Cape Bathurst (

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

: ''Awaq'') is a cape and a peninsula located on the northern coast of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Cape Bathurst is the northernmost point of mainland Northwest Territories and one of the few peninsulas in mainland North America protruding above the 70th parallel north. The first European to see the area was John Richardson, who also named it, in 1826. Some coast areas of Cape Bathurst are being eroded at a rate of a year. Baillie Island is located just off the coast of Cape Bathurst, separated from the peninsula by a shallow strait. A notable nearby formation is Smoking Hills, a group of hills exhibiting continuous burning of

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich Granularity, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of Organic compound, organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general compos ...

deposits. A rare

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plant known as hairy rockcress or hairy braya (''

Braya pilosa ''Braya pilosa'' is a long-lived perennial flowering plant of the Brassicaceae, mustard family known by the common name hairy braya. It was first found by John Richardson (naturalist), Sir John Richardson in 1826 during an expedition in search o ...

'', genus

Braya ''Braya'' is a genus of plants in the family Brassicaceae. *''Braya alpina'' Sternb. & Hoppe *''Braya fernaldii'' Abbe *''Braya forrestii'' W.W.Sm. *''Braya glabella'' Richardson *''Braya humilis'' (C.A. Mey.) B.L. Rob. *''Braya linearis'' Rouy ...

of family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...

) is known to grow in five locations on Cape Bathurst as well as the nearby Baillie Islands. The plant is listed by the Northwest Territories Species at Risk Committee as threatened and by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada as endangered.Hairy Braya NWT Species Status Report
/ref>COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Hairy Braya Braya pilosa in Canada
/ref>

In fiction and popular culture

Cape Bathurst features as a key location in

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's novel The Fur Country. In this novel, Cape Bathurst is not a fixed geographical feature but is instead a large iceberg anchored to the continent. A

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

expedition is ordered to establish a fort above the 70th parallel north to support fur trapping. The expedition leaders are misled by the appearances of Cape Bathurst into thinking it is a favorable place for settlement. For all intents the cape appears to be very suitable since it has fresh water and is well wooded, with rich soil, vegetation, and abundant wildlife. After building Fort Good Hope they prepare to winter over. During the winter, a volcanic eruption occurs nearby, and unknown to the settlers, the link to the continent is broken and the iceberg "Cape Bathurst" floats into the Arctic Ocean, carrying away the novel's protagonists.

References

Peninsulas of the Northwest Territories {{NorthwestTerritories-geo-stub