Pelly Crossing

Pelly Crossing is located on the banks of the Pelly River, at the point where the Klondike Highway crosses it, 254 km southeast of Dawson City and 282 km northwest of Whitehorse .

In 2006, 296 people lived in the village. The smallest number of inhabitants was in 2003 - 277 people. Since then, population growth has been taking place.

84% of the population of the village ^[1] (250 people, 2006 census) are Canadian Indians , mostly people of the northern Tutchone , and the village itself is the administrative center of one of their organizations - Selkirk ( English Selkirk First Nation ). They speak the North Tutchen language.

Pelly Crossing was used by the Selkirk people as a stop on the way to Ta-Tla Moon. Indigenous people settled in the Fort Selkirk area . At the beginning of the 20th century, the first settlement appeared at the mouth of Mika Stream in the Pelly Crossing area. Around him, a village appeared, adapted for the needs of serving the ferry and the construction of the Klondike Highway from Whitehorse to Dawson City. After the completion of the construction of the bridge over the Pelli River and the road to Dawson City, the steamship movement on the river fell into decay. This led to the fact that the Selkir left Fort Selkirk and moved to Pelly Crossing.

Pelly Crossing is home to a famous Selkirk-born Jerry Alfred, who bears the title “Song Keeper”. He recorded several albums of songs in the language of his people.

• Every year, in February, at Pelly Crossing, the checkpoint of the Yukon Quest race operates.
• In Big Jonathan House ( English Big Jonathan House ) an exhibition with exhibits related to the culture and history of indigenous people, archaeological finds.
• Fort Selkirk is a trading post founded in the middle of the 19th century. An important cultural and historical place of the peoples of the Northern Tutcheons. In the restored Fort Selkirk, there is a parking for tourists traveling around the Yukon.

• Yukon Territory Site
• Big Jonathan House