Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
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Northwest Territories

Yellowknife

Gold on Great Slave Lake

Yellowknife in brief

Yellowknife is the only city in the Northwest Territories, perched on the north shore of Great Slave Lake about 400 km south of the Arctic Circle. It sits on Yellowknives Dene homeland; Dettah, on the east side of the bay, was the first formal settlement here in the 1930s.

Prospectors rushed in after gold finds in the mid-1930s (a Klondike-bound prospector had already noted gold in 1898). The boom town became the territorial capital, a launch pad for aurora watching, and the proud owner of Ragged Ass Road, whose street signs sell as souvenirs as fast as cameras can click.

Drawn from Wikipedia, Atlas Obscura, Atlas Obscura.

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Worth knowing in Yellowknife

Distinctive local notes and places, each linked to its source.

  • Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada.

    Wikipedia

  • It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about 400 kilometres (250 mi) south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of the Yellowknife River.

    Wikipedia

  • Yellowknife sits on the north shore of Great Slave Lake and is among the best urban vantage points in Canada for aurora viewing.

    Wikipedia

Places to see

Ragged Ass Road

A famously named Yellowknife street whose cheeky sign has become a local souvenir and tourist photo stop.

Long John Jamboree

After a long polar winter, Yellowknife lets loose with this exuberant cold-weather festival.

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