Mackenzie’s Journey to the West Coast

By William Gagné

 

 

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, born in 1764 was a scottish explorer who worked for the

North west Company (Fur trading in what is now called Canada).

 

 

1789 Trip lake Athabasca-Mackenzie river

In 1789, the scot travelled to lake Athabasca where he founded along with some other guys Fort Chipewyan (Chipewyans were a group of aboriginals living in that region at the time). He was requested to find a path to the pacific ocean, and did so (or tried, should I say) by following the Slave river. The explorer was guaranteed that the river led to the West, but he realized  that it took him up North. Conditions on slave River were unbearable, ice chunks were blocking his passage. Fortunately, he was able to overcome these obstacles by taking another river which had never been explored before. When it brought him really high up North he realized that he ended up in the arctic ocean so he decided to name that river, Disappointment River. Later, it was renamed the Mackenzie river in his honour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1792-93 Lake Athabasca-Pacific Ocean

In 1792 Mackenzie came back to lake Athabasca to then move to Fort Fork where he decided to follow Peace River. He crossed the Great Divide, where he confronted with a tough choice: follow the Fraser river, which people did not recommend him doing or follow the grease trail by paddling up West Road River. The option chosen was to follow the west Road River which led him to the Bella Coola river and in into the Pacific Ocean. During this trip Mackenzie left an etching on a rock near the edge of Dean’s Channel (Pictures on front page). In the end, Mackenzie, who was quite young by the end of these two trips released his memoirs(trip log) and moved back to Scotland where he married a 14 year-old girl…

 

 

 

 

Source:

-WIKIPEDIA

-projectalexmac.tripod.com

-bcgrizzlytours.com

-illustratedvancouver.ca