Hay River (Canada) Hay River (Canada) The Hay River (in South Slavey: "Kátå’odehche") is a large river in northern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, Canada. It originates in the muskeg of north western Alberta, flows west to British Columbia, then curves northward and returns to Alberta, where it follows a north-northeast course towards the Northwest Territories. After passing over two main waterfalls, the Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls, it flows through the town of Hay River and discharges into the Great Slave Lake. From there, its waters are carried to the Arctic Ocean by the Mackenzie River. Hay River has a total length
Mackenzie River the northwest, establishing the present flow direction to the Arctic. Fluvial deposits and other erosional evidence indicate that around the end of the Pleistocene, about 13,000 years ago, the Mackenzie channel was scoured by one or more massive glacial lake outburst floods unleashed from Lake Agassiz, formed by melting ice west of the present-day Great Lakes. At its peak, Agassiz had a greater volume than all present-day freshwater lakes combined. This is believed to have disrupted currents in the Arctic Ocean and led to an abrupt 1,300-year-long cold temperature shift called the Younger Dryas. The Mackenzie carries a very large