Slave River

Slave River
File:Slave River Watershed.png Slave River Watershed
Origin	Peace-Athabasca Delta
Mouth	Great Slave Lake
Basin countries	Canada
Length	434 km (270 mi)
Source elevation	210 m (690 ft)
Mouth elevation	160 m (520 ft)
Avg. discharge	3,414 m3/s (120,600 cu ft/s) max: 7,930 m3/s (280,000 cu ft/s) min: 543 m3/s (19,200 cu ft/s) (for Fitzgerald, Alberta)
Basin area	616,400 km2 (238,000 sq mi)

The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from the confluence of the Rivière des Rochers and Peace River in northeastern Alberta and empties 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 Got'ine, in the Athabaskan language, and has nothing to do with slavery. The Chipewyan had displaced other native people from this region.

Rapids and kayaking

File:Fort Smith Nashornpelikane 1 98-07-01.jpg

American white pelican on Slave River at Rapids of the Drowned, near Fort Smith

File:Slave River NT 1900.jpg

Portaging along the Slave River in 1900

The Slave River and the rapids around Fort Smith are some of the best whitewater kayaking in the world. There are four sets of rapids: Pelican, Rapids of the Drowned, Mountain Portage, and Cassette. The rapids range from easy class I on the International Scale of River Difficulty to unrunnable killer class VI holes. Huge volume, massive waves, and the home of the northern most river pelican colony in North America characterize this river. The pelicans nest on many of the islands at the aptly named Mountain Portage Rapids. These islands serve as a sanctuary to the birds and are closed to human traffic from April 15 to September 15. It is very important to respect these regulations as human intrusions into the pelican nesting area cause widespread nest abandonment.

Boaters have been killed in the Slave River rapids. The earliest recorded fatalities occurred as a part of Cuthbert Grant's ill fated expedition of 1786 at the Rapids of the Drowned (a class II-IV Rapid Set). A more recent fatality occurred in the Land of a Thousand Holes (class IV).

Course

The Slave River originates in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, at the forks of Peace River and Riviere Des Roches, 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 434 kilometres (270 mi) long and has a cumulative drainage area of 616,400 square kilometres (238,000 sq mi).

Portage and navigation

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 26 kilometres (16 mi). Tractors were imported from Germany to assist in hauling 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.

Tributaries

• Peace-Athabasca Delta
  • Athabasca River
  • Lake Athabasca
  • Riviere Des Roches
  • 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 also

• List of rivers of Alberta
• List of rivers of the Northwest Territories

External links

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