The name Athabasca comes from the Woods Cree word ᐊᖬᐸᐢᑳᐤ aðapaskāw, which means "[where] there are plants one after another", likely a reference to the spotty vegetation along the river. See more

The Athabasca River originates in Jasper National Park, in Lake Providence at the toe of the Columbia Glacier within the Columbia Icefield, between Mount Columbia, Snow Dome, and the Winston Churchill Range, … See more

Sekani, Shuswap, Kootenay, Salish, Stoney, and Cree tribes hunted and fished along the river prior to European colonization in the 18th century. From about 1778, the Athabasca River, the Clearwater River, which enter… See more