GREAT SLAVE

See also:

• LAKE
• LAKE, GERARD LAKE, 1ST VISCOUNT (1744-1808)

LAKE (ATHAPUSCOW)  , a lake of Mackenzie district, Canada . It is situated between 6o° 50' and 62° 55' N. and roe 40' and 117° W., at an altitude of 391 ft. above the sea . It is 325 M. long, from 15 to 50 M. wide, and includes an area of 9770 sq. m . The water is very clear and deep . Its coast line is irregular and deeply indented by large bays, and its north-eastern shores are rugged and mountainous . The western shores are well wooded, chiefly with spruce, but the northern and eastern are dreary and barren . It is navigable from about the 1st of July to the end of October . The Yellow-knife, Hoar-frost, Lockhart (discharging the waters of Aylmer, Clinton-Colden and Artillery Lakes), Tchzudezeth, Du Rocher, Hay (400 M. in length), and Slave rivers empty into Great Slave Lake . The bulk of its water empties by the Mackenzie river into the Arctic Ocean, but a small portion finds its way by the Ark-i-linik river into Hudson's Bay . It was discovered in 1771 by Samuel Hearne .