Yellowknife Bay, Mars created by the presence of liquid water, suggesting the presence of an ancient lake which could have sustained microbial life. The geologic depression takes its name from the city Yellowknife, capital of the Canadian Northwest Territories, in honor of the 4 billion year old rock in the region surrounding the city, which matches the approximate age of the uncovered rock in Gale Crater. Yellowknife Bay is a 5-meter geologic depression located in the large impact crater known as Gale Crater. The Crater is located on Mars near the northwestern part of the Aeolis quadrangle just south of the planet's equator.
Yellowknife also resulted in new discoveries at the Con Mine, greatly extending the life of the mine. The Yellowknife townsite expanded from the Old Town waterfront, and the new townsite was established during 1945–1946. The Discovery Mine, with its own townsite, operated to the north-northeast of Yellowknife from 1950 to 1969. Between 1939 and 1953, Yellowknife was controlled by the Northern Affairs department (now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) of the Government of Canada. A small council, partially elected and partially appointed, made decisions. By 1953, Yellowknife had grown so much that it was made a municipality, with its own council