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Fort St. John - city in British Columbia, Canada

Downtown Fort St. John Fort St. John is in the Peace Country and Northern Rockies and is the second-largest settlement along the Alaska Highway. The city of 20,000 people (2016) is in the northeastern British Columbia, approximately 382 km south of Fort Nelson and 75 km north of Dawson Creek. Fort St. John is the oldest European-established settlement in present-day British Columbia.

Understand

Fort St. John is a retail, service and industrial centre. The province's oil and gas industry is centred in the city. Forestry has become more important to the city since the opening of an oriented strand board plant in 2005. Much wood of the is exported to the United States. Agriculture has been the mainstay of the economy servicing and providing a market for the upland prairies.

History

Over the years the community has been moved a number of times for varying economic reasons. The present location is thought to be its sixth. The original trading post built in the area was named Rocky Mountain House (not to be confused with the modern Alberta town by that name). It was established one year after Sir Alexander Mackenzie explored the area in 1793. One of a series of forts along the Peace River constructed to service the fur trade, it was southwest of the present site of Fort St. John. The Dunneza and Sikanni First Nations used it as a trading post. It was also used as a supply depot for further expeditions into the territory. The fort closed in 1805. Fort d'Epinette was built in 1806 by the North West Company. It was renamed Fort St. John in 1821 following the purchase of the North West Company by the Hudson's Bay Company. This fort was about 500 m downstream from the mouth of the Beatton River, which at that time was known as the Pine River (d'epinette in French). It was shut down in 1823. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1958.

After a lapse of nearly 40 years, Fort St. John was reopened in 1860 on the south side of the Peace River, directly south of the present community. It was moved in 1872 by Francis Work Beatton directly across the river. This community lasted until 1925 when the river ceased to be the main avenue of transportation and the fort was moved closer to where settlers were establishing homesteads. The new town was constructed at Fish Creek, northwest of the present community, on the new trail to Fort Nelson. It did not shut down until 1975. In 1928, C.M. Finch moved his general store to two quarters of land where he also built a government building to house the land, telegraph and post offices. The present site for the town was firmly established after he donated 5 acres (20,000 m²) for a Roman Catholic Church and additional land for a hospital.

Climate

Fort St. John, on the upland prairies north of the Peace River, experiences a cold humid continental climate (close to subarctic), with cold winters and warm summers. Although winters can be frigid, the area has milder winters than much of the rest of Canada (especially considering its relatively northerly latitude) due to the influence of the nearby Rocky Mountains. They tend to block Arctic air masses coming in from the north/northwest, although they can certainly still penetrate the area. Fort St. John uses Mountain Standard Time all year (same as Pacific Daylight Time in summer), and because of its northerly latitude experiences short daylight hours in winter and long daylight hours in summer.

Fort St. John is one of the sunniest places in the province, especially in winter and spring.

Get in

By bus

  • BC Bus North, +1-844-564-7494. Provides bus service on the following routes: 2021-04-25
    • Between Prince George and Fort St. John twice per week with stops in Mackenzie, Chetwynd, Dawson Creek, and Taylor. Travel time to Fort St. John from Dawson Creek is 1 hour and from Prince George is 8 hours. Fare is $48.
    • Between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson once per week with stops in Taylor and Fort St. John. Travel time to Fort St. John from Dawson Creek is 1 hour and from Fort Nelson is 5.25 hours. Fare is $49.
  • Cold Shot, +1 587-557-7719, support@coldshot.ca. Bus service from Monday to Friday between Fort St. John and Grande Prairie with stops in Dawson Creek, Hythe, and Beaverlodge. Travel time to Fort St. John from Dawson Creek is 1 hour and from Grande Prairie is 3 hours. Also offers bus service between Grande Prairie and Edmonton. 2021-02-04

By car

Highways serving Fort St John:

  • Highway 29 - Terminates just north of Fort St. John after traveling northeast from Chetwynd via Hudson Hope
  • Highway 97 (Alaska Highway) - Fort St. John can be reached by driving north from Dawson Creek or south from Fort Nelson

By plane

Airport

  • Fort St. John Airport (IATA: YXJ), 56.238333°, -120.740278°, +1 250-787-0426, info@yxj.ca. The only commercial airport between Dawson Creek and Fort Nelson. The two-runway airport has Air Canada Jazz, WestJet and other smaller airlines such as Central Mountain Air with regularly scheduled flights and North Cariboo Air providing chartered flights. 2022-05-26
    • Flights to Fort St. John from Vancouver take 1.75 hours.

Airlines

Canadian airlines traveling to Fort St. John:

Get around

Within the city the streets are laid out in a grid pattern. The main streets are the north-south 100 Street and the east-west 100 Avenue.

By public transit

By taxi

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Fort St. John

fortstjohn.ca
Postal code:V1JDate Time:Please wait...Timezone:America/Dawson_CreekCoordinates:56.25, -120.85

Peace River Regional District

2nd-order administrative division

British Columbia

Primary administrative division

Canada

canada.ca
Population:37.1 MDial code:+1Currency:Dollar (CAD)Voltage:120 V, 240 V, 60 Hz
NEMA 14-30NEMA 14-50