The Dempster Highway is a gravel road which runs through the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada. In Alaska, the Dalton Highway is a similar road that was built to parallel the Alaska pipeline.
Why did Canada build the Dempster highway? Was it simply to connect the towns along the way with the lower part of Canada?
Googling suggests it was part of a “roads to resources” plan - a way of making it possible to tap the resources of previously inaccessible areas in Canada.
I doubt that a lot of people drive from Inuvik down to Dawson and then down into the other parts of Yukon and then end up in B.C.
That’s a long, long, long way. I think it was built to make it easier for the people in Inuvik to do their shopping in Fort Macpherson.
This link found by googling “Dempster highway” might be of some use.
Evidently oil was found in a remote part of Canada and the road was hastily constructed so Canada could begin profiting from it. According to the linked story there was some drama when America discovered the same oil fields, or at possibly adjoining ones via Alaska; both countries obviously wanted to stake a claim to the resource.
Inuvik is somewhat of a planned government town and the road was likely built to support mineral exploitation, as mentioned. I drove it this summer and it’s pretty wild and rough in places.
I’m jealous! Sounds like a wild trip. Do you have any pictures you can post?
Sure. It will have to wait until this weekend, though. As with most parts of the world with vast, open spaces, the camera doesn’t capture it well.
Some photos of the trip. It was overcast or smoky in a lot of places, so I didn’t do my usual quality shooting. The grizzly cub photo looks odd because I forgot I had a polarizing filter on the camera, which screwed up the photos. I had to correct them, with limited success. Too bad, because there was a sow and two cubs and the cubs were acting like unruly kids; fun to watch.
The Dempster Highway is pretty lonely, but I went with a group of people in a van. There are only a couple of places to stop where there are people. You’re actually so far north, that the Rockies have started to peter out.
Sometimes you might see a lot of wildlife, but when I went (in July), there weren’t many living things to see aside from ravens and mosquitoes.
Same here. The grizzlies were a real treat. I really wanted to stop and fish the Blackstone, but I didn’t have a Canadian license. What a beautiful river that is. We were fortunate not to have any flat tires along the way; parts of the highway are pretty rough. The NWT government does a terrific job of maintaining their portion, however.
The surprise to me was the forest that far north of the Arctic Circle. If you cross the mountains to the west, you find arctic plain with nothing but tundra, but in the McKenzie Delta, it’s warm enough and wet enough to support spruce forest.
I knew a few people that drove the Depster with regularity; more commonly, people up North fly out.
I haven’t ever driven it myself, but it can’t be any worse than the old highway to Yellowknife. We’re very pleased that it’s now paved.
I was impressed with the unfailing courtesy of road crews and with the (expensive) efforts to keep the road in drivable condition.