Chilanko Forks
Chilanko Forks is an unincorporated community and a Tsilhqot’in First Nations settlement in British Columbia, Canada. It sits on the north bank of the Chilanko River, just northeast of Tatla Lake and south of Puntzi Lake, in the Chilcotin District of the Central Interior. The Alexis Creek First Nation has offices there.
Historic notes include a post office spellings change (Chilanco Forks from 1907 to 1918) and the area hosting military and logging activity. A US airbase (1952–1963) and then an RCAF base (1963–1966) were located nearby, and sawmill workers lived in Chilanko Forks from the 1960s until the mill closed in 1971. Logging operations moved around the area over the years, with a planer mill added in 1966 before the mill fire ended operations in 1971. Dial telephones arrived on July 27, 1988.
Today the community is mainly clustered around two roads near the airstrip, with ranches and the main Aboriginal settlement nearby, and a satellite community east of the main area. The center has been relocated since earlier times, and the old route from the highway now ends in bush in places.
Chilanko Forks has a subarctic climate with very cold winters and large daily temperature swings. A record winter low of −52.8 C was recorded in 1968, and the all-time high reached 39.8 C in 2021. The name Chilanko means “many beaver river” in the Chilcotin language.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:52 (CET).