Athabaska, Northwest Territories (1881 census)
Athabaska was a census subdivision in Northwest Territories, recorded in the 1881 Census of Canada with a population of 8,200. The administrative centroid was at approximately 56.917°N, 115.790°W.
Population
In 1881, Athabaska had a population of 8,200: 3,977 male and 4,223 female residents.
Population trajectory across census years
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1881 | 8,200 |
| 1901 | 6,615 |
Cross-year identity established by spatial polygon overlap (SAME_AS chains across the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary files).
Boundary continuity (non-identical overlaps)
Spatial polygon overlaps with adjacent census years where the boundary shifted enough that the SAME_AS chain didn't merge them. These show where the territory came from and went to even when it isn't tracked as the same persistent place.
Earlier boundary forms
- In an earlier year, this CSD was contained in NO DATA, 1871 (4.5% share).
Neighbouring Census Subdivisions in 1881
In the 1881 census, Athabaska shared boundaries with:
Full census record, 1881
The 1881 census recorded 27 measurements for this Census Subdivision across 4 categories.
Population & families (1881). This community's record includes 8,200 total population, 4,223 females, 3,977 males, 3,348 married persons, 1,780 families, 1,778 married females, 1,570 married males, 288 widowed persons, 280 widowed females, 8 widowed males. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Age structure (1881). This community's record includes 4,564 single persons under 18, 2,399 single males under 18, 2,165 single females under 18. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Buildings & housing (1881). This community's record includes 1,780 occupied houses, 1,760 dwellings that are temporary shanties, 20 inhabited houses. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V1T1.)
Agriculture (1881). This community's record includes 2,370 bushels of potatoes, 378 tons of hay, 232 bushels of turnips, 207 bushels of barley, 190 acres of hay crops, 63 bushels of other root crops, 52 bushels of spring wheat, 51 acres of potatoes, 11 bushels of winter wheat, 5 bushels of peas and beans, 3 acres of wheat. (Source: 1881 Census of Canada, V3T24.)
People with Dictionary of Canadian Biography entries
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography includes biographies of 4 people connected to this place who were alive in 1881, listed below by birth year. Each name links to that person's DCB entry.
| Name | Lifespan | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| the Reverend Henry Bird Steinhauer | 1818–1884 | died here |
| Isidore Clut | 1832–1903 | died here |
| James Francis Sanderson | 1848–1902 | born here |
| Mostos | 1850–1918 | born here |
Residents in 1881
The 1881 census residents page for this Census Subdivision lists 362 individuals enumerated here, with name, age, sex, religion, ethnic origin, birthplace, and occupation. Source: TCP/Dillon 1881 Canadian Census deposit at Borealis.
Identifiers
- TCP UID:
NT193014— year-scoped identifier from the Canadian Census Subdivision boundary file - Persistent place ID:
PLACE_NT206001— computed from spatial-overlap chains across census years - Wikidata: not yet grounded. This page covers a place whose persistent identity has not yet been linked to a Wikidata entity. Identification is via TCP UID and spatial polygon only.
Sources
Census tabulations from the 1881 Census of Canada, transcribed and georeferenced by the Canadian Peoples / TCP project, hosted at the HGIS Lab, University of Saskatchewan. Persistent place identity computed from spatial-overlap chains across all available census years (1851–1921). Identity grounding to Wikidata performed via the HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph project's MCP-assisted disambiguation pipeline. See the About / Methodology page for the full data pipeline.
Cite this page
Clifford, J. (2026). "Athabaska, Northwest Territories (1881 census)" in HGIS Canada Knowledge Graph. Retrieved from https://jimclifford.ca/hgiscanada/places/nt/athabaska-nt193014-1881/.