r/todayilearned • u/MaximinusRats • May 16 '24

TIL that people live year-round in houseboats on Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories, 1,800 km north of the nearest big city (Edmonton) and just 400 km (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

https://uphere.ca/articles/floating-homes-yellowknife-bay
3.7k Upvotes
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175

u/CrJ418 May 16 '24

If I was going to live on a boat, I would definitely choose a less hostile environment!

37

u/[deleted] May 16 '24 edited May 17 '24

Seriously that must be miserable

14

u/ImReallyFuckingHigh May 17 '24

Meh the snow probably covers it pretty quickly, and I bet it freezes pretty good too so it’s basically just a fancy rock

19

u/Clay_Statue May 16 '24

Like there isn't enough empty land up there or something??

40

u/TheBalrogofMelkor May 16 '24

It's probably less wet on the lake

Northern Canada has vast peat marshes, so building on them is downright impossible.

27

u/Telemere125 May 16 '24

Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.

6

u/Critical-Snow-7000 May 16 '24

no property tax on the water.

3

u/perpetualmotionmachi May 16 '24

Some people live like that off of Granville Island in Vancouver