Rocher River

Rocher River is an abandoned community in the South Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community was situated near the mouth of the Rocher River, which drains into Great Slave Lake. It began in the 1920s as a small Hudson's Bay Company trading post and had grown by the mid 1950s to include a government day school, two trading posts, post office, and a church, with a population of about 150. At the time, the area was a very rich hunting and trapping area for the Dene and Metis people living on the south shore of Great Slave Lake including the Slavey, Chipeywan, and Yellowknives tribes. The manager of the Hudson's Bay Company post at Rocher River in the early 1940s was Ralph Jardine. On April 25, 1944, the warehouses of the HBC burned down but were immediately rebuilt. [1]

The decline of the community occurred in several stages: In February 1960, the school was destroyed by fire [2] and the government decided not to rebuild in favour of centralizing education services at Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Fort Resolution instead. Many families and their children moved away as a result. In 1963, the Hudson's Bay Company closed its post, and in 1964 Ed and Rose Demelt's store burned down [3], forcing their retirement from business. Furthermore, the construction of the Taltson River hydro dam upstream of Rocher River flooded many trap lines and gave further reason for the few remaining residents to move away.

Former residents of Rocher River can be found living throughout the Northwest Territories with some still maintaining seasonal cabins at Rocher River.

References
  1. The Moccasin Telegraph, Summer 1944
  2. The News of the North, March 3, 1960
  3. Tapwe newspaper, December 24, 1964

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