VOYAGES OF SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.
A young Highlander--To rival Hearne--Fort Chipewyan
built--French Canadian voyageurs--Trader Leroux--Perils
of the route--Post erected on Arctic Coast--Return
journey--Pond's miscalculations--Hudson Bay Turner--Roderick
McKenzie's hospitality--Alexander Mackenzie--Astronomy and
mathematics--Winters on Peace River--Terrific journey--The Pacific
slope--Dangerous Indians--Pacific Ocean, 1793--North-West passage
by land--Great achievement--A notable book.
One of the chiefs of the fur traders seems to have had a higher ambition
than simply to carry back to Grand Portage canoes overflowing with
furs. Alexander Mackenzie had the restless spirit that made him a very
uncertain partner in the great schemes of McTavish, Frobisher & Co., and
led him to seek for glory in the task of exploration. Coming as a young
Highlander to Montreal, he had early been so appreciated for his ability
as to be sent by Gregory, McLeod & Co. to conduct their enterprise in
Detroit. Then we have seen that, refusing to enter the McTavish Company,
he had gone to Churchill River for the Gregory Company. The sudden union
of all the Montreal Companies (1787) caused, as already noted, by Pond's
murder of Ross, led to Alexander Mackenzie being placed in charge in
that year of the department of Athabasca.
The longed-for opportunity had now come to Mackenzie. He heard from the
Indians and others of how Samuel Hearne, less than twenty years before,
on behalf of their great rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company, had returned
by way of Lake Athabasca from his discovery of the Coppermine River. He
longed to reach the Arctic Sea by another river of which he had heard,
and eclipse the discovery of his rival. He even had it in view to seek
the Pacific Ocean, of which he was constantly hearing from the Indians,
where white men wearing armour were to be met--no doubt meaning the
Spaniards.
Mackenzie proceeded in a very deliberate way to prepare for his long
journey. Having this expedition in view, he secured the appointment of
his cousin, Roderick McKenzie, to his own department. Reaching Lake
Athabasca, Roderick McKenzie selected a promontory running out some
three miles into the lake, and here built (1788) Fort Chipewyan, it
being called from the Indians who chiefly frequented the district.
It became the most important fort of the north country, being at the
converging point of trade on the great watercourses of the north-west.
On June 3rd, 1789, Alexander Mackenzie started on his first exploration.
In his own birch-bark canoe was a crew of seven. His crew is worthy of
being particularized. It consisted of four French Canadians, with the
wives of two of them. These voyageurs were François Barrieau, Charles
Ducette, or Cadien, Joseph Landry, or Cadien, Pierre de Lorme. To
complete the number was John Steinbruck, a German. The second canoe
contained the guide of the expedition, an Indian, called the "English
chief," who was a great trader, and had frequented year by year the
route to the English, on Hudson Bay. In his canoe were his two wives,
and two young Indians. In a third canoe was trader Leroux, who was to
accompany the explorer as far north as Slave Lake, and dispose of the
goods he took for furs. Leroux was under orders from his chief to build
a fort on Slave Lake.
Starting on June 3rd, the party left the lake, finding their way down
Slave River, which they already knew. Day after day they journeyed,
suffered from myriads of mosquitoes, passed the steep mountain portage,
and, undergoing many hardships, reached Slave Lake in nine days.
Skirting the lake, they departed north by an unknown river. This was
the object of Mackenzie's search. Floating down the stream, the Horn
Mountains were seen, portage after portage was crossed, the mouth of
the foaming Great Slave Lake River was passed, the snowy mountains came
in view in the distance, and the party, undeterred, pressed forward on
their voyage of discovery.
The usual incidents of early travel were experienced. The accidents,
though not serious, were numerous; the scenes met with were all new;
the natives were surprised at the bearded stranger; the usual deception
and fickleness were displayed by the Indians, only to be overcome by
the firmness and tact of Mackenzie; and forty days after starting,
the expedition looked out upon the floating ice of the Arctic Ocean.
Mackenzie, on the morning of July 14th, erected a post on the shore, on
which he engraved the latitude of the place (69 deg. 14´ N.), his own
name, the number of persons in the party, and the time they remained
there.
His object having been thus accomplished, the important matter was to
reach Lake Athabasca in the remaining days of the open season. The
return journey had the usual experiences, and on August 24th they
came upon Leroux on Slave Lake, where that trader had erected Fort
Providence. On September 12th the expedition arrived safely at Fort
Chipewyan, the time of absence having been 102 days. The story of this
journey is given in a graphic and unaffected manner by Mackenzie in his
work of 1801, but no mention is made of his own name being attached to
the river which he had discovered.
We have stated that Peter Pond had prepared a map of the north country,
with the purpose of presenting it to the Empress of Russia. Being a man
of great energy, he was not deterred from this undertaking by the fact
that he had no knowledge of astronomical instruments and little of the
art of map-making. His statements were made on the basis of reports from
the Indians, whose custom was always to make the leagues short, that
they might boast of the length of their journeys. Computing in this way,
he made Lake Athabasca so far from Hudson Bay and the Grand Portage
that, taking Captain Cook's observations on the Pacific Coast four years
before this, the lake was only, according to his calculations, a hundred
or a hundred and fifty miles from the Pacific Ocean.
The effect of Pond's calculations, which became known in the Treaty of
Paris, was to stimulate the Hudson's Bay Company to follow up Hearne's
discoveries and to explore the country west of Lake Athabasca. They
attempted this in 1785, but they sent out a boy of fifteen, named
George Charles, who had been one year at a mathematical school, and
had never made there more than simple observations. As was to have been
expected, the boy proved incompetent. Urged on by the Colonial Office,
they again in 1791 organized an expedition to send Astronomer Philip
Turnor to make the western journey. Unaccustomed to the Far West, and
poorly provided for this journey, Turner found himself at Fort Chipewyan
entirely dependent for help and shelter on the Nor'-Westers. He was,
however, qualified for his work, and made correct observations, which
settled the question of the distance of the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Roderick
McKenzie showed him every hospitality. This expedition served at least
to show that the Pacific was certainly five times the distance from Lake
Athabasca that Pond had estimated.
[Illustration: SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE.]
After coming back from the Arctic Sea, Alexander Mackenzie spent his
time in urging forward the business of the fur trade, especially north
of Lake Athabasca; but there was burning in his breast the desire to be
the discoverer of the Western Sea. The voyage of Turner made him still
more desirous of going to the West.
Like Hearne, Alexander Mackenzie had found the want of astronomical
knowledge and the lack of suitable instruments a great drawback in
determining his whereabouts from day to day. With remarkable energy, he,
in the year 1791, journeyed eastward to Canada, crossed the Atlantic
Ocean to London, and spent the winter in acquiring the requisite
mathematical knowledge and a sufficient acquaintance with instruments to
enable him to take observations.
He was now prepared to make his journey to the Pacific Ocean. He states
that the courage of his party had been kept up on their reaching the
Arctic Sea, by the thought that they were approaching the Mer de
l'Ouest, which, it will be remembered, Verendrye had sought with such
passionate desire.
In the very year in which Mackenzie returned from Great Britain,
his great purpose to reach the Pacific Coast led him to make his
preparations in the autumn, and on October 10th, 1792, to leave Fort
Chipewyan and proceed as far up Peace River as the farthest settlement,
and there winter, to be ready for an early start in the following
spring. On his way he overtook Mr. Finlay, the younger, and called upon
him in his camp near the fort, where he was to trade for the winter.
Leaving Mr. Finlay "under several volleys of musketry," Mackenzie
pushed on and reached the spot where the men had been despatched in
the preceding spring to square timber for a house and cut palisades to
fortify it. Here, where the Boncave joins the main branch of the Peace
River, the fort was erected. His own house was not ready for occupation
before December 23rd, and the body of the men went on after that date
to erect five houses for which the material had been prepared. Troubles
were plentiful; such as the quarrelsomeness of the natives, the killing
of an Indian, and in the latter part of the winter severe cold. In May,
Mackenzie despatched six canoes laden with furs for Fort Chipewyan.
The somewhat cool reception that Mackenzie had received from the other
partners at Grand Portage, when on a former occasion he had given an
account of his voyage to the Arctic Sea, led him to be doubtful whether
his confrères would fully approve the great expedition on which he was
determined to go. He was comparatively a young man, and he knew that
there were many of the traders jealous of him. Still, his determined
character led him to hold to his plan, and his great energy urged him to
make a name for himself.
Mackenzie had found much difficulty in securing guides and voyageurs.
The trip proposed was so difficult that the bravest shrank from it. The
explorer had, however, great confidence in his colleague, Alexander
Mackay, who had arrived at the Forks a few weeks before the departure.
Mackay was a most experienced and shrewd man. After faithfully serving
his Company, he entered, as we shall see, the Astor Fur Company in
1811, and was killed among the first in the fierce attack on the ship
_Tonquin_, which was captured by the natives. Mackenzie's crew was
the best he could obtain, and their names have become historic. There
were besides Mackay, Joseph Landry and Charles Ducette, two voyageurs
of the former expedition, Baptiste Bisson, François Courtois, Jacques
Beauchamp, and François Beaulieu, the last of whom died so late as
1872, aged nearly one hundred years, probably the oldest man in the
North-West at the time. Archbishop Taché gives an interesting account
of Beaulieu's baptism at the age of seventy. Two Indians completed the
party, one of whom had been so idle a lad, that he bore till his dying
day the unenviable name of "Cancre"--the crab.
Having taken, on the day of his departure, the latitude and longitude
of his winter post, Mackenzie started on May 9th, 1793, for his notable
voyage. Seeing on the banks of the river elk, buffalo, and bear, the
expedition pushed ahead, meeting the difficulties of navigation with
patience and skill. The murmurs of his men and the desire to turn back
made no impression on Mackenzie, who, now that his Highland blood
was up, determined to see the journey through. The difficulties of
navigation became extreme, and at times the canoes had to be drawn up
stream by the branches of trees.
At length in longitude 121° W. Mackenzie reached a lake, which he
considered the head of the Ayugal or Peace River. Here the party landed,
unloaded the canoes, and by a portage of half-a-mile on a well-beaten
path, came upon another small lake. From this lake the explorers
followed a small river, and here the guide deserted the party. On June
17th the members of the expedition enjoyed, after all their toil and
anxiety, the "inexpressible satisfaction of finding themselves on the
bank of a navigable river on the west side of the first great range of
mountains."
Running rapids, breaking canoes, re-ascending streams, quieting
discontent, building new canoes, disturbing tribes of surprised Indians,
and urging on his discouraged band, Mackenzie persistently kept on his
way. He was descending on Tacouche Tesse, afterwards known as the Fraser
River. Finding that the distance by this river was too great, he turned
back. At the point where he took this step (June 23rd) was afterwards
built Alexandria Fort, named after the explorer. Leaving the great
river, the party crossed the country to what Mackenzie called the West
Road River. For this land journey, begun on July 4th, the explorers were
provided with food. After sixteen days of a most toilsome journey, they
at length came upon an arm of the sea. The Indians near the coast seemed
very troublesome, but the courage of Mackenzie never failed him. It was
represented to him that the natives "were as numerous as mosquitoes and
of a very malignant character."
His destination having been reached, the commander mixed up some
vermilion in melted grease and inscribed in large characters on the
south-east face of the rock, on which they passed the night, "Alexander
Mackenzie, from Canada, by land the twenty-second of July, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety-three."
After a short rest the well-repaid explorers began their homeward
journey. To ascend the Pacific slope was a toilsome and discouraging
undertaking, but the energy which had enabled them to come through
an unknown road easily led them back by a way that had now lost its
uncertainty. Mackenzie says that when "we reached the downward current
of the Peace River and came in view of Fort McLeod, we threw out our
flag and accompanied it with a general discharge of fire-arms, while
the men were in such spirits and made such an active use of their
paddles, that we arrived before the two men whom we left in the spring
could recover their senses to answer us. Thus we landed at four in the
afternoon at the place which we left in the month of May. In another
month (August 24th) Fort Chipewyan was reached, where the following
winter was spent in trade."
It is hard to estimate all the obstacles overcome and the great service
rendered in the two voyages of Alexander Mackenzie. Readers of the
"North-West Passage by Land" will remember the pitiable plight in which
Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle, nearly seventy years afterwards, reached
the coast. Mackenzie's journey was more difficult, but the advantage
lay with the fur-traders in that they were experts in the matters of
North-West travel. Time and again, Mackenzie's party became discouraged.
When the Pacific slope was reached, and the voyageurs saw the waters
begin to run away from the country with which they were acquainted,
their fears were aroused, and it was natural that they should be
unwilling to proceed further.
Mackenzie had, however, all the instincts of a brave and tactful
leader. On one occasion he was compelled to take a stand and declare
that if his party deserted him, he would go on alone. This at once
aroused their admiration and sympathy, and they offered to follow him.
At the point on the great river where he turned back, the Indians were
exceedingly hostile. His firmness and perfect self-control showed the
same spirit that is found in all great leaders in dealing with savage or
semi-civilized races. Men like Frontenac, Mackenzie, and General Gordon
seemed to have a charmed life which enabled them to exercise a species
of mesmeric influence over half-trained or entirely uncultivated minds.
From the wider standpoint, knowledge was supplied as to the country
lying between the two great oceans, and while it did not, as we know
from the voyages seeking a North-West Passage in this century, lay
the grim spectre of an Arctic channel, yet it was a fulfilment of
Verendrye's dream, and to Alexander Mackenzie, a Canadian bourgeois, a
self-made man, aided by his Scotch and French associates, had come the
happy opportunity of discovering "La Grande Mer de l'Ouest."
Alexander Mackenzie, filled with the sense of the importance of his
discovery, determined to give it to the world, and spent the winter at
Fort Chipewyan in preparing the material. In this he was much assisted
by his cousin, Roderick McKenzie, to whom he sent the journal for
revision and improvement. Early in the year 1794, the distinguished
explorer left Lake Athabasca, journeyed over to Grand Portage, and a
year afterward revisited his native land. He never returned to the
"Upper Country," as the Athabasca region was called, but became one
of the agents of the fur-traders in Montreal, never coming farther
toward the North-west than to be present at the annual gatherings of
the traders at Grand Portage. The veteran explorer continued in this
position till the time when he crossed the Atlantic and published his
well-known "Voyages from Montreal," dedicated to "His Most Sacred
Majesty George the Third." The book, while making no pretensions to
literary attainment, is yet a clear, succinct, and valuable account of
the fur trade and his own expeditions. It was the work which excited
the interest of Lord Selkirk in Rupert's Land and which has become a
recognized authority.
In 1801 this work of Alexander Mackenzie was published, and the order
of knighthood was conferred upon the successful explorer. On his return
to Canada, Sir Alexander engaged in strong opposition to the North-West
Company and became a member of the Legislative Assembly for Huntingdon
County, in Lower Canada. He lived in Scotland during the last years of
his life, and died in the same year as the Earl of Selkirk, 1820. Thus
passed away a man of independent mind and of the highest distinction.
His name is fixed upon a region that is now coming into greater notice
than ever before.