Yellowknife’s Time Line By 3M Range Lake Elementary Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

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