The first Europeans known to have visited the area was during the first expedition of John Franklin in 1821. There was little outside contact until 1936 when both the Catholic Church and the Hudson's Bay Company arrived. Although, the Hudson's Bay Company abandoned the site in 1964 the Inuit decided to remain in the area and continue the traditional lifestyle. During the early 1960s, the area was visited by Glen Warner, a sergeant with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Warner, along with his wife Trish, purchased both the mission house and the HBC post which they turned into the "Bathurst Inlet Lodge". It is operated today as a joint venture between the Warners and the local Inuit, and is open during the short Arctic summer. The lodge is a popular destination for tourists who wish to see a more traditional type Inuit lifestyle and wildlife such as foxes, seals, barren-ground caribou, Arctic char and muskox. Also in the area is the Wilberforce Falls, the highest waterfall above the Arctic Circle. Like other communities in Nunavut, the only access is by aircraft. Although most tourists arrive from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, it is possible to charter an aircraft from Cambridge Bay. The community has no local phone service and contact with the outside world is maintained by satellite phone. Like its sister community Umingmaktok, schooling is provided by flying the students to Cambridge Bay and returning them for Christmas and the summer. Dr. L.H. Vashon, Dr. Rosalie Garcia, and Dr. Carl Smith visited Bathurst Inlet and the surrounding areas in 1993 to study the Casimir effect.
Bathurst herd
Bathurst Inlet is the traditional birthing grounds of the migratory Bathurst herd of barren-ground caribou. The herd had experienced a rapid decline from 186,000 animals in 2003 to "approximately 16,000-22,000 animals" in 2015. The herd migrates from the birthing grounds to their winter grounds which extends from southern and central Northwest Territories. In some years, the herd winters as "far south as northern Saskatchewan." According to Environment and Natural Resources, "The Bathurst Herd are barren-ground caribou, a key northern species. They have shaped the cultural identity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples over millennia through mutual relationships built on respect." The Bathurst herd was the lifeblood of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation in the N.W.T., but by 2017, they faced "a complete ban on hunting from the Bathurst caribou herd."
Sabina gold and silver project
With hopes of more jobs and the guarantee of state-of-the-art protection for the Bathurst caribou, the Kitikmeot Inuit Association among others, have agreed to the gold mine proposal by Vancouver-based Sabina Gold and Silver in the final hearings. The mine will be open-pit and underground and will be located about south of Bathurst Inlet. Sabina's Matthew Pickard said, "Our objective is to have no impact on caribou herds as a result of this project." According to the CBC, the "proposed mine lies on the eastern fringe of the Bathurst caribou range and in the midst of the range of the Beverly/Ahiak herd, but does not significantly infringe on the calving or post-calving grounds of either herd."
