Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

Administrative unit: Northwest Territories

Access

By air (Fort Simpson, Inuvik) or by road via the Mackenzie Highway

Course

With a length of 4250 km (2641 mi.), the Mackenzie is the second largest river in North America, one of the longest in the world (from the mouth to the source of the Finlay River, its longest tributary) and has a catchment area of 1.8 million sq. km (69,480 sq. mi.). The main sources of the Mackenzie are the Peace River and the Athabasca which merge to form the Slave River. On leaving Great Slave Lake this becomes the river bearing the name of the Scottish explorer Sir Alexander Mackenzie. The river was already an important artery for the canoes of the fur trade in the 18th c. and is navigable today in summer by steamers as far upriver as Fort Smith, about 2000 km (1243 mi.).

Big oil and natural gas reserves have been discovered in the Mackenzie Delta and the Beaufort Sea, which opens out into the Arctic Ocean.

Most of the towns along the Mackenzie River were North West or Hudson's Bay Company trading posts, used for storing and trans-shipping skins and furs.