In 1874, Fort Reliance was established in the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, ten km downriver from the mouth of the Klondike River and across the Yukon River from the Hän village of Jutl’à’ K’ät (Nuklako). Sixtymile and Fortymile rivers were named for their distance from Fort Reliance.

Illustration drawn in 1884 by Willis Everette. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Willis Everette collection #1976-91