Fort Durham
Fort Durham was one of three locations (the others were Fort Stikine at Wrangell and Fort Yukon at the confluence of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers) established in Russian America by the Hudson's Bay Company. As such, it represents the British role in the great struggle between England, the United States, and the Russian Empire for control of the North Pacific fur trade. Fort Durham was built under provisions of a lease negotiated between the Russian American Company and the Hudson's Bay Company. The lease gave the British firm control of a ten-mile wide strip of Russian Alaska from 54 degrees 40 minutes North to Cape Spencer on Cross Sound. Fort Durham was erected during June to August 1840 about 25 miles south of the present day town of Juneau. The stockaded post served as a trading point for the Hudson's Bay Company until the spring of 1843. After that, the company abandoned the fort in favor of yearly visits to the area by its trading ship, Beaver. There are no surface remains at the Fort Durham site. Archaeological evidences of the trading post were discovered in 1975.