1941: Northwest Territories

Mining in the rich Yellowknife River area has been greatly aided by the installation of a 4,200 horsepower hydro-electric plant at Prosperous Lake. Two 33,000-volt transmission lines have been constructed, one to the Con and Negus properties, 22 miles distant, and one to the Thompson-Lundmark property at Thompson Lake, 26 miles distant. It is estimated that the total value of gold produced in the Yellowknife mining area exceeds $7,000,000. In addition to the gold mines, there is a radium and silver mine located at Great Bear Lake. The annual export of furs is valued at approximately $1,325,000.

Among the laws passed by the Northwest Territories Council during the past year was an ordinance regulating the speed and operation of motor vehicles on highways, together with an amendment providing reciprocity with the provinces of Canada and the states of the United States with regard to running rights for cars licensed elsewhere. An ordinance was also passed controlling the sale of gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals within the territories; and an ordinance was enacted providing sanitary control to prevent disease and improve the welfare of camps and settlements in the territories. Additional legislation consisted mainly of amendments to existing laws.

The Northwest territories are governed by a Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner and five Councillors appointed by the Governor General in Council, and the affairs of the Yellowknife Administrative District are managed by a local Trustee Board of five members, of whom two are elected by the residents and three are appointed by the Commissioner of the Territories.

1940: Northwest Territories

As a result of the war, mining operations slackened somewhat in certain areas of the Northwest Territories, particularly in the Mackenzie District where pitchblende, silver, radium-uranium materials are mined. Enough stocks of radium-uranium ores have been accumulated to provide for five years of refining operations at the present rate of world demand for radium. In contrast, large-scale production continued throughout 1940 in the Yellowknife area, which is the center of gold and silver production. Production for the first eight months of 1940 was valued at $1,222,340 as compared with $1,779,775 for the whole year of 1939. Operations at the Great Slave Lake Gold Mires, which had been suspended since March, 1939, have been resumed on a small scale.

An important factor in the development of he North was the erection during the year of a new oil refinery capable of producing aviation and motor gasoline from local oil. This has resulted in a substantial reduction in the price of aviation fuel throughout the Arctic and sub-Arctic areas served by the plant.

Ordinances were passed by the Northwest Territories Council during 1940 governing the adoption of infants, providing for workmen's compensation, amending the territorial liquor ordinance and the ordinance licensing certain businesses, callings, trades, and occupations. Legislative activity was thus somewhat greater than in recent years.

Three of the thirty-seven geological and topographical survey and exploration parties engaged in field work during 1940 were assigned to the Northwest Territories. One of these completed the mapping of the Wray Lake area; the second was at work in the Yellowknife area; and the third started mapping an area of some 5,000 square miles in the McKay Lake region.

1939: Northwest Territories

The past year saw continued rapid development of mining activities in the Northwest Territories. Out of 7,670 claims thus far filed, no fewer than 1,500 were staked in 1939. Activity was concentrated chiefly in the Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake districts. A small settlement had grown up in Yellowknife which was granted limited governmental autonomy during the year. Four water transportation companies were put into operation from the railhead at Waterways, Alberta, into the Northwest Territories, in addition to three serial services. A winter tractor road was cleared from Grimshaw, in the Peace River district of Alberta, to Hay River Settlement on Great Slave Lake.

Comparatively little governmental activity occurred during the year. Among the most important ordinances enacted by the Commissioner of the Territories, with the advice and consent of the Council, were regulations establishing a Territorial liquor store with monopoly rights, which provided fixed prices for all liquor sold in the Territories, and the decree, already referred to, setting up a local administrative district in Yellowknife. Ordinances were also enacted licensing banks and regulating the activities of the legal profession.

Mining results continued to be favorable. The mines of the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company in the Yellowknife area had a combined production for 1939 of approximately $1,600,000. The Eldorado Gold Mines, Ltd., with high grade pitchblende silver deposits at Great Bear Lake, yielded an output valued at about $1,500,000.

1938: Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories enjoyed somewhat of a boom in 1938 as the result of new gold discoveries and the rapid development of previously discovered claims. Early in September the first gold brick was poured in the Yellowknife River section. By the end of the year about 40 mining and exploration companies were actively engaged in the prospecting and development of the 4,000 claims that have already been staked in the Yellowknife River and Gordon Lake areas. At Pensive Lake, a series of veins extending over a width of 50 feet have been exposed for some 500 feet. Some gold was also discovered at Murray Lake and MacDonald Lake along the Francois River, and — most promising of all — at Thompson Lake. Some radium and silver have also been unearthed some 400 miles north of Yellowknife.

Legislation adopted during the year with the authorization of Charles Camsell, Territorial Commissioner, and the Territorial Council, included regulations for the protection of Eskimo ruins in the Northwest Territories, an ordinance governing the maintenance of children, an ordinance regulating the legal profession, and comprehensive regulations governing pharmacists and druggists.