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
Redknife River Redknife River The Redknife River is a river in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a major tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Redknife Formation, a stratigraphical unit of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin was named for the river. The Redknife river originates in the "Redknife Hills", at an elevation of . It flows east down the slopes of the hill, then turns north, draws water from a lake system, then turns north-east. It is crossed by the Mackenzie Highway, then turns north and flows into the Mackenzie River at an elevation of , downstream from Fort Providence and