The Mackenzie Highway - Grimshaw, Alberta
Posted by: 
wildwoodke
N 56° 11.507 W 117° 36.609
11V E 462135 N 6227592
This location on Highway 2 in Alberta is the kick off for the Mackenzie Highway that terminates in Hay River, Northwest Territoris. The first 3.1 miles of the highway start in Grimshaw, Alberta.
Waymark Code: WMDBYH
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 12/22/2011
Views: 8
Text from the sign:
"The origins of the Mackenzie Highway date back to 1914 and the Battle River Trail.
Resource discoveries in the Northwest Territories in the 1930s led to the surveying of a cat train route from Grimshaw to Yellowknife in the winter of 1938-39. The first cat train arrived in Yellowknife April 12, 1939. On November 3, 1945 the Federal and Alberta Governments signed an agreement to build an all-weather highway from Grimshaw to Hay River. The news was welcomed in Grimshaw, where civic leaders had long lobbied to be “Mile Zero” on the highway.
Completed by 1950, the highway was named by the Council of the Northwest Territories, which chose the name Mackenzie Highway in January 1949 to recognize the rich Mackenzie District which the highway would serve. The highway, like the District and the River of the same name, honors the explorations in the late 1700s by the famous explorer, Alexander Mackenzie. Today the Mackenzie Highway remains a vital transportation route to Canada’s north."
Visit Instructions:
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