Mackenzie

The Deh Cho, or Mackenzie River, flows north through a vast valley towards the Arctic Ocean. Its tributaries connect mountain hunting grounds with the lowlands and the delta. Dene and Gwich’in families travelled along these waterways to fish and hunt, gathering where rivers met. In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie descended the river; fur-trading posts followed in the early nineteenth century, joining an older network of exchange among northern peoples.