The Back River

Back River

The Back River , is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada...

 reaches the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

 at Chantrey Inlet (Tariunnuaq) on the east side of Adelaide Peninsula

Adelaide Peninsula

Adelaide Peninsula , ancestral home to the Illuilirmiut Inuit, is a large peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is located at south of King William Island....

, Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, 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...

. Montreal Island

Montreal Island (Nunavut)

Montreal Island is located in Chantrey Inlet, Nunavut, Canada. The island has an area of and a perimeter of .Sir George Back visited the island in 1824 during one of his expeditions to map the arctic coast. He left a cache of supplies on the island, which was found in 1829 on a later arctic...

 is contained within the Inlet, while King William Island

King William Island

King William Island is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut and forms part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the 61st largest island in the world and Canada's 15th largest island...

 shelters the Inlet. It is 100 mi (160.9 km) long and 50 mi (80.5 km) wide at its mouth. Hayes River

Hayes River (Nunavut)

The Hayes River is a river in the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq Regions of Nunavut, Canada. It is in the Arctic Ocean drainage basin and is a tributary of the Back River.-Course:...

 is directly to the north of the Inlet.

Chantrey Inlet is the historical territory of the Utkuhiksalik (the people of the place where there is soapstone

Soapstone

Soapstone is a metamorphic rock, a talc-schist. It is largely composed of the mineral talc and is thus rich in magnesium. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occurs in the areas where tectonic plates are subducted, changing rocks by heat and pressure, with influx...

), nomadic Inuit

Inuit

The Inuit are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Canada , Denmark , Russia and the United States . Inuit means “the people” in the Inuktitut language...

 who lived in snowhouses (igloo

Igloo

An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built of snow, originally built by the Inuit....

s) in the winter, tents in the summer, and whose diet centered on trout (lake trout

Lake trout

Lake trout is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, lake char , touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, they can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbellies and leans...

 and arctic char

Arctic char

Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...

), whitefish

Broad Whitefish

The broad whitefish is a freshwater whitefish species. Dark silvery in colour, and like a herring in its shape, its distinctive features include a convex head, short gill rakers, and a mild overbite. It is found in the Arctic-draining streams, lakes, and rivers of far eastern Russia and North...

, and caribou

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

. In 1833–35, Captain George Back

George Back

Admiral Sir George Back FRS was a British naval officer, explorer of the Canadian Arctic , naturalist and artist.-Career:...

 discovered and mapped the Back River

Back River

The Back River , is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada...

 to Chantrey Inlet. Captain John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

 and Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

employees Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson made follow-up trips in 1837–39. In the present day, sportsmen arrive in Chantrey Inlet by chartered bushplane for fishing.