Article

Nueltin Lake

Published Online February 7, 2006

Last Edited January 23, 2014

Nueltin Lake, 2279 km2, elev 278 m, max length 144 km, is located on the border of Nunavut and northeastern Manitoba, about 660 km south of the Arctic Circle. An irregularly shaped lake, it has a heavily indented shoreline and contains numerous small islands.

Nueltin Lake, 2279 km2, elev 278 m, max length 144 km, is located on the border of Nunavut and northeastern Manitoba, about 660 km south of the Arctic Circle. An irregularly shaped lake, it has a heavily indented shoreline and contains numerous small islands. It is fed by a number of surrounding lakes and is drained northeast into Hudson Bay by the Thlewiaza River. There was a trading post on the north end of the lake, and the area has been explored extensively since World War II - beginning with the Nueltin Lake Expedition (1947). The lake takes its name from the Chipewyan nu-thel-tin-tu-ch-eh, meaning "sleeping island lake." Discovered by Samuel HEARNE (1770-72), it appears on his map as Island Lake. Aaron Arrowsmith's map of Sir Alexander MACKENZIE's journeys (1789, 1793) shows it as Northlined Lake. The lake is now popular for fly-in SPORTFISHING.