Kitwanga Fort
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| Location | Kitwanga, British Columbia in the Skeena Country of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. |
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| Type | National Historic Site of Canada |
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| Official name | Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | 1971 |
Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site of Canada
Gitwangak Battle Hill National Historic Site, formerly known as Kitwanga Fort National Historic Site is a National Historic Site of Canada located at Kitwanga, British Columbia in the Skeena Country of Northwestern British Columbia, Canada. The reserve now called 'Gitwangax'. This is to distinguish it from the adjacent lumber milling town, Kitwanga. 'Battle Hill' was an 18th-century earthwork fortress, located in Kitwanga. The site includes a trail with interpretive signs. The park was developed by George Macdonald, whose archaeological study was of the site, and who was the Director of the National Museum of Civilization until the opening of its current building.
The nearby Gitwangax Village features several wooden totem poles that were originally erected by several 'clans' ('Wilp' in the Gitksan language; 'house' in contemporary use) along the shore of, and facing the Skeena River. After the flood of ca. 1934, they were moved to higher ground, but (in contrast to traditional practice) to face the village.
Coordinates: 55°07′10″N 128°01′00″W / 55.11944°N 128.01667°W
Battle Hill was a fortress that utilized a strategic location, with a number of different defensive fortifications: rolling things such as rocks and huge logs covered with spikes down the sides of the slopes that surrounded the fortress during raids. [This fortress was defended by a legendary chief named (Nehl'xt) he was a warrior that wore a grizzly bear hide for protection which could not be penetrated by any weapons used by the enemy nations attacking. He used a number of weapons most notably a weapon called The One Strike Club to kill his enemy.] The Gitwangak people would drop back to this location during raids on the village in the lower part of the Gitwangak territory. This location was never lost during battle. The legends of the battles are recorded and passed on through oral history passed on by the Gitwangak people.
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