Yellowknife Historical Society

09/05/2026

Yellowknife witnessed a geographic stratification of the population in the 1970s. The more affluent citizens and government workers were settling downtown, while Indigenous peoples, bushmen, prospectors, and transient-types were staying in Old Town and occupying sub-standard houses. Residents charged that not enough was being done for the original settlement, where “barrel and bucket are used instead of tap and toilet,” while “thousands” of dollars were poured into the New Town.

Consultants hired by the city all agreed on one key goal: phase out the residential neighborhoods in Old Town and replace them with industrial zoning to accommodate trucking yards, warehouses, and welding shops. The city no longer wanted to pay for expensive services to maintain residential standards on the waterfront. This planning ignored the fact that not everyone wanted all the modern city services. Still, it was a mixed bag: there were many in Old Town who did desire water and sewer, wishing to invest in the property they owned, but could not without a mortgage.

Residents banded together and formed the Old Town Development Association to represent their perspectives and offer guidance to the city as it continued to plot the fate of their homes. The group was very active in 1971 upon the release of a Redevelopment Study. In it, the city saw the areas surrounding The Rock, Willow Flats, and Peace River Flats as having no value in residential zoning: “Its character is changing. Numerous smaller service industries, or industries dependent on the waterfront, have replaced houses or been developed on residential lots. The nature of mixed development in the Old Town has created a generally poor environment.” The antagonism between residents and city council led to a novel protest gift, when a half dozen “honey bucket” pails were left on the stairs of city hall: “A gift to the people of New Town from the people of Old Town. (Old Town “shacks” – courtesy Hal Lodgson)

What was the fate of Old Town? Find out, in “Yellowknife: The Story of a Golden City”, for sale SOON September 5, 2026 at Yellowknife Historical Society museum!

09/04/2026

https://cabinradio.ca/307763/news/yellowknife/new-book-tries-to-tell-4-billion-year-history-of-yellowknife/

Come buy your copies and meet the author this Saturday (Sept 5) starting at 1pm at the Yellowknife Historical Museum!

Yellowknife historian and author Ryan Silke is launching his latest book Yellowknife! The Story of a Golden City at the Yellowknife Historical Museum Saturday.

09/04/2026

Yellowknife enjoyed a wealth of amenities and services that towns of comparable size in the south could not, simply because of its status as capital of the N.W.T. The urbanization of the city after 1967 was in direct alignment with the G.N.W.T.’s vision for what a capital should look like.

The municipality itself was willing to do whatever it could to foster this vision. Leading the city during this period was mayor Fred Henne, in office from 1968 to 1973 and again from 1975 to 1979. Henne was an influential citizen: owner of the Ford dealership and a boating tour guide. He liked to socialize and was a part of the city’s nightlife, an excellent saxophone player who routinely jammed at the Elks Hall. He was also a hard gambler and a harder drinker. The mayor’s tough personality and aggressive habits drew inevitable criticism. His staff sometimes viewed him as a micromanager, asserting questionable authority over their duties. Others remember his kind-hearted nature and ponder if he was the best leader the city ever had.

One of Henne’s more innocuous foes was the eccentric Tom Doornbos, the Dutch water deliveryman of the 1940s, who charged 25 cents per bucket. The stubble-bearded, crotchety oldtimer was actually, by the 1970s, a wealthy landowner, having acquired town lots at cheap prices before the capital boom. As a ratepayer, Doornbos attended as many city meetings as he could. He was critical of municipal spending at every juncture, and would comment on petty items, like the amount of light bulbs being used in city hall or the colour of the paint on the walls. Mayor Henne would respectfully give old Tom an audience every time. (Fred Henne – Northern News Services Ltd photo)

“Yellowknife: The Story of a Golden City” book release on September 5, 2026

09/03/2026

Fort Smith had been the administrative seat of bureaucracy of the Northwest Territories since the first government agents came North during the oil boom in 1921. It was the “Little Ottawa of the North,” the seat of the administrator of the District of Mackenzie, responsible for education, engineering, and land resource programs. As for topics of politics in the 1960s, few were as hotly contested as where the new N.W.T. capital should be located: Fort Smith or Yellowknife?

Opposing the status-quo, Yellowknifers pointed out Fort Smith’s proximity to the Alberta border, a mere half-mile within the vast territory. “This is central? This is logic?” wrote an editorial in The News of the North. There were many reasons to choose Yellowknife, including its water and sewage systems, central geographic location, large population, and established radio and telephone services, along with hydro power, an airport, territorial high school, judicial courts, and highway links.

On January 18, 1967, DIAND Minister Arthur Laing issued a press release: “The map of the north that most of you have on your walls indicates that Yellowknife, in respect of a good representation of Territorial conditions and in respect of transportation routes, and in respect of its existing development, and in respect of population factors, and in respect of absolute geographical location, is the best choice that can be made.” (Yellowknife gets the capital, 1967 - Coastline Canada, January 30, 1967)

“Yellowknife: The Story of a Golden City” book release on September 5, 2026

09/02/2026

A unique directive found its way to Yellowknife mayor Ted Horton’s desk in 1959, signed by members of the community: send the Tower of London our ravens. The popular mayor was hardly taken aback by the request; Horton had read the famous landmark in London had lost some of its birds to disease. The ravens were a part of British tradition, with up to six captives residing in the tower, upholding a superstition that if the ravens were killed or flew away, the Crown would fall and the entire country with it. Horton mailed the brigadier major in charge of the Tower of London to offer as many ravens as necessary. But ultimately, only one raven was needed, and it was found in Scotland.

What came across as a simple goodwill gesture was actually a clever attempt to market Yellowknife on the world stage. It was no coincidence that as letters were being airmailed between Yellowknife and London, the local Board of Trade was partaking in a branding exercise. The raven was chosen as an official emblem to promote the town in tourism literature. Its name was Raymond and clutched within its claws was a gold brick… (Raymond the Raven - Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. The female counterpart was later dubbed Ramona the Raven!)

“Yellowknife: The Story of a Golden City” book release on September 5, 2026

09/01/2026

From the beginnings of the fur trade around Great Slave Lake, to the gold rush of the 1930s, Yellowknife had always lured adventurous people from around the world. The demographics in the post-war period continued to mirror the spirit of those early days, with outside settlers flooding north in search of jobs and better fortunes. Now, immigrant labour was encouraged to fill local needs, especially at the gold mines, where, one newspaper wrote, “the language of many European nations are heard, for many new Canadians begin their working life in this country in the mines here.”

The first program to bring European workers directly into the local job market was at the Con Mine in the summer of 1951, when 21 men arrived from Italy. The program proved successful and more groups soon arrived. Azzolini, Bertolini, Franchesci, Cagnoni, Ruzzini, Marrai, Lodovici, Taddei: these were some of the names of the men that came to work for Con. Many of these families had lived in the same village in Tuscany, Italy and were related by blood or marriage. Few of them spoke English, so they worked in all-Italian crews with a proficient straw boss. Lou Searle, a Canadian soldier that served in Italy during the war, acted as a translator. The mines also sponsored language courses taught by Catholic nuns.

The Italians displayed great camaraderie and shared a strong sense of community. A block of residential lots that came on the market near the Catholic School were strategically acquired by the families and thus it became known as the “Little Italy of the North.” Many moonlighted as carpenters and built local landmarks like Sir John Franklin High School and the Gold Range Hotel. (Italians workers at Con Mine: Reno Sartor, Carlo Milanese, Benito Procopio - courtesy Reno Sartor)

08/31/2026

The gold mines formed athletic clubs to compete for local sport championships. Hockey was the prime source of live entertainment in the winter. Top spot in the local hockey league was a matter of camp pride and the mine-sponsored teams with the best financial resources usually snagged the coveted trophy. Friendly competition became a crucial pastime that helped to quell the social tension of bushed miners.

Ice rinks were first cleared on Yellowknife Bay starting in 1938. According to the rules of the day, a hockey game could be cancelled only if the temperature dropped to below –20 degrees F, otherwise everyone expected action on the ice. The players originally used Kotex pads, the feminine product of choice, as hockey protection before the mines bought better equipment. The indoor Gerry Murphy Arena, completed in 1948, was the centre of the sports community for next 50 years, serving a faithful array of sport fanatics—hockey players, figure skaters, speed skaters, broomball players—until its closure in 2002.

(Yellowknife Ravens All Star hockey team 1964/1965. Back: Lawrence Allen, Wayne Curry, Frank Horvat, Doug Gullion, Pat Deman, Bob Balsillie, Glen Morin, Louis Prince, Jim Hooper. Front: Ray Lambert, Bert McCluskey, Dave McCluskey, Ray Prefontaine, Arnold McCallum, Harry Condon, unidentified - courtesy Louis Prince)

08/30/2026

Latham Island is a promontory of Old Town, jutting north into Yellowknife Bay, away from the developed mainland. The far northern tip is site of the Dene village of Ndilo, “end of the island.” Ndilo would have been an idyllic location, commanding a scenic and strategic position on the waterfront, if not for the scene across Back Bay, where the Giant Mine belched out toxic arsenic and sulphur exhaust.

The Dene were never properly warned about the impacts and risks of living near mines. Narcisse and Alizette Betsina came to Yellowknife from Behchokǫ̀ at the height of the gold rush, and their first son Frank was born in 1939 in a tent on Latham Island. In 1963, Frank married Muriel Blondin, and they raised a family in Ndilo, a community immersed in traditional ways of hunting, fishing, and trapping while within the borders of the gold metropolis.

“We didn't know what the mine was doing to us,” Muriel said, reminiscing to CBC on the family’s life in the shadow of Giant Mine. Things were good prior to the mine’s opening. “We were very wealthy in our own way. We got food anywhere we want. We set nets anywhere we want just along the shore. The fish were small…but they were just pure white.” After the mine started producing gold—and arsenic, as a byproduct—the Betsina family saw a gradual decline in the quality of fish in Yellowknife Bay. “You never see fish like that around here…after they started the mine.” (Ndilo in the 1970s - Yellowknife Historical Society, Tom Young Collection…Inset: Arsenic warning sign 1954)

“Yellowknife: The Story of a Golden City” book release on September 5, 2026

08/29/2026

**Current winnings of over $5000!**

We're hosting a 50/50 raffle! Tickets are available for $20 each, or 3 for $50. All funds raised will go to the Yellowknife Historical Society, to help us in our mission to preserve and protect the history of Yellowknife.

Tickets are available for purchase in person at the Yellowknife Historical Museum or online at https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/yellowknife-historical-society-5050-lottery ! Buy some tickets for a chance to win and support us at the same time!

The winner will be drawn on September 5, 2026. Good luck!

NOTICE: This raffle is only open to residents of Yellowknife.

08/29/2026

In charge of Yellowknife’s administration during the 1944-1948 period on behalf of Ottawa was Fred Fraser. His list of responsibilities was long: stipendiary magistrate with full powers of a Supreme Court judge, mining recorder, agent for the Dominion Lands office, commissioner of marriage, crown timber agent, and chairman of the local trustee board. The running joke was that Fraser held more authority than the mayor of New York City. A man with that much power was an attractive target for the impassioned penmanship of prospector/newspaperman Jock McMeekan, whose distain for colonial government was well-entrenched. “In this community we have an alien type of government, with all the disquieting appearance of early-stage fascism. Administrative and judicial powers are centered in one man.”

It was Fraser who spearheaded the creation of the New Town in 1945. McMeekan was skeptical about the plan and its effects on Old Town. He relentlessly criticized the project and called it “Blunderville.” His editorial cartoon said it all: a caricature of “Frederick the Great” Fraser, decked out in a naval uniform and hat befitting Napoleon, at the stern of a rowboat as it leaves Latham Island—the federal office’s base. Fraser was charting a course to new offices in Blunderville, proclaiming the island’s destiny to become the slum of the town. (The Yellowknife Blade, January 16, 1948)

Find out what happened to Latham Island and Old Town....“Yellowknife: The Story of a Golden City” book release on September 5, 2026