Mackenzie: 1789, 1792-1797 |
|
|||||
Mackenzie, Alexander, Sir, 1763-1820. [portrait] Princeton's copy is inscribed by Mackenzie to "Lady Johnson," wife of Sir John Johnson, governor of Upper Canada. Born in Scotland, raised in New York, and schooled in Montreal, Mackenzie entered the fur trade business when still in his teens, ultimately becoming in 1788 the supervisor of the Athabasca region for the North West Company, a rival to the Hudson's Bay Company. From his headquarters, Fort Chipewayan on Lake Athabasca, which today straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, Mackenzie made two historic trips. On 3 June 1789 he set out with a small party of Canadians and Indians, reached the Great Slave Lake, "discovered" the outlet river flowing from the lake (the Mackenzie River), and canoed down it to the Arctic sea, which they reached on July 15, noting the latitude of 69.7° N. Seeing ice off the coast and learning that the ground never thawed more than six inches down, he realized he had not reached the Pacific and thus called his great river "River Disappointment." He retraced his steps and reached the fort on September 12.
As a result, with preparations behind, Mackenzie departed from Fort Chipewayan once again, on 10 October 1792. He proceeded west on the Peace River till the 1st of November and wintered at Fort Fork at 56.9° N, 117° 35'15'' W. During the winter and early spring months he hunted and traded with the Indians and was ready to continue his expedition via canoe on 9 May 1793 with a total of ten men and 3000 lbs. of provisions. The party labored up the Peace River, the Parsnip River, across the Continental Divide, and then canoed down the Fraser River to a point south of today's Quesnel. Persuaded by local Indians, they left the water route and started west over land, carrying packs weighing up to 90 lb. on their backs. Ultimately, with the help of Bella Coola Valley Indians, they reached Dean Channel on the coast, at a latitude of 52° 20'48'' N.
Mackenzie was thus the first white explorer to cross the American continenttwelve years before the better-known expedition of Lewis and Clark. On the 24th of August they were back where they had started on the Peace River, having discovered no Northwest Passage. In the conclusion of his published account, he suggested a new goal for the British government:
|
Exhibition Links
|