History of the Northwest Territories 1935, nearly 1000 men grouped into 188 surveying parties covered a wide range of Canada looking for precious minerals. The most valuable discovery was made in the Yellowknife district where nearly 3000 square miles of good gold prospecting territory was located. This brought about the town of Yellowknife. Thirty-two years later, when the Government of the Northwest Territories came North from Ottawa, Yellowknife became the new capital. During World War II, between 1942 and 1946, forty thousand American military and civilian personnel came to the Canadian Northwest; invited by the Canadian government. Plans called for the Alaska Highway to connect
Yellowknife Yellowknife began with the discovery of diamonds north of the city in 1991. The last of the gold mines in Yellowknife closed in 2004. Today, Yellowknife is primarily a government town and a service centre for the diamond mines. On April 1, 1999, its purview as capital of the NWT was reduced when the territory of Nunavut was split from the NWT. As a result, jurisdiction for that region of Canada was transferred to the new capital city of Iqaluit. Consequently, Yellowknife lost its standing as the Canadian capital city with the smallest population. Yellowknife is on the Canadian Shield,