Early Aviation

Building Our Roads

In the north, natural "roads" become available when lakes or rivers freeze, usually starting in mid-November. The Dene used these ‘roads’ travelling with dog teams or on snowshoe. As settlements began to grow in the 1950s, a network of winter roads was constructed to link communities and remote mining sites.

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River Transportation

By the early 19th century, the Hudson's Bay Company had established posts on Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to trade with the Dene for furs and food. Large cargoes required large vessels and river transportation began to evolve.

The York Boat

Steep Yourself in Colourful History

The history of the Northwest Territories is rich with stories of heroism and survival, and grand, bold adventures. When you paddle a river or lake, you'll see the same undisturbed shores the First Nations have treasured since time immemorial.

Traditional Transportation

The Snowshoe

The Dene framed two types of snowshoes – for hunting and for making trail. They were hand-shaped from birch with babiche webbing. Hunting snowshoes were long and narrow. Trail snowshoes, designed to pack trails for sled dogs, were wide and round.

The Dogsled

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Historical timeline

In one form or another, the name "Northwest Territories" has been around for centuries. In the early 1600s, the Hudson's Bay Company was given an exclusive British charter in Rupert's Land - the vast chunk of not-yet-born Canada whose waters drain into Hudson Bay. Rival traders struggled for a foothold north and west of Lake Superior, in a vast hinterland that came to be called "The North-Western Territory."

Tell me more about Northwest Territories History

A National Historic Site