Yellowknife’s Time LineBy 3M
Range Lake ElementaryYellowknife, Northwest Territories
3.962 Billion Years AgoAge of the world’s oldest rock
found north of Yellowknife
12 000 Years AgoDene arrived in the NWT
10 000 Years AgoEnd of the last Ice Age
4 500 Years AgoPre-Dorset people arrived in the
Canadian Arctic(ancestors of today’s Inuit
people)
2 700 Years AgoEvidence of NWT Dorset or Tunit
people
1576Drawing by Lucas deHeere
portrays an Inuk taken captive by Frobisher
(the explorer)
1577Frobisher went to mine the black
rock in the NWT
1719 (June) Captain James Knight, a former Hudson’s Bay Company
employee,sailed from England to northern
Canada in search of gold, copper and
a Northwest Passage
1769Remains of a house built from ship materials was found on
MarbleIsland (almost 50 years after
Knight disappeared
1818Britain begins a serious effort to
find the Northwest Passage
1819Parry’s expedition spent the
winter of 1819-1820 on Melville Island,NWT
1820Sir John Franklin’s men built Fort
Enterprise to serve as a base camp
on their way to the Arctic Ocean
1825Hostile encounters with Inuit at
the mouth of the Mackenzie Riveralmost ended the 1825-27
expedition
1875Canada’s 1st Recorded
Coal Mine-Ellesmere Island, NWT
1875Canada’s 1st Recorded
Coal Mine-Ellesmere Island, NWT
1896Gold Discovery
Yellowknife Bay NWT
1903The Northwest Passage was
traveled by boat with a Norwegian crew of 7
1920NWT Oil Rush
Imperial Oil Find near present day Norman Well
1921(March 27) the first aircraft lands
in the NWT
1926First mineral exploration flight to
the NWT
1929Gilbert LaBine found uranium around Great Bear Lake. This
started thefirst mine in the NWT called the
Eldorado mine.First ‘air mail’ to NWT
1933Thousands of gold claims were
staked near the Yellowknife River
1934Discovery of gold in the
Yellowknife areaProspectors stake claims and live
in this area which is the beginning
of today’s city of Yellowknife, NWT
1935The original 21 Giant Gold Mine claims were staked by C.J Baker
andH.M. Muir
1937Giant Yellowknife Mines, Ltd. was
incorporatedRCMP Division founded in the
NWT
19381st NWT Gold Brick Pouredby Con Mine @ Yellowknife
1941Thompson-Lundmark Gold
Mines, Ltd. worked 46 claims at Thompson Lake
(about 70 km N.E. of Yellowknife
1948Giant Gold Mine Opens in
Yellowknife
1950A Jackleg drill was used to break
open rock in the gold mines
1960Mackenzie Highway built
ending at Yellowknife, NWT
1967Kimberlite Pipes Found
Sommerset Island, NWT
1969Lupin Gold Discovery
(Lac De Gras, NWT area)
1970’sSmall Scale Diamond Exploration
(NWT)
19801st Lupin Winter Ice Road Built
1981Chuck Fipke collected sediment samples near Black Water Lake,
NWT
1987The Pine Point lead and zinc
mine closed
1991Charles Fipke discovered a
kimberlite pipe under Lac de Gras, NWT
1992NWT Diamond Staking Rush
Lac de Gras
1993BHP opens Koala Camp
(future Ekati Mine) (Sept) Diavik Project office
opened in YellowknifeDiavik discovers first 3 kimberlite
pipes
1996Snap Lake Diamond Discovery
by Windspear & Aber Resources
1997Winter Ice Road Traffic to
Northern Mines:3 500 truckloads100 000 tonnes
Construction begins at BHP ‘s Mine
1998Winter Ice Road Traffic to
Northern Mines:2 543 truckloads82 000 tonnes
(Jan) Echo Bay Lupin Gold Mine Closed
BHP Diamonds started mining diamonds at their Ekati Mine
1999Winter Ice Road Traffic:
1 844 truckloads57 000 tonnes
Open 57 days; Feb 1-Mar 30(Apr 1) Division of Northwest Territories
creates Nunavut, Canada’s 3rd Territory
(Jun 14) Sirius Diamonds NWT Ltd. opens Cutting & Polishing facility
in Yellowknife
2000Winter Ice Road Traffic :
3 959 truckloads125 380 tonnes
Open 56 days; Feb 10-Apr 5
2001Winter Ice Road Traffic:
7 981 truckloads22 725 tonnes
Open 49 days; Feb 24-Apr 14(Jan) Diavik Mine Construction
Begins-approx 1000 workers on site
2002Winter Ice Road Traffic:
7 768 truckloads230 000 tonnes
Open 68 days; Feb 11-Apr 20
2003Diavik Diamond Mines project scheduled to begin production