The ice highway
 Tuktoyaktuk is a charming little town with about 900 people, located in a sandpit at the edge of the Beaufort Sea. Tuktoyaktuk is more familiarly known as Tuk, and is the base for the oil and gas exploration on the Beaufort Sea. A long settlement here has long existed for centuries as the natives have used the site to hunt beluga whales and caribou. The natural harbor made it easy for the natives to transport their hunt to other Inuvialuit settlements. Many of the natives, however, were wiped out in the late 1800s and early 1900s by the diseases brought by American whalers. In the 1930s, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a trading post in Tuktoyaktuk. Eventually, the town turned into the oil and gas town it is today.
Attractions
The main attraction of Tuk is the Pingo National Landmark. This is a protected area full of pingos, arctic ice dome hills. It is home to the world’s second largest pingo, measuring 160 feet high. Another interesting feature of Tuk are the sod houses built by the Karngmalit Inuit of this region, unlike the igloos lived in by some other natives. |
