Slave River
Template:Short description Template:Infobox river The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from the confluence of the Template:Langr and Peace River in northeastern Alberta and runs into Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. The river's name is thought to derive from the name for the Slavey group of the Dene First Nations, Deh Gah Gotʼine, in the Athabaskan languages.<ref>Slave River. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 12, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service</ref> The Chipewyan had displaced other native people from this region.
Rapids and kayakingEdit
The Slave River and the rapids surrounding Fort Smith are known for whitewater kayaking. The river consists of four sets of named rapids: Pelican, Rapids of the Drowned, Mountain Portage, and Cassette. The rapids range in their difficulty to traverse, ranked from Class I to Class VI according to the International Scale of River Difficulty. Huge volume, massive waves, and the home of the northernmost river pelican colony in North America characterize this river. These islands serve as a sanctuary to the birds and are closed to human traffic from April 15 to September 15.
Crossing the Slave River has proven to be fatal; the earliest recorded fatalities as a part of Cuthbert Grant's expedition of 1786 at the Rapids of the Drowned (a class II-IV rapid set).<ref>Template:Cite book Introduction xxii: "In the fall of 1786 Cuthbert Grant, back from Grand Portage, took a further supply of goods to Great Slave Lake, and on this voyage two canoes, five men, and 'some packages' were lost at the rapids on Slave River still called the Rapids of the Drowned." Introduction xxxvii: "These five - Brisbois, Joseph Derry, Landrieffe, Ledoux, and Scavoyard - may well be the five voyageurs who perished at the Rapids of the Drowned in Slave River, in the fall of 1786, while taking Cuthbert Grant's expedition to Great Slave Lake". This Cuthbert Grant's son is the also-named Cuthbert Grant.</ref>
CourseEdit
The Slave River originates in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, at the forks of Peace River and Template:Langr, which drains the Athabasca River and Lake Athabasca. The Slave River flows north into the Northwest Territories and into the Great Slave Lake north of Fort Resolution. From there the water reaches the Arctic Ocean through the Mackenzie River.
The river is Template:Convert long and has a cumulative drainage area of Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Edit
Prior to the extension of railway service to Hay River, Northwest Territories, a river port on Great Slave Lake, cargo shipment on the Slave River was an important transport route. Locally built wooden vessels were navigating the river into the late 19th century. The rapids required a portage of Template:Convert.<ref name=LeaderPost1971-11-17> Template:Cite news </ref> Tractors were imported from Germany to assist in the transport of goods around the rapids. Tugs and barges of the Northern Transportation Company's "Radium Line" were constructed in the south and disassembled. The parts were then shipped by rail to Waterways, Alberta, shipped by barge to the portage, and portaged to the lower river for reassembly, where they could navigate most of the rest of the extensive Mackenzie River basin.<ref name=MontrealGazette1937-04-15> Template:Cite news </ref>
TributariesEdit
- Peace-Athabasca Delta
- Athabasca River
- Lake Athabasca
- Template:Langr
- Chilloneys Creek
- Revillon Coupe
- Dempsey Creek
- Peace River
- Scow Channel
- Murdock Creek
- Darough Creek
- Powder Creek
- La Butte Creek
- Hornaday River
- Salt River
- Little Buffalo River
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:Alberta rivers and lakes Template:Northwest Territories hydrography