The hill with its spectacular views has been part of traditional Teetl’it Gwich’in lands for many generations.
In 1840 John Bell of the Hudson’s Bay Company built the first Fort McPherson four miles upriver from here.
Moved to this site in 1848, it was for over fifty years the principal trading post in the Mackenzie Delta region and, after 1860 a centre of missionary activity.
In 1903 Inspector Charles Constantine established the first R.N.W.M.P. post in the western Arctic here. In the winter of 1898-99, a number of overlanders tried to use Fort McPherson as a base to reach the Klondike.