Thelon River

Thelon River (Akilinik)
An oasis-like section of the Thelon, below Warden's Grove
Name origin: "on the other side" in Inuktitut
Country	Canada
Province	Northwest Territories, Nunavut
Source	Whitefish Lake.
- location	Northwest Territories
- coordinates
Mouth	Baker Lake
- location	near Chesterfield Inlet, Kivalliq Region, Nunavut
- coordinates
Length	900 km (560 mi)
Basin	142,400 km2 (55,000 sq mi)
Thelon River mouth location

The Thelon River (Inuktitut: Akilinik, lit. ‘on the other side’) stretches 900 kilometres (560 mi) across northern Canada. Its source is Whitefish Lake in the Northwest Territories, and it flows east to Baker Lake in Nunavut. The Thelon ultimately drains into Hudson Bay at Chesterfield Inlet.

Geography

The lower section of the Thelon River from the "Half-Way Hills" (midway between Schultz Lake and Baker Lake)

Barren-ground caribou above the Hanbury River junction near the Thelon River in 1978

The drainage basin of the Thelon River encompasses some 142,400 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi). Located far from almost all human development, the Thelon and its surroundings are entirely pristine wilderness.

The river has a width of up to a kilometer (0.6 mi) along much of its lower section, widening into Beverly, Aberdeen, and Schultz Lakes about 100 kilometres (62 mi) upstream from its mouth at Baker Lake.

Fauna

Approximately 100 moose and more than 2,000 muskoxen forage on the land around the Thelon. 300,000 migrating barren-ground caribou cross the river every fall and spring.

History

The Inuit people, including Caribou Inuit and Copper Inuit, have long occupied the sparsely-populated lands around the Thelon. Artifacts of Inuit hunting and travel (including inukshuk guide stones) are readily observed near the river.

In 1770–71, English explorer Samuel Hearne crossed the Thelon while exploring Canada's northern interior.

Over the winter of 1926–27, Canadian naturalist John Hornby starved to death on the Thelon along with two other men. They had planned to hunt migrating caribou, but failed to find the herd. Nevertheless, on the basis of Hornby's earlier explorations with James Critchell-Bullock in 1923, the Thelon Game Sanctuary was established in 1927, renamed the Thelon Wildlife Sanctuary in 1956.

In 1927(?), the Norwegian explorer and writer Helge Ingstad went by dog sled to the headwaters of Thelon (Lynx Lake) together with native peoples from east end of Great Slave Lake. Read more in his book "The Land of Feast and Famine".

Tourism

In 1990, the lower 545 kilometres (339 mi) of the Thelon were designated a Canadian Heritage River. Although there is no road access to the river, a number of wilderness campers and canoeists visit the Thelon every summer.

See also

• List of longest rivers of Canada
• List of rivers of the Northwest Territories
• List of rivers of Nunavut

External links

• The Thelon River from the Canadian Heritage Rivers System
• Map of the Thelon River