Prior to the construction of the modern highway system in the Northwest Territories, The transportation corridor provided by the Slave River was a crucial link in the transport of trade goods from southern Canada to northward into the remote Mackenzie Territory hinterland. Resources being extracted, primarily fur in the early days and later valuable minerals such as gold and uranium flowed in the opposite direction, southwards down the Mackenzie River, across Great Slave Lake and eventually down the Slave River. The Slave River rapids presented the only serious barrier to shipping traffic from railheads in Alberta to dozens of communities in the Northwest Territory, the rapidly growing oil developments in Norman Wells and many mining communities such as Yellowknife.

In the early days the aboriginal inhabitants of the South Slave region used the Slave River system to travel and trade with their neighbors and the rapidly developing network of European fur traders. Subsequently European exploration and the burgeoning fur trade transformed the Slave River into a frontier highway.

Shipping routes were established along the Slave River to facilitate the transport of goods to the more remote and isolated communities in the NWT. Originally the route was for the smaller watercraft used by the explorers, voyageurs and aboriginal population. The canoes and goods would be carried by the crew themselves over the most treacherous parts of the rapids.

As trade flourished and larger boats were needed, the route was expanded to bypass the rapid system entirely.

Start of a new era. 1924, when dog teams changed to flat sleighs. This revolutionized the transport business in the north. This change was started by the Ryan Brothers,   intrepid pioneers from the States. In this picture the sleds are hauling feed for the horses. In 1925 the two brothers started hay and feed caches along their freighting route. From dog teams to horse-drawn flat sleighs seemed quite a jump, but Pat and Mickey Ryan made it. The horse-drawn freight sleighs were replaced, in 1930, by aircraft. Ryan brothers did local hauling from the railhead at Waterways to Fort McMurray. They initiated the changeover from dogs to horses to make the haul to Fort Smith and other northern points. As the horse on the prairie replaced the oxen so the horse in the northern woods replaced the dogs to be replaced in turn by aircraft.