Fort Nelson, named in honour of the British naval hero
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, was established by the
North West Company in 1805 as a fur-trading post. Due to fires, floods and feuds, Fort Nelson is in its fifth location.
World War II Fort Nelson Airport was a valuable asset for allied military forces in
World War II, as it served as an airbase for the
United States Air Force and for the
Royal Canadian Air Force. Contrary to popular belief that the construction of the
Alaska Highway commenced in
Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson was the original Mile 0 on the Alaska Highway because of the existence of a previously constructed road from
Fort St. John to Fort Nelson. The
United States Army built perhaps the most notable historical artifact in the area, the Alaska Highway. Construction began in 1942 out of a firm belief that Alaska faced a significant threat of Japanese invasion. Initial highway construction was performed by over 11,000 U.S. soldiers. After approximately nine months, the highway was finally completed, making Fort Nelson a bustling service-centre along the road. After the Japanese surrender of 1945, the U.S. Army ceded the Canadian portion of the highway to the Canadian government, which it made accessible to the public in 1948.
Post-World War II In the early 1950s the first five acres were sold to locals, which marked the start of the community as a separate entity from the military. Oil and gas exploration in the early 1950s provided Fort Nelson with the industrial sector that it required to jump-start expansion of the community into what would eventually become the village of Fort Nelson in 1971. However, due to collapse in oil price in 2014, most gas fields and associated rigs have been shut down and put out of operation on an indefinite basis. After the completion of
BC Hydro's
natural gas power plant to provide electricity to the region, Fort Nelson experienced true growth. A railway was built by the
Pacific Great Eastern Railway (BC Rail) up to Fort Nelson in 1971 which allowed efficient transportation of the local industry's major products (lumber, and gas) to larger markets in the south. The railway was left in abandoned state due to lack of use in the 2010s and was subsequently closed down. No facility has since been built to replace the railway to ship commodity to markets. Renewable energy company Peak Renewables is currently in negotiations with the provincial government and CN Rail to make improvements to the rail line as they develop their Pellet Plant in Fort Nelson.
Post-millennium Fort Nelson held its first annual Northern Lights Festival in March 2019. The community welcomed hundreds of international visitors to experience the northern British Columbia lifestyle. The festival included dog sled races, trips to
Liard Hot Springs, northern lights viewing, indigenous handgames and cultural celebrations, concerts from celebrated Canadian musicians, and many other events. The closure of both forestry mills officially ended the major economic pillar in 2008, mainly due to the collapse in US housing prices and
subprime mortgage crisis. The 2014 collapse in oil prices decimated the natural gas industry. Without oil production in the
Horn River Basin and lack of pipeline access, many major oil companies, including
Apache, Nexen and
Encana, shut down their local production. With the bankruptcy of Endurance energy, many local workers were laid off. The Community Forest or
boreal caribou protection initiative, with support of local
First Nations and Mayor Gary Foster, impacted the potential logging quota and possible areas for new gas well development. The Community Forest would be out of a total of . Since 2012, lack of access to maternal care has deterred many young professionals from relocating to Fort Nelson for work. telephone service and internet access in 2017 disrupted the municipality. Lack of basic infrastructure, including user-friendly facilities, have deterred many tourists from enjoying local attractions. On 26 March 2020, the shuttered Tackama mill was set on fire and suffered significant damage. Circumstances were suspicious and RCMP was called to investigate for any criminal element. Due to the collapse of LNG price and the closure of the biggest private employer in the local region, Fort Nelson suffered an exodus of residents, including former business owners who cannot find jobs in their birthplace, and amongst the casualties of this economic downturn included the Fort Nelson dollar store. The owner of the Fort Nelson dollar store told
CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk that '[she] just had no choice but to decide to close and try and make it out of here paying off people I owe money to.' The owner of the dollar store predicted that 'A lot of people are hurting. A lot of people are leaving Fort Nelson and leaving their houses, either renting them out or just downright giving them back to the banks.' On May 10, 2024, the entire town was evacuated as the result of a
massive wildfire by nearby Parker Lake. The evacuation order was rescinded and residents were allowed to return on May 27. Due to the wildfire and a lack of a stable supply of gas, NorthRiver Midstream shut down their natural gas plant and laid off 42 unionized employees and 6 non-unionized employees. == Geography ==