Shipping: Peel River River ferries working flat out
Early winter may mean early road closure

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by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (OCT 10/96) - Ice on the Peel River is starting to close in on the M.V. Abraham Francis, the ferry linking Inuvik to the Dempster Highway and points south. It won't be long now until the road closes.

The ferry ran every hour around the clock last week to carve a channel out of the growing ice pack. With ice 20 centimetres thick on each side, the boat must keep moving to keep a liquid passage open, said Gurdev Jagpal, regional superintendent of Transportation.

During an average year, the Peel River freezes around Oct. 20. Winter came earlier this year, so "it looks like it will be an earlier closure if it stays this cold," said Jagpal.

"We'll know much better next week when we see what kind of weather we get this weekend."

The weather man is calling for a mild weekend, so that may extend the life of the highway by a few more days.

Of the two rivers that cross the Dempster, the Peel is always first to freeze. Fed by cool mountain water, the Peel is congealing quickly.

The Mackenzie, which carries with it much warmer water from the great river's southern reaches, is still relatively ice free.

For now, captain Bill Prodomidis of the M.V. Abraham Francis has a big job ahead of him.

Navigating through the thickening soup, Prodomidis is putting in plenty of overtime to extend the driving season to the limit.

Once the road is finally closed, both the Abraham Francis and the Mackenzie River ferry M.V. Louis Cardinal will be winched up onto shore for repairs and winter storage.