Great Slave Lake

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Great Slave Lake
Tıdeè (Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì)
Tinde’e (Wıìlıìdeh Yatii/Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé)
Tu Nedhé (Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé)
Tucho (Dehcho Dene Zhatıé)
Canada.A2002160.1920.721.250m.jpg
NASA photo of Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca
NWT All Region Locator.svg
Red pog.svg
Great Slave Lake
Location Northwest Territories
Coordinates 61°30′01″N114°00′04″W / 61.50028°N 114.00111°W / 61.50028; -114.00111 (Great Slave Lake) [1]
Lake type Glacial
Primary inflows Hay River, Slave River, Taltson River, Lockhart River, Yellowknife River, Snare River (through Marian Lake and Frank Channel), Marian River (through Marian Lake and Frank Channel), Stark River
Primary outflows Mackenzie River
Catchment area 971,000 km2 (375,000 sq mi) [2]
Basin  countries Canada
Max. length469 km (291 mi) [3]
Max. width203 km (126 mi) [3]
Surface area 27,200 km2 (10,500 sq mi) [2]
Average depth41 m (135 ft) [2]
Max. depth614 m (2,014 ft) [2]
Water volume 1,115 km3 (268 cu mi) [2] /
Shore length13,057 km (1,900 mi) [2]
Surface elevation156 m (512 ft) [2]
FrozenNovember - mid June [4]
Settlements Yellowknife, Hay River, Behchokǫ̀, Fort Resolution, Łutselk'e, Hay River Reserve, Dettah, Ndilǫ
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Great Slave Lake [1] [lower-alpha 1] is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada (after Great Bear Lake), the deepest lake in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft), [2] and the tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It is 469 km (291 mi) long and 20 to 203 km (12 to 126 mi) wide. [3] It covers an area of 27,200 km2 (10,500 sq mi) [2] in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from 1,070 km3 (260 cu mi) [10] to 1,580 km3 (380 cu mi) [2] and up to 2,088 km3 (501 cu mi) [11] making it the 10th or 12th largest by volume.

Contents

The lake shares its name with the First Nations peoples of the Dene family called Slavey by their enemies the Cree. Towns situated on the lake include (clockwise from east) Łutselk'e, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Hay River Reserve, Behchokǫ̀, Yellowknife, Ndilǫ, and Dettah. The only community in the East Arm is Łutselk'e, a hamlet of about 350 people, largely Chipewyan Indigenous peoples of the Dene Nation, and the abandoned winter camp and Hudson's Bay Company post Fort Reliance. Along the south shore, east of Hay River is the abandoned Pine Point Mine and the company town of Pine Point.

History

Indigenous peoples were the first settlers around the lake after the retreat of glacial ice. Archaeological evidence has revealed several different periods of cultural history, including the Northern Plano tradition (8,000 years before present), Shield Archaic tradition (6,500 years), Arctic small tool tradition (3,500 years), and the Taltheilei Shale tradition (2,500 years before present). Each culture has left a distinct mark in the archaeological record based on type or size of lithic tools. [12]

Great Slave Lake was put on European maps during the emergence of the fur trade towards the northwest from Hudson Bay in the mid 18th century. The name 'Great Slave' came from the English-language translation of the Cree exonym, Awokanek (Slavey), which they called the Dene Tha. The enslaved people were Dene tribes living on the lake's southern shores at that time. [13] [14] [15] As the French explorers dealt directly with the Cree traders, the large lake was referred to as "Grand lac des Esclaves" which was eventually translated into English as "Great Slave Lake". [16]

In the 1930s, gold was discovered on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake, leading to the establishment of Yellowknife which would become the capital of the NWT. In 1960, an all-season highway was built around the west side of the lake, originally an extension of the Mackenzie Highway but now known as Yellowknife Highway or Highway 3. On January 24, 1978, a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite, named Kosmos 954, built with an onboard nuclear reactor fell from orbit and disintegrated. Pieces of the nuclear core fell in the vicinity of Great Slave Lake. Some of the nuclear debris was recovered by a joint Canadian Armed Forces and United States Armed Forces military operation called Operation Morning Light. [17]

Suggested renaming

In the late 2010s, many placenames within the Northwest Territories were restored to their indigenous names. It has been suggested that the lake be renamed as well, particularly because of the mention of slavery. "Great Slave Lake is actually a very terrible name, unless you're a proponent of slavery," says Dëneze Nakehk'o, a Northwest Territories educator and founding member of First Nations organization Dene Nahjo. [18] "It's a beautiful place. It's majestic; it's huge. And I don't really think the current name on the map is fitting for that place." He has suggested Tu Nedhé, the Dene Soline name for the lake, as an alternative. [19] Tucho, the Dehcho Dene term for the lake, has also been suggested. [18]

Geography and natural history

Mackenzie River drainage basin showing Great Slave Lake's position in the Western Canadian Arctic Mackenzie River drainage basin.PNG
Mackenzie River drainage basin showing Great Slave Lake's position in the Western Canadian Arctic

The Hay, Slave, Lockhart, and Taltson Rivers are its chief tributaries. It is drained by the Mackenzie River. Though the western shore is forested, the east shore and northern arm are tundra-like. The southern and eastern shores reach the edge of the Canadian Shield. Along with other lakes such as the Great Bear and Athabasca, it is a remnant of the vast glacial Lake McConnell.

The lake has a very irregular shoreline. The East Arm of Great Slave Lake is filled with islands, and the area is within the proposed Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve. The Pethei Peninsula separates the East Arm into McLeod Bay in the north and Christie Bay in the south. The lake is at least partially frozen during an average of eight months of the year.

The main western portion of the lake forms a moderately deep bowl with a surface area of 18,500 km2 (7,100 sq mi) and a volume of 596 km3 (143 cu mi). This main portion has a maximum depth of 187.7 m (616 ft) and a mean depth of 32.2 m (106 ft). [20] To the east, McLeod Bay ( 62°52′N110°10′W / 62.867°N 110.167°W / 62.867; -110.167 (McLeod Bay, Great Slave Lake) ) and Christie Bay ( 62°32′N111°00′W / 62.533°N 111.000°W / 62.533; -111.000 (Christie Bay, Great Slave Lake) ) are much deeper, with a maximum recorded depth in Christie Bay of 614 m (2,014 ft). [2]

On some of the plains surrounding Great Slave Lake, climax polygonal bogs have formed, the early successional stage to which often consists of pioneer black spruce. [21]

South of Great Slave Lake, in a remote corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, is the Whooping Crane Summer Range, a nesting site of a remnant flock of whooping cranes, discovered in 1954. [22]

Ecology

The Slave River provides the basin with high nutrient levels; accordingly, coupled with a general absence of pollution and invasive species, the lake is rich in aquatic life relative to its biome. Fish species include lake whitefish, lake trout, inconnu, northern pike and walleye, cisco, burbot, ninespine stickleback, shiner, also longnose sucker. Lake whitefish enjoy the highest levels, followed by cisco and suckers. Climate change, specifically reduced ice coverage times, are impacting the populations of these species. Copepoda are also prevalent in the lake. [23] [24]

Bodies of water and tributaries

Rivers that flow into Great Slave Lake include (going clockwise from the community of Behchokǫ̀): [25] [26]

Ice road

Great Slave Lake has one ice road known as the Dettah ice road. It is a 6.5 km (4.0 mi) road that connects the Northwest Territories capital of Yellowknife to Dettah, a small First Nations fishing community also in the Northwest Territories. To reach the community in summer the drive is 27 km (17 mi) via the Ingraham Trail.

Yellowknife Bay in April 2012. The surface melt begins to make transportation more difficult between the houseboats near Jolliffe Island. Late April on Yellowknife Bay, NWT, Canada..JPG
Yellowknife Bay in April 2012. The surface melt begins to make transportation more difficult between the houseboats near Jolliffe Island.

Ice Lake Rebels

From 2014 to 2016, Animal Planet aired a documentary series called Ice Lake Rebels . It takes place on Great Slave Lake, and details the lives of houseboaters on the lake. [27]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ (French: Grand lac des Esclaves), [5] known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), [6] Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii/Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib/Chipewyan), [7] Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chipewyan), [8] and Tucho in Dehcho Dene Zhatıé (Slavey), [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northwest Territories</span> Territory of Canada

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately 1,144,000 km2 (442,000 sq mi) and a 2016 census population of 41,790, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated population as of 2023 is 45,668. Yellowknife is the capital, most populous community, and only city in the territory; its population was 19,569 as of the 2016 census. It became the territorial capital in 1967, following recommendations by the Carrothers Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowknife</span> Capital city of the Northwest Territories, Canada

Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about 400 km (250 mi) south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the Yellowknife River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulita</span> Hamlet in Northwest Territories, Canada

Tulita, which in Slavey means "where the rivers or waters meet", is a hamlet in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was formerly known as Fort Norman, until 1 January 1996. It is located at the junction of the Great Bear River and the Mackenzie River; the Bear originates at Great Bear Lake adjacent to Deline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tłı̨chǫ</span> First Nations people in Canada

The Tłı̨chǫ people, sometimes spelled Tlicho and also known as the Dogrib, are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavey</span> First Nations aboriginal people of Canada

The Slavey are a First Nations indigenous peoples of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.

Slavey is a group of Athabaskan languages and a dialect continuum spoken amongst the Dene peoples of Canada in the Northwest Territories – or central Denendeh – where it also has official status. The languages are primarily written using a modified Latin script, with some using Canadian Aboriginal syllabics. In their own languages, these languages are referred to as: Sahtúgot’įné Yatı̨́, K’ashógot’įne Goxedǝ́ and Shíhgot’įne Yatı̨́ in the North, and Dené Dháh, Dene Yatıé or Dene Zhatıé in the South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Bear Lake</span> Large glacial lake in Northwest Territories, Canada

Great Bear Lake is a lake in the boreal forest of Canada. It is the largest lake entirely in Canada, the fourth-largest in North America, and the eighth-largest in the world. The lake is in the Northwest Territories, on the Arctic Circle between 65 and 67 degrees of northern latitude and between 118 and 123 degrees western longitude, 156 m (512 ft) above sea level.

The Tlicho language, also known as Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì or the Dogrib language, is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken by the Tłı̨chǫ First Nations of the Canadian Northwest Territories. According to Statistics Canada in 2011, there were 2,080 people who speak Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì. As of 2016, 1,735 people speak the language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dene</span> Indigenous people in northern Canada

The Dene people are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahtu</span> Dene First Nations ethnic group

The Sahtú or North Slavey are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. The Sahtú peoples live in Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita which form the Sahtu Region of the NWT. The Dene of the region are represented by the Sahtu Dene Council who, in 1993, signed the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Sahtú groups include the Hare Dene, Bear Lake Dene, and Mountain Dene. They call themselves also Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨ne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Smith, Northwest Territories</span> Town in Northwest Territories, Canada

Fort Smith is a town in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. It is located in the southeastern portion of the Northwest Territories, on the Slave River and adjacent to the Alberta border along the 60th parallel north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dettah</span> Yellowknives Dene First Nation in Northwest Territories, Canada

Dettah, sometimes spelled incorrectly as Detah, is a First Nations community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Located just southeast of the capital of Yellowknife, it is a 6.5 km (4.0 mi) drive from that city by ice road across the north arm of Great Slave Lake in winter or a 27 km (17 mi) drive via the Ingraham Trail, year-round. The name T'é?ehdaá means 'Burnt Point' in the Wíílíídeh dialect and was simplified to Dettah when non-indigenous people couldnʼt pronounce it. The place was a common fishing spot for the Tetsǫ́tʼine (Yellowknives) people and is home to nearly 200 indigenous people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Athabaskan languages</span> Languages spoken in northwest North America

Northern Athabaskan is a geographic sub-grouping of the Athabaskan language family spoken by indigenous peoples in the northern part of North America, particularly in Alaska, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The Northern Athabaskan languages consist of 31 languages that can be divided into seven geographic subgroups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellowknives</span> Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Territories, Canada

The Yellowknives, Yellow Knives, Copper Indians, Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine are indigenous peoples of Canada, one of the five main groups of the First Nations Dene who live in the Northwest Territories. The name, which is also the source for the later community of Yellowknife, derives from the colour of the tools made from copper deposits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Behchokǫ̀</span> Community in Northwest Territories, Canada

Behchokǫ̀, officially the Tłı̨chǫ Community Government of Behchokǫ̀, is a community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Behchokǫ̀ is located on the Yellowknife Highway, on the northwest tip of Great Slave Lake, approximately 110 km (68 mi) northwest of Yellowknife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Łutselk'e</span> First Nation - Designated Authority of Łutselkʼe in Northwest Territories, Canada

Łutselkʼe, also spelt Łutsël Kʼé, is a "designated authority" in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is on the south shore near the eastern end of Great Slave Lake and until 1 July 1992, it was known as Snowdrift, as the community lies near the mouth of the Snowdrift River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingraham Trail</span> Highway in the Northwest Territories

Highway 4, known as the Ingraham Trail, extends from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories to Tibbitt Lake, approximately 70 km (43 mi) east of Yellowknife. It was built in the mid-1960s as the first leg of a 'road to resources' with the original intention of encircling Great Slave Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Délı̨nę</span> Charter Community in Northwest Territories, Canada

The Charter Community of Délı̨nę is located in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, on the western shore of Great Bear Lake and is 544 km (338 mi) northwest of Yellowknife. Délı̨nę means "where the waters flow", a reference to the headwaters of the Great Bear River, Sahtúdé. It is the only settlement on the shores of Great Bear Lake as Fort Confidence was last used in the 1800s and Port Radium closed in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Slave Métis Alliance</span>

The North Slave Métis Alliance is a non-profit society that represents the indigenous rights-bearing Métis people of the Northwest Territories, who primarily exercise their indigenous rights north and east of Great Slave Lake. The NSMA’s mandate includes: The assertion, protection, and implementation of the indigenous rights of the North Slave Métis People; and the exercise of Métis responsibility to protect the environment and to promote and enhance Métis education, economic, social, and cultural development. The NSMA is vitally concerned with the protection, preservation, and sustainable use of its traditional lands and resources. With that in mind, the NSMA is committed to principles of economic sustainability, environmental stewardship, and self-determination in respect to its traditional lands and resources.

References

  1. 1 2 "Great Slave Lake". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Hebert, Paul (2007). "Encyclopedia of Earth". Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories. Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment. Retrieved 7 December 2007.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. 1 2 3 "Google Maps Distance Calculator (From Behchoko to the Slave River Delta it is 203 km and from the Mackenzie River to the furthest reaches of the East Arm it is 469 km)" . Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Nav Canada's Water Aerodrome Supplement. Effective 0901Z 26 March 2020 to 0901Z 22 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "Grand lac des Esclaves". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  6. ↑ "Kw'ahtidee Jimmy Bruneau" (PDF). Northwest Territories. NWT Literary Council. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "Indigenous Risk Perceptions and Land-Use in Yellowknife, NT" (PDF). Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Wohlberg, Meagan. "We Are T'satsąot'inę: Renaming Yellowknife". Edge North. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  9. ↑ Cohen, Sidney. "Big Lake". Up Here. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  10. ↑ Schertzer, William M.; Rouse, Wayne R.; Blanken, Peter D.; Walker, Anne E. (August 2003). "Over-Lake Meteorology and Estimated Bulk Heat Exchange of Great Slave Lake in 1998 and 1999" (PDF). Journal of Hydrometeorology. 4 (4). American Meteorological Society: 650. Bibcode:2003JHyMe...4..649S. doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2003)004<0649:OMAEBH>2.0.CO;2. S2CID   24895512. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2011. The surface area of Great Slave Lake is 27,200 km2 with a total volume of 1,070 km3 (van der Leeden et al. 1990)
  11. ↑ "LakeNet - Lakes". www.worldlakes.org.
  12. ↑ W.C. Noble (1981) "Prehistory of the Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake Region," In: Handbook of the North American Indians - Subarctic, Volume Six. Smithsonian Institution.
  13. ↑ Waldman, Carl (2006). Facts on File Library of American History - Encyclopedia of Native American tribes. Infobase Publishing. p. 275. ISBN   9781438110103.
  14. ↑ Pritzker, Barry (2000). A Native American encyclopedia : history, culture, and peoples. Oxford University Press. p. 512. ISBN   9780195138979.
  15. ↑ "Yellowknife hotel with 'slave' in name stokes conversation on reclaiming Indigenous names".
  16. ↑ Alexander Mackenzie. Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Lawrence, through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans; in the years 1789 and 1793. With a preliminary account of the rise, progress, and present state of the Fur Trade of that country. London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun, and W. Davis, Stand; Cobbett and Morgan, Pall-Mall; and W. Creech, at Edinburgh, by R. Noble, Old Bailey, 1801. pg. 3, footnote.
  17. ↑ Quentin Bristow. "Operation Morning Light". Natural Resources Canada. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2007.
  18. 1 2 Cohen, Sidney (September–October 2020). "Big Lake". Up Here . Vol. 36, no. 5. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  19. ↑ Mandeville, Curtis (21 June 2016). "Goodbye Great Slave Lake? Movement to decolonize N.W.T. maps is growing". CBC News . Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  20. ↑ Schertzer, W. M. (2000). "Digital bathymetry of Great Slave Lake". NWRI Contribution No. 00-257, 66 pp.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ↑ Hogan, C. Michael (2008), Stromberg, Nicklas (ed.), Black Spruce: Picea mariana, GlobalTwitcher.com, archived from the original on 5 October 2011
  22. ↑ Johnsgard, Paul (February 1982). "Whooper Recount". Papers in Ornithology. University of Nebraska. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
  23. ↑ Ecosystem Model of Great Slave Lake to support an ecosystem approach to fisheries management nt.ca
  24. ↑ "Great Slave Lake | the Canadian Encyclopedia".
  25. ↑ "Natural Resources Canada-Canadian Geographical Names (Great Slave Lake)" . Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  26. ↑ "Atlas of Canada Toporama" . Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  27. ↑ "Ice Lake Rebels" . Retrieved 23 September 2015.

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