This river's name is thought to come from the Athabaskan "Deh Gah Got'ine", the name for the Slavey group of the DeneFirst Nations[1] and has nothing to do with slavery. The Chipewyan had displaced other native people from this region.
The Slave River and the rapids around Fort Smith are some of the best whitewater kayaking in the world. There are four sets of rapids: Pelican, Rapids of the Drowned, Mountain Portage, and Cassette. The rapids range from easy class I to unrunnable killer class VI holes. Huge volume, massive waves, and the home of the northern most river pelican colony in North America characterize this river. The pelicans nest on many of the islands at the aptly named Mountain Portage Rapids. These islands serve as a sanctuary to the birds and are closed to human traffic from April 15 to September 15. It is very important to respect these regulations as human intrusions into the pelican nesting area cause widespread nest abandonment.
Boaters have been killed in the Slave River rapids. The earliest recorded fatalities occurred as a part of Cuthbert Grant's ill fated expedition of 1786 at the Rapids of the Drowned (a class IV feature).[2] A more recent fatality occurred in the Land of a Thousand Holes (class IV).[citation needed]
^Slave River. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved September 12, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service
^Duckworth, Harry W., ed. (1989). The English River Book: A North West Company Journal and Account Book of 1786. Rupert's Land Record Society. Vol. 1. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN9780773507142. Retrieved 27 Aug 2012. ((cite book)): Cite has empty unknown parameters: |laydate=, |separator=, |trans_chapter=, |laysummary=, |chapterurl=, |author-name-separator=, |author-separator=, and |lastauthoramp= (help) Introduction xxii: "In the fall of 1786 Cuthbert Grant, back from Grand Portage, took a further supply of goods to Great Slave Lake, and on this voyage two canoes, five men, and 'some packages' were lost at the rapids on Slave River still called the Rapids of the Drowned." Introduction xxxvii: "These five - Brisbois, Joseph Derry, Landrieffe, Ledoux, and Scavoyard - may well be the five voyageurs who perished at the Rapids of the Drowned in Slave River, in the fall of 1786, while taking Cuthbert Grant's expedition to Great Slave Lake". This Cuthbert Grant's son is the also-named Cuthbert Grant.
