The Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the world’s 10th largest river. It is sometimes called the Amazon of the north. The Mackenzie:

• starts at Great Slave Lake
• meanders north and west for 1,060 miles to the Mackenzie Delta at Inuvik
• transports one fifth of Canada’s fresh water
• drains an area twice the size of Ontario
• is too wide to bridge; it is almost 4 miles wide in some spots
• ferries are used to transport vehicles across the river
• gathers the water of a hundred mountain rivers

The Mackenzie River passes by the:

• Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary
• Lower Mackenzie River Islands Bird Sanctuary

and the communities of:

• Fort Providence
• Fort Simpson
• Wrigley
• Tulita (formerly Fort Norman)
• Norman Wells
• Fort Good Hope
• Tsiigetchic
• Inuvik

on its way to the Mackenzie Delta and the Beaufort Sea.

Aerial Map

Map