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 (Chipewyan), and Tucho in Dehcho Dene Zhatıé (Slavey), is the second-largest lake 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 (after Great Bear Lake), the deepest lake in North America at , and the tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It is long and wide. It covers an area of in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from to and up to Great Slave
/ref> making it the 10th or 12th largest by volume. The lake shares its name with the First Nations peoples of the Dene family called Slavey by their enemies the

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

. Towns situated on the lake include (clockwise from east)

Łutselk'e Łutselkʼe (, Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé: ; "place of the ", the cisco, a type of small fish), also spelt ''Łutsel Kʼe'', is a "designated authority" in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located on th ...

, Fort Resolution,

Hay River Hay River may refer to: Places * Hay River, Northwest Territories * Hay River, Wisconsin Rivers * Hay River (Wisconsin) * Hay River (Canada), a river in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada * Hay River, Northern Territory, Australia * Hay R ...

Hay River Reserve Hay River Reserve (also known as ''Kʼatlodeeche/Katlʼodeeche First Nation'' or ''Hay River Dene 1'') is one of only three Indian reserves in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in the South Slave Region, it is a Slavey community with a pop ...

, 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 Northern Plano Paleoindian tradition (8,000 years before present), Shield Archaic (6,500 years), Arctic small tool tradition (3,500 years), and the

Taltheilei Shale tradition The Taltheilei Shale Tradition is the archeological name of the material culture of a late prehistoric western-area subarctic people dated to the period of 750 BC to AD 1000. The Taltheilei Shale Tradition is named after the "Taltheilei Narrows" (' ...

(2,500 years before present). Each culture has left a distinct mark in the archaeological record based on type or size of

lithic Lithic may refer to: *Relating to stone tools **Lithic analysis, the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts **Lithic core, the part of a stone which has had flakes removed from it **Lithic flake, the portion of a rock removed to ...

tools. Great Slave Lake was put on European maps during the emergence of the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

towards the northwest from

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

in the mid 18th century. The name 'Great Slave' came from the English language translation of the

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. 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". British fur trader Samuel Hearne explored Great Slave Lake in 1771 and crossed the frozen lake, which he named Lake Athapuscow. In 1897-1898, the American frontiersman

Charles "Buffalo" Jones Charles Jesse Jones, known as "Buffalo Jones" (January 31, 1844 – October 1, 1919), was an American frontiersman, farmer, rancher, hunter, and conservationist. He cofounded Garden City, Kansas. He has been cited by the National Archives as one ...

traveled to the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the most northerly of the five major circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth. Its southern equivalent is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southernmost latitude at w ...

, where his party wintered in a cabin that they had constructed near the Great Slave Lake. Jones's story of how he and his party shot and fended off a hungry wolf pack near Great Slave Lake was verified in 1907 by

Ernest Thompson Seton Ernest Thompson Seton (born Ernest Evan Thompson August 14, 1860 – October 23, 1946) was an English-born Canadian-American author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians in 1902 (renamed Woodcraft League of America), and one of ...

and Edward Alexander Preble when they discovered the remains of the animals near the long abandoned cabin. 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 Kosmos 954 (russian: Космос 954) was a reconnaissance satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1977. A malfunction prevented safe separation of its onboard nuclear reactor; when the satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere the follow ...

, 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 } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

and United States Armed Forces military operation called Operation Morning Light.

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. "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. Tucho, the Dehcho Dene term for the lake, has also been suggested.

Geography and natural history

The Hay,

Slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, Lockhart, and

Taltson River The Taltson River is a roughly river in the Northwest Territories of Canada that drains into the Great Slave Lake. There are three hydroelectric power control structures on the river, and one power station. Name The river was formerly known as t ...

s 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 The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

. Along with other lakes such as the Great Bear and

Athabasca Athabasca (also Athabaska) is an anglicized version of the Cree name for Lake Athabasca in Canada, āthap-āsk-ā-w (pronounced ), meaning "grass or reeds here and there". Most places named Athabasca are found in Alberta, Canada. Athabasca may a ...

, it is a remnant of the vast glacial

Lake McConnell Lake McConnell was a very large proglacial lake that existed in what is now Canada from 11,800 to 8,300 years ago. Other sources give starting and ending dates of about 12,000 and between 9,000 and 8,000 years ago, respectively. It covered parts of ...

. 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 and a volume of . This main portion has a maximum depth of and a mean depth of . To the east, McLeod Bay () and Christie Bay () are much deeper, with a maximum recorded depth in Christie Bay of On some of the plains surrounding Great Slave Lake,

climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

polygonal bog Raised bogs, also called ombrotrophic bogs, are acidic, wet habitats that are poor in mineral salts and are home to flora and fauna that can cope with such extreme conditions. Raised bogs, unlike fens, are exclusively fed by precipitation (ombrot ...

s have formed, the early successional stage to which often consists of pioneer

black spruce ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...

. South of Great Slave Lake, in a remote corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, is the

Whooping Crane Summer Range Whooping Crane Summer Range is a 16,895-km2 wetland complex in the boreal forests of northern Alberta and southwestern Northwest Territories in Canada. It is the only natural nesting habitat for the endangered whooping crane. On May 24, 1982, it w ...

, a nesting site of a remnant flock of whooping cranes, discovered in 1954.

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.

Bodies of water and tributaries

Rivers that flow into Great Slave Lake include (going clockwise from the community of Behchokǫ̀); * Emile River * Snare River * Wecho River * Stagg River *

Yellowknife River The Yellowknife River is a river in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It flows south and empties into Yellowknife Bay, part of Great Slave Lake, at the city of Yellowknife. The lake is drained by the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean as part ...

* Beaulieu River * Waldron River * Hoarfrost River * Lockhart River * Snowdrift River * La Loche River * Thubun River * Terhul River *

* Slave River * Little Buffalo River * Buffalo River *

* Mosquito Creek * Duport River * Marian Lake * North Arm * Yellowknife Bay * Resolution Bay * Deep Bay * McLeod Bay * Christie Bay * Sulphur Cove * Presqu'ile Cove * Rocher River * Frank Channel

Ice road

Great Slave Lake has one ice road known as the Dettah ice road. It is a 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 via the

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

''Ice Lake Rebels''

From 2014 to 2016, Animal Planet aired a documentary series called ''

Ice Lake Rebels ''Ice Lake Rebels'' is an American reality TV show about houseboat dwellers in Great Slave Lake. It aired on Animal Planet for two seasons, from 2014 to 2016. The show was produced by Critical Content of Los Angeles, and aired on Animal Planet. ...

''. It takes place on Great Slave Lake, and details the lives of houseboaters on the lake.

References

External links

*
"Perspective on the Great Slave Lake Railway" Manuscript
at Dartmouth College Library {{Authority control Lakes of the Northwest Territories Tributaries of the Mackenzie River