The Mackenzie River
The Mackenzie River is the longest river in Canada.Mackenzie River, a major river of Canada. Measured from the head of the Finlay River in British Columbia, the Mackenzie is 2,635 miles (4,241 km) long. This river system—the Mackenzie-Peace-Finlay—is the second longest in North America, exceeded only by the Mississippi-Missouri-Red Rock. It drains some 700,000 square miles (1,813,000 km2) of western Canada and has long been a major route to the Arctic. The river was discovered by Alexander Mackenzie in 1789.
The Mackenzie proper begins at the outlet of Great Slave Lake, whose waters come chiefly from the Slave, Peace, and Athabasca rivers in Alberta and British Columbia. From Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie flows about 1,100 miles (1,770 km) generally northwestward to a wide delta where it empties into the Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. Much of the river's course is through forested valleys and between steep ranges such as the Franklin and Mackenzie mountains. Important tributaries in the river's lower and middle courses are the Liard, Great Bear (draining Great Bear Lake), Arctic Red, and Peel rivers.
Barges and towboats travel during the summer between the Mackenzie delta and Lake Athabasca, bringing supplies to the river and lake villages where most of the region's population is concentrated. There are important fisheries on Great Bear and Great Slave lakes.