Article

Dempster Highway

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited March 4, 2015

The Dempster Highway runs from near Dawson, YT, 730 km across the northern Yukon through the Richardson Mountains to Fort McPherson and Inuvik, in the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories. Begun in 1959, it was the
Dempster Highway
The Dempster Highway crosses some of the most formidable and beautiful terrain in North America (Corel Professional Photos).

The Dempster Highway runs from near Dawson, YT, 730 km across the northern Yukon through the Richardson Mountains to Fort McPherson and Inuvik, in the Mackenzie Delta of the Northwest Territories. Begun in 1959, it was the first of the "Roads to Resources" of the government and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. In September 1963 the highway was named after Inspector William J.D. Dempster of the RCMP (b in Wales 21 Oct 1876; d at Vancouver 25 Oct 1964), who served with the Mounted Police from 1897 to 1934, all but one year at various posts in the Yukon. The route, opened to the public in the spring of 1979, cost $100 million, required major bridges across the Eagle and Ogilvie rivers, and crosses some of the most formidable and beautiful terrain in North America.