Norman Wells

Village in Inuvik Region, in the west of Northwest Territories; population (1991) 627. It stands at the western foot of the Franklin Mountains, on the Mackenzie River, 635 km/395 mi northwest of the regional capital Yellowknife.

Oil was discovered in the area in 1920, and during World War II, the refinery at Norman Wells was connected via the US-built ‘Canol’ pipeline with Whitehorse, in Yukon Territory. The Canol was abandoned at the end of the war, but in 1984 a new pipeline to Alberta came into operation. The hamlet of Fort Norman (population 375), a fur-trading post in the early 19th century and now home to a community of indigenous Dene people, lies 65 km/41 mi to the southeast, where the Great Bear River meets the Mackenzie.