Fort Smith, Northwest Territories
Categories: Communities in the Northwest Territories | Canada geography stubs
Fort Smith is a community in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located in the southeastern portion of the Northwest Territories, on the Slave River and close to the NWT/Alberta border. The town is approximately 300 km southeast of Yellowknife, Territorial Capital. The park headquarters for Wood Buffalo National Park is located in Fort Smith. The Thebaca campus of Aurora College is located in Fort Smith.
Fort Smith is the home of the Northern Life Museum and home of the museum ship Radium King.
Every year the South Slave Friendship Festival, a music and arts festival, occurs in Fort Smith, usually in August. Musicians and artists from across the Northwest Territories and many other faraway places come to interact with other artists and show off their talents to the public.
Fort Smith used to be a major transportation site. Goods were brought up to the nearby community of Fort Fitzgerald, Alberta and portaged on land to avoid 4 sets of unpassable rapids (Pelican, Portage, Casette and the Rapids of the Drowned). The goods were then placed back into the water at the Slave River in Fort Smith where they travelled north, all the way up other rivers (such as the Mackenzie)to destinations as far away as the Arctic Coast. Of course the construction of roads (the main one from the south going through Hay River, NT) have put Fort Smith out of the water transportation business.
However, many tourists come to see the world-class Slave River and many kayakers try its rapids.
External links
- Virtual Fort Smith.
- Official site of Fort Smith
- Visitor info
- Nearby Wood Buffalo Park.
- Info about the historic portage that lead to the founding of Fort Smith.
- Canoe gallery.
- Thebacha is an email list all about the people and community events of Fort Smith.
- Landscapes of the Ft Smith area.
- Northern Life Museum images.
- The South Slave Friendship Festival is Fort Smith's annual music festival. These pictures are from the 2004 festival. The fest takes place every August..
- Pictures of the rapids found on the Slave River in the Fort Smith, NWT region..
- Canada Day 2005 in Fort Smith..
- Aboriginal Day June 21st 2005 in Forth Smith..
- Aurora College Graduation 2005 in Fort Smith..
- The Slave River Journal - An Independent Weekly Newspaper Serving Northern Alberta and the South Slave Region of the NWT, Canada for over 25 years..
- Weather in Fort Smith from Environment Canada. Current observations and the 5 Day Forecast..