The Coppermine River is a river in the
North Slave
The North Slave Region or ''Tłicho Region'' is one of five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the most populous of the five regions, with a population of almost 23,000. According to Municipal and Community Affai ...
and
Kitikmeot regions of the
Northwest Territories and
Nunavut in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It is long. It rises in
Lac de Gras
Lac de Gras is a lake approximately north east of Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Lac de Gras was the centre of the diamond rush of the 1990s. There are two working, and one closed, diamond mines in the area, Diavik Diamond ...
, a small lake near
Great Slave Lake
Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...
, and flows generally north to
Coronation Gulf
Coronation Gulf lies between Victoria Island and mainland Nunavut in Canada. To the northwest it connects with Dolphin and Union Strait and thence the Beaufort Sea and Arctic Ocean; to the northeast it connects with Dease Strait and thence Queen M ...
, an arm of the
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...
. The river freezes in winter but may still flow under the ice.
The community of
Kugluktuk
Kugluktuk (, ; Inuktitut syllabics: ; ), formerly known as Coppermine until 1 January 1996, is a hamlet located at the mouth of the Coppermine River in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada, on Coronation Gulf, southwest of Victoria Island. I ...
(formerly Coppermine) is located at the river's mouth.
The river was named for the
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
ores which are located along the river, by
Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne (February 1745 – November 1792) was an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the C ...
in 1771. Hearne found only one lump of copper and commercial mining was not considered viable.
Bloody Falls
Bloody Falls (or Bloody Fall, or Kogluktok, meaning "it flows rapidly" or "spurts like a cut artery" in Inuktitut) is a waterfall on the Coppermine River, in the Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park of Nunavut, Canada. It was the site of the Blo ...
, part of the
Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park
Kugluk/Bloody Falls Territorial Park ( Inuinnaqtun: ''kugluk''; English: waterfall) is located about southwest of Kugluktuk, Nunavut, Canada. The park is situated around the Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River and was listed as a national h ...
, is located from Kugluktuk, and was home to the
Kogluktogmiut a sub-group of the
Copper Inuit
Copper Inuit, also known as Kitlinermiut and Inuinnait, are a Canadian Inuit group who live north of the tree line, in what is now the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut and in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest ...
. It is the site of the
Bloody Falls Massacre
The Bloody Falls massacre was an incident believed to have taken place during Hudson Bay Company employee Samuel Hearne's exploration of the Coppermine River for copper deposits near modern-day Kugluktuk, Nunavut, Canada on 17 July 1771. Hearne' ...
, when
Matonabbee
Matonabbee (–1782) was a Chipewyan hunter and leader. He was also a trader and a Chipewyan representative at the Prince of Wales Fort. He travelled with Chief Akaitcho's older brother, Keskarrah. After his father died, Matonabbee spent som ...
, Samuel Hearne's guide, and his fellow
Chipewyan
The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified ...
warriors ambushed and massacred the local
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
.
Gallery
See also
*
List of longest rivers of Canada
Among the longest rivers of Canada are 47 streams of at least . In the case of some rivers such as the Columbia, the length listed in the table below is solely that of the main stem. In the case of others such as the Mackenzie, it is the combin ...
References
Further reading
* Dredge, L. A. Where the river meets the sea geology and landforms of the lower Coppermine River Valley and Kugluktuk, Nunavut.
ttawa Geological Survey of Canada, 2001.
* Steele, Peter. The Man Who Mapped The Arctic: The Intrepid Life of George Back, Franklin's Lieutenant, 2003.
External links
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Rivers of the Northwest Territories
Rivers of Kitikmeot Region
Volcanism of the Northwest Territories