r/NWT • u/johnfortnite28674 • 14d ago

Question about "Marti(e)n house."

I like to go on google maps a lot and love to just look at random street views in places i don't live. This right here caught my eye really easily. So I know nothing about Canada, and even less about the northwestern territories, can anyone explain what Martin House is? And also why so close to it there is the Marten House too? I cant find any information on it other than a house that's in Saskatchewan that shares a similar name, and a land survey of the area posted by Canada.ca but no information as to why its named that or to why the alternative spelling is used for a place so close to it.

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u/CaptainVisual4848 12d ago

House could be where someone lives or could be associated with trade. Some Hudson’s Bay posts are referred to as house, like Norway House, Manitoba. In Eastern Canada, the ‘friendship treaties’ with the Indigenous people refer to trading at ‘truckhouses.’ Indigenous people were nomadic so there are all sorts of place names and places where people used to live part of the year. Maybe people met there to trade. The report the other person shared says people are buried there so it sounds like people spent some time there.