Mackenzie Mountains
Encyclopedia
The Mackenzie Mountains are a mountain range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...

 forming part of the Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

-Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 boundary between the Liard
Liard River
The Liard River flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Columbia, marking the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and then curving northeast back...

 and Peel
Peel River (Canada)
The Peel River is a tributary of the Mackenzie River in the Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada. Its source is in the Ogilvie Mountains in the central Yukon at the confluence of the Ogilvie River and Blackstone River...

 rivers. The range is named in honour of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's second Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...

 Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...

. Nahanni National Park Reserve
Nahanni National Park Reserve
Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, approximately west of Yellowknife, protects a portion of the Mackenzie Mountains Natural Region. The centrepiece of the park is the South Nahanni River. Four noteworthy canyons reaching in depth, called...

 is in the Mackenzie Mountains.

The Mackenzie Mountains hold about 55% of the world's known reserves of tungsten
Tungsten
Tungsten , also known as wolfram , is a chemical element with the chemical symbol W and atomic number 74.A hard, rare metal under standard conditions when uncombined, tungsten is found naturally on Earth only in chemical compounds. It was identified as a new element in 1781, and first isolated as...

. The mining town of Tungsten
Tungsten, Northwest Territories
The townsite of Tungsten is located at Cantung Mine in the Northwest Territories. It is accessible from Watson Lake, Yukon. Tungsten was built in 1961 and the tungsten mine went into operation in 1962 as a large open pit mine high in the Mackenzie Mountains. It originally consisted of several small...

, site of the Cantung Mine
Cantung Mine
Cantung Mine is a tungsten producer in the Nahanni area of the Northwest Territories, Canada, located northeast of Watson Lake in the Flat River Valley of the Selwyn Range close to the Yukon border. Tungsten was originally discovered in the area in 1954 by prospectors. Cantung Mine operated from...

 is in the Mackenzie Mountains. Only two roads lead into the Mackenzie Mountains, both in the Yukon: the Nahanni Range Road
Nahanni Range Road
The Nahanni Range Road was completed in the early 1960s from Watson Lake, Yukon along the present alignment of the Robert Campbell Highway to Cantung Junction, thence along the Highway 10 route, across the border into the Northwest Territories to the privately-owned mining town known, confusingly,...

 leading to the townsite of Tungsten and the Canol Road
Canol Road
The Canol Road was part of a project to build a pipeline and a road from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories to Whitehorse, Yukon during World War II. The pipeline no longer exists, but the long Yukon portion of the road is maintained by the Yukon Government during summer months...

 leading to the Macmillan Pass.

The highest mountain in this range is Keele Peak
Keele Peak
Keele Peak, in Canada's Yukon Territory, is the tallest peak in the Mackenzie Mountains at . It is located about 25 km from the Canol Road not far from the Northwest Territories border....

 at 2972 m (9,751 ft). The second highest mountain is Mount Nirvana
Mount Nirvana
Mount Nirvana, at is the unofficial name of the highest mountain in the Northwest Territories, Canada.-History:Part of the Mackenzie Mountains, it was first climbed by Bill Buckingham and Lew Surdam in July 1965.-Today:...

. It is, at 2773 m (9,098 ft), the highest mountain in the Northwest Territories.

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