Boats of the Mackenzie River watershed carrier business in 1947. The last steam-propelled sternwheelers, the "S.S. Distributor" and "S.S. Mackenzie" were retired around the same time. In later years, with the construction of the Mackenzie Highway from Alberta to Great Slave Lake, the importance of the Athabasca-Slave River route dwindled and NTCL operations were based from shipyards in Hay River after 1959. NTCL became the primary water operator in the Mackenzie River watershed with the purchase of Hudson's Bay Company's fleet and equipment in 1958, and the total buyout of Yellowknife Transportation Company in 1965 including its fleet of diesel tug boats. Other small commercial operators
Bistcho Lake Bistcho Lake Bistcho Lake is a large lake in north western Alberta, Canada. Bistcho Lake has a total area of (with islands area and water surface), and lies at an elevation of . It is the third largest lake in Alberta (or fourth if considering Lake Athabasca, which is partly in Saskatchewan). Bistcho Lake is located in the hydrographic basin of the Liard River, to which it is connected by the Petitot River. The waters of the lake drain to the Arctic Ocean through the Petitot, Liard and Mackenzie River. The Jackfish Point and Bistcho Lake indian reserves of the