Alexander Mackenzie made two of the most famous Canadian exploring expeditions of the eighteenth century. Accompanied by a party of voyageurs and Indians, Mackenzie set out in 1789 from Fort Chipewyan to explore the great river which now bears his name, hoping to reach the Pacific. The small party battled spring breakup ice and unknown river channels while travelling in birchbark canoes from three o'clock in the morning to nine o'clock each night. Mackenzie continued to the mouth of the river even though its course veered north along the face of an unbroken mountain barrier which blocked the way west. The party reached the still-frozen Arctic Ocean in mid July. After viewing the pack ice ahead they turned to face a gruelling upstream paddle on what Mackenzie termed the River of Disappointment.
Mackenzie's accomplishment received little recognition from the North West Company since he failed in his prime objective, to locate a new source of furs and establish trade links with the Pacific. Mackenzie persisted in his efforts, however, and in 1793 attempted to find a route through the western Rocky Mountain barrier. This time his party wintered at a small upstream post, Fort of the Forks, on the Peace River in order to get an early May departure. Mackenzie led his men relentlessly through what proved to be nearly 950 kilometres of rugged mountains, reaching a point on the Pacific coast near present day Ocean Falls, British Columbia, before turning back. This was the first party to reach the Pacific Coast by land but once again the route proved of little use for the fur trade.
Alexander Mackenzie soon left the North West Company, joined the rival XY Company and eventually attempted to gain control of the Hudson's Bay Company. One of his lasting achievements was the proof that no North West Passage existed south of the Arctic Ocean. As well he established the correct distances involved in crossing the mountains of British Columbia. The latter feat incidently opened up a new and valuable fur supply in a district known in the trade as New Caledonia, now north-central British Columbia. Mackenzie was a careful observer and his written accounts of his epic trips remain classics of adventure travel narratives to this day. His portrait was painted about 1800 by the British artist, Sir Thomas Lawrence.
Courtesy: National Gallery of Canada, National Museums of Canada (8000)
