Great Slave Lake

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 the Northern Plano tradition (8,000 years before present), Shield Archaic tradition (6,500 years), Arctic small tool tradition (3,500 years), and the Taltheilei Shale tradition (2,500 years before present). Each culture has left a distinct mark in the archaeological record based on type or size of lithic tools.W.C. Noble (1981) "Prehistory of the Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake Region," In: Handbook of the North American Indians - Subarctic, Volume Six. Smithsonian Institution.

Great Slave Lake was put on European maps during the emergence of the fur trade towards the northwest from Hudson Bay in the mid 18th century. The name 'Great Slave' came from the English-language translation of the Cree exonym, Awokanek (Slavey), which they called the Dene Tha. The Slavey people were Dene tribes living on the lake's southern shores at that time.Waldman, Carl (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=WxomdGVLjZ0C&pg=PA275 Facts on File Library of American History - Encyclopedia of Native American tribes]. Infobase Publishing. p. 275. {{ISBN|9781438110103}}.Pritzker, Barry (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=uiCWatRVT0gC&pg=PA512 A Native American encyclopedia : history, culture, and peoples]. Oxford University Press. p. 512. {{ISBN|9780195138979}}.{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/slave-language-reclamation-1.5423252|title=Yellowknife hotel with 'slave' in name stokes conversation on reclaiming Indigenous names|website=cbc.ca|last=Blake|first=Emily|date=February 4, 2020}} 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".Alexander Mackenzie. Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Lawrence, through the continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans; in the years 1789 and 1793. With a preliminary account of the rise, progress, and present state of the Fur Trade of that country. London: Printed for T. Cadell, Jun, and W. Davis, Stand; Cobbett and Morgan, Pall-Mall; and W. Creech, at Edinburgh, by R. Noble, Old Bailey, 1801. pg. 3, footnote.

In the 1930s, gold was discovered on the North Arm of Great Slave Lake. This discovery led 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; the highway was originally an extension of the Mackenzie Highway, but became known as Yellowknife Highway or Highway 3.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

On January 24, 1978, a Soviet Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite named Kosmos 954, which contained 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 and United States Armed Forces military operation called Operation Morning Light.{{cite web|url=http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/gamma/ml_e.php|title=Operation Morning Light|author=Quentin Bristow |publisher=Natural Resources Canada |access-date=2007-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716023825/http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/gamma/ml_e.php|archive-date=2011-07-16 |url-status=dead}}

In the late 2010s, many placenames within the Northwest Territories were restored to their indigenous names. It has been suggested--particularly because of the mention of slavery--that the lake be renamed as well. "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.{{cite magazine|last=Cohen|first=Sidney|title=Big Lake|url=https://www.uphere.ca/articles/big-lake|magazine=Up Here|date=September–October 2020|volume=36|issue=5|access-date=November 11, 2020}} "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.{{cite news|last=Mandeville|first=Curtis|title=Goodbye Great Slave Lake? Movement to decolonize N.W.T. maps is growing|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/decolonizing-nwt-place-names-1.3640819|newspaper=CBC News|date=June 21, 2016|access-date=November 11, 2020}} Tucho, the Dehcho Dene term for the lake, has also been suggested.

File:Mackenzie River drainage basin.PNG drainage basin showing Great Slave Lake's position in the Western Canadian Arctic]]

The Hay, Slave (which in turn includes the Peace), Lockhart, and Taltson Rivers 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. Along with other lakes such as the Great Bear and Athabasca, it is a remnant of the vast glacial Lake McConnell.

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 {{cvt|18500|km2}} and a volume of {{cvt|596|km3}}. This main portion has a maximum depth of {{cvt|187.7|m}} and a mean depth of {{cvt|32.2|m}}.{{Cite web|url=https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2019/eccc/en13-5/En13-5-00-257-eng.pdf|last=Schertzer| first=W. M.| year=2000| title=Digital bathymetry of Great Slave Lake| series=NWRI Contribution No. 00-257, 66 pp.|website=publications.gc.ca}} To the east, McLeod Bay ({{coord|62|52|N|110|10|W|region:CA-NT_type:waterbody_scale:500000|name=McLeod Bay, Great Slave Lake}}) and Christie Bay ({{coord|62|32|N|111|00|W|region:CA-NT_type:waterbody_scale:500000|name=Christie Bay, Great Slave Lake}}) are much deeper, with a maximum recorded depth in Christie Bay of {{cvt|614|m}}.{{Cite web |last=Hebert |first=Paul |year=2007 |title=Encyclopedia of Earth |series=Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories |access-date=2007-12-07 |url=http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Slave_Lake,_Northwest_Territories |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112102959/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Great_Slave_Lake,_Northwest_Territories |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2012 |publisher=Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment}}

On some of the plains surrounding Great Slave Lake, climax polygonal bogs have formed, the early successional stage to which often consists of pioneer black spruce.{{citation|last=Hogan |first=C. Michael |year=2008 |editor-first=Nicklas |editor-last=Stromberg |url=http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=44751 |title=Black Spruce: Picea mariana |publisher=GlobalTwitcher.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005174426/http://globaltwitcher.auderis.se/artspec_information.asp?thingid=44751 |archive-date=2011-10-05 }}

South of Great Slave Lake, in a remote corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, is the Whooping Crane Summer Range, a nesting site of a remnant flock of whooping cranes, discovered in 1954.{{cite journal| url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/biosciornithology/19/ |publisher=University of Nebraska |title=Whooper Recount|journal=Papers in Ornithology |date=February 1982 | access-date=2007-01-20|last1=Johnsgard |first1=Paul }}

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, is impacting the populations of these species. Copepoda are also prevalent in the lake.[https://nwtdiscoveryportal.enr.gov.nt.ca/geoportaldocuments/REPORT_-_2011_12_DFO_(TALLMAN_JANJUA)_-_CIMP116_-_GSL_PLAIN_LANGUAGE.pdf Ecosystem Model of Great Slave Lake to support an ecosystem approach to fisheries management] nt.ca{{cite web | url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/great-slave-lake | title=Great Slave Lake | the Canadian Encyclopedia }}

Rivers that flow into Great Slave Lake include (going clockwise from the community of Behchokǫ̀):{{cite web |title=Natural Resources Canada-Canadian Geographical Names (Great Slave Lake) |url=http://www4.rncan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique/LAJNH |access-date=2014-12-20}}{{cite web |title=Atlas of Canada Toporama |url=http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/toporama/index.html |access-date=2014-12-20}}

{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}

• Emile River
• Snare River
• Wecho River
• Stagg River
• Yellowknife River
• Beaulieu River
• Waldron River
• Hoarfrost River
• Lockhart River
• Snowdrift River
• La Loche River
• Thubun River
• Terhul River
• Taltson River
• Slave River
• Little Buffalo River
• Buffalo River
• Hay 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

{{div col end}}

Great Slave Lake has one ice road known as the Dettah ice road. It is a {{cvt|6.5|km}} 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 {{cvt|27|km}} via the Ingraham Trail.

File:Late April on Yellowknife Bay, NWT, Canada..JPG begins to make transportation more difficult between the houseboats near Jolliffe Island.]]

{{Main|Ice Lake Rebels|l1=Ice Lake Rebels}}

From 2014 to 2016, Animal Planet aired a documentary series called Ice Lake Rebels. It takes place on Great Slave Lake, and details the lives of houseboaters on the lake.{{cite web | url=http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/ice-lake-rebels/ | title=Ice Lake Rebels | access-date=23 September 2015}}

• James A. Michener's 1989 novel Journey describes a group of pioneers crossing the lake in 1897 by boat

{{Portal|Lakes|Geography|Canada}}

• List of lakes of Canada
• Mackenzie Northern Railway

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• Canada. (1981). Sailing directions, Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River. Ottawa: Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans. {{ISBN|0-660-11022-9}}
• Gibson, J. J., Prowse, T. D., & Peters, D. L. (2006). "Partitioning impacts of climate and regulation on water level variability in Great Slave Lake." Journal of Hydrology. 329 (1), 196.
• Hicks, F., Chen, X., & Andres, D. (1995). "Effects of ice on the hydraulics of Mackenzie River at the outlet of Great Slave Lake, N.W.T.: A case study." Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. Revue Canadienne De G̐ưenie Civil. 22 (1), 43.
• Kasten, H. (2004). The captain's course secrets of Great Slave Lake. Edmonton: H. Kasten. {{ISBN|0-9736641-0-X}}
• Jenness, R. (1963). Great Slave Lake fishing industry. Ottawa: Northern Co-ordination and Research Centre. Dept. of Northern Affairs and National Resources.
• Keleher, J. J. (1972). Supplementary information regarding exploitation of Great Slave Lake salmonid community. Winnipeg: Fisheries Research Board, Freshwater Institute.
• Mason, J. A. (1946). Notes on the Indians of the Great Slave Lake area. New Haven: Yale University Department of Anthropology, Yale University Press.
• Sirois, J., Fournier, M. A., & Kay, M. F. (1995). The colonial waterbirds of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories an annotated atlas. Ottawa, Ont: Canadian Wildlife Service. {{ISBN|0-662-23884-2}}

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• [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1037 "Perspective on the Great Slave Lake Railway" Manuscript] at Dartmouth College Library

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Category:Lakes of the Northwest Territories

Category:Tributaries of the Mackenzie River