. See History of Northwest Territories capital cities. On Friday August 9, 1968, disaster struck Fort Smith when a landslide some broke away from the riverbank causing property damage and killing one person. The riverbank area has since been sloped to stabilize it; and now the gentle hillside is known as the Riverbank Park, complete with groomed trails, picnic areas, and a viewing platform where one can see the Rapids of the Drowned.〔''On the Banks of the Slave: A History of the Community of Fort Smith, Northwest Territories''. Published by the Tourism Committee of Fort Smith, Department of Education Northwest Territories, 1979.〕 In 1970, an Adult Vocational Training Centre was opened. Its operations were later expanded and in 1981 it became Thebacha College. A few years later, Arctic College was created by the Government of the NWT and the Thebacha Campus was also home to the headquarters offices. In 1995, the college changed its name to Aurora College to allow Nunavut the use of the Arctic College name.〔 Today, Fort Smith's economy is based on the federal, territorial, and aboriginal governments along with education and tourism. In 2008, there was some interest in re-establishing a portage route to supply the Fort McMurray oilsands operations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fort Smith, Northwest Territories」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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