Lac de Gras

Lac de Gras spreads among islands and rocky shores in the barren lands north of Great Slave Lake. Caribou cross the lake country on their seasonal migrations, and the autumn herds have long provided the Yellowknives Dene with meat, fat and thick hides for winter clothing. Before guns, hunters pursued the swimming animals in canoes and speared them at crossings between islands and shores. One account of the lake’s name recalls the traces of caribou fat left floating on the water.