Pine Point is an abandoned locality that formerly held town status near the south shore of

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...

between the towns of Hay River and

Fort Resolution Fort Resolution (''Denı́nu Kų́ę́'' (pronounced "deh-nih-noo-kwenh") "moose island place") is a hamlet in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is situated at the mouth of the Slave River, on the shores o ...

in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

of Canada. It was built to serve the work force at the

Pine Point Mine The Pine Point Mine is located on the south shore of Great Slave Lake between Hay River to the west and Fort Resolution to the east, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It produced lead and zinc ores from a Mississippi Valley Type deposit b ...

, an

open-pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a Borrow pit, b ...

mine that produced

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

ores. The town's population peaked at 1,915 in 1976, but was abandoned and deconstructed in 1988 after the mine closed in 1987.

History

Acres of drill cores at the Pine Point lead-zinc mine, NWT

Construction of both the Pine Point mine and the community commenced in 1962. Pine Point incorporated as a town on April 1, 1974. The mine was closed in 1987, forcing the single-industry town to close in 1988. Mike Lenton was the town's last mayor. Pine Point houses were sold cheaply, and many of the buildings were then moved to

(including the ice arena), Hay River and

northern Alberta Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the cent ...

while the remaining buildings were demolished. The Town of Pine Point was absorbed into Unorganized Fort Smith on January 1, 1996. Today the site is completely abandoned, although there is still evidence of the street layout. Pine Point is the subject of ''

Welcome to Pine Point ''Welcome to Pine Point'' is a 2011 interactive web documentary by Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge, collectively known as The Goggles, formerly creative directors of ''Adbusters'' magazine. The website explores the memories of residents from ...

'', a 2011

web documentary A web documentary, interactive documentary, or multimedia documentary is a documentary production that differs from the more traditional forms—video, audio, photographic—by applying a full complement of multimedia tools. The interactive multim ...

created by Michael Simons and Paul Shoebridge and produced by the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

. The web documentary includes audiovisual material and mementos compiled by former resident Richard Cloutier for his own website, ''Pine Point Revisited''.

Demographics

As an

unincorporated place An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

, Pine Point's population was first recorded by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

as 459 in 1966, an increase from a 1961 population of only 1. It then grew to a population of 1,225 in the 1971 census. By 1976, Pine Point held town status and reached a peak population of 1,915. The town's population slightly declined to 1,861 by 1981 and then declined further to 1,558 by 1986. The population exodus that followed closure of the mine left a population of only 9 in 1991.

Education

Pine Point had two schools – Galena Heights Elementary School (grades K-6) and Matonabbee School (grades 7-12). Matonabbee School burned down on February 1, 1980, after which was replaced by a new building in the same location. The last graduating class was in 1988 after the mine's closure.

Places of worship

* Anglican Church, the name of which is not known * Catholic Church, St. John the Baptist * Pine Point Pentecostal Church

Transportation

Pine Point was along the Fort Resolution Highway (Highway 6), and the

Mackenzie Northern Railway The Mackenzie Northern Railway is a Canadian railway operating in Alberta and the Northwest Territories. It is the northernmost trackage of the contiguous North American railway network. Since being purchased by CN in 2006, it has been official ...

, which was owned by the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

. Ore concentrates from the mine were moved south by the railroad. The town also had a small airport.

Notable people

* Everett Klippert, last Canadian sent to jail for being gay *

Geoff Sanderson Geoffrey M. Sanderson (born February 1, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger, most notably for the Hartford Whalers and Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Drafted by the Hartford W ...

, professional ice hockey player

References

{{Subdivisions of Northwest Territories Former towns in the Northwest Territories Ghost towns in the Northwest Territories Mining communities in the Northwest Territories