Dog Island (Alberta)
Dog Island is an uninhabited island on the eastern side of Lesser Slave Lake, near Slave Lake, Alberta. It covers about 0.522 square kilometers.
Why it’s named: Fur traders once left sled dogs on the island in summer, and there was a Hudson’s Bay Company fishery that left fish for the dogs.
History: In the early 1900s, steamships carried travelers between Salteaux and Grouard on opposite sides of the lake. Many travelers then continued to the Grouard–Peace River trail to reach the Peace River country. The main steamship was the Northern Light, captained by Hermann Nicklaus, a German immigrant who lived on a homestead on the island with his wife and two Irish immigrants, raising chickens and cattle.
After the railway arrived and steamships faded away, the island was leased to a commercial fishing company. It later became part of Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park.
In 2013, a canoe carrying two boys capsized just south of the island; one boy was rescued after about an hour, and the other drowned.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:34 (CET).