Yellowknife, Canada

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still lies in the transitional zone between northern fir forest and treeless tundra. The largest community in the Mackenzie district, it has been the capital of the Northwest Territories since 1967. It was founded only in 1935 after gold was discovered there, the first such strike in the cold north (average temperature: 26°C (21°F)!). A second gold-rush occurred in 1944 since when the community, set in a landscape of dwarf firs, birch and poplar, has developed steadily into the nerve center of northern Canada.

The gold mines at Yellowknife are among the biggest in Canada and gold has unquestionably been the spur to the town's growth. The population figures tell the story: in 1961 Yellowknife had 3250 inhabitants, today that total has increased almost sixfold.

Indians have hunted in the Yellowknife area for thousands of years. Europeans on the other hand made their first appearance in the third to last decade of the 18th c., and settled permanently only after the gold-rush of 1934.

Name

The name "Yellowknife" derives from the copper knives long used by the local Indians.

There are interesting drives around Yellowknife, one being eastwards along the Ingraham Trail (Hwy. 4) to Tibbet Lake, continuing to the Yellowknife Preserve (conservation area). Another follows Hwy. 3 north-west through the unspoiled country beside Great Slave Lake to Edzo. The same road goes to the Mackenzie bison reserve.

The major event in Yellowknife's calendar is the annual Caribou Carnival and dogsled race in March. The Canadian Flying Clubs' "Midnight Sun Golf Tournament" also takes place here every year on June 21st.