Thelon River
The Thelon River (Inuktitut: Akilinik, lit. ‘on the other side’) stretches 900 kilometres (560 mi) across northern Canada. Its source is Whitefish Lake in the Northwest Territories, and it flows east to Baker Lake in Nunavut. The Thelon ultimately drains into Hudson Bay at Chesterfield Inlet.
Geography
The drainage basin of the Thelon River encompasses some 142,400 square kilometres (55,000 sq mi). Located far from almost all human development, the Thelon and its surroundings are entirely pristine wilderness.
The river has a width of up to a kilometer (0.6 mi) along much of its lower section, widening into Beverly, Aberdeen, and Schultz Lakes about 100 kilometres (62 mi) upstream from its mouth at Baker Lake.
Fauna
Approximately 100 moose and more than 2,000 muskoxen forage on the land around the Thelon. 300,000 migrating barren-ground caribou cross the river every fall and spring.
History
The Inuit people, including Caribou Inuit and Copper Inuit, have long occupied the sparsely-populated lands around the Thelon. Artifacts of Inuit hunting and travel (including inukshuk guide stones) are readily observed near the river.
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