Great Slave Lake

Click a letter for the index

Or search the encyclopaedia:

 

 

Go

 

Freshwater lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada; area 28,450 sq km/10,980 sq mi. It is about 480 km/298 mi long and 100 km/62 mi wide, and is the deepest lake (615 m/2,020 ft) in North America. The lake forms two large bays, McLeod's Bay in the north and Christie's Bay in the south. It is connected with Artillery Lake, Clinton-Golden Lake, and Aylmer Lake, and the Mackenzie River flows out from it on the west. The Great Slave Lake contains many fish, including salmon and trout, and has major commercial fisheries.

Named after an indigenous American Indian people, the Slavey (or Dogrib), the lake was first sighted by Europeans in 1771. Gold was discovered here in the 1930s, and zinc and lead are also mined in the area. The Great Slave Railway (700 km/434 mi long) enables these minerals to be transported south. The Mackenzie Highway now links Hay River on the south shore with the main cities of Alberta, and continues west to Yellowknife (the territorial capital), a mining centre on the north arm of the lake.

The ‘Sun of May’ was added in 1818. The blue bands are a shade known as ‘celeste’, said to be the colour of the sky which inspired Argentine revolutionary Manuel Belgrano before battle. Effective date: 16 August 1985. >>