Have you ever dreamed of going on an expedition? Do stories of men who ski to the north pole or climb Mount Everest catch your imagination? Stories of explorers and far away lands have always sparked something within us!
Have you ever thought of retracing Sir Alexander Mackenzie&#;s historic voyageur route? In , he led a group of voyageurs and natives to look for a river leading to the Pacific; instead, they followed a massive river flowing north to the arctic ocean, later named the Mackenzie River after him.
I really cannot imagine paddling down a river, truly not knowing where it leads. When I am on the water, I often refer to my maps to see what islands or river confluences are coming up, and I certainly know where I&#;ll end up in days&#; time. Not so with the early explorers; when Mackenzie left the Great Slave Lake, he only knew the river they were on flowed west, for the time being. When it curved North and didn&#;t resume its westerly flow, he realized it wouldn&#;t lead to the Pacific, but he didn&#;t know where it would lead. It was only when they noticed tidal fluctuations in the water level near their camp that they knew they were near the Arctic Ocean. After
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In , Alexander Mackenzie led an expedition down the great northern river, known by many different names to each of the Indigenous groups in the NWT.
Twenty-four-year-old Alexander Mackenzie became second in command at Peter Pond’s Fort Athabasca River fur trading post, 65 kilometres south of Lake Athabasca in northeast Alberta. In the spring of , when Pond left the North, Mackenzie took over this North West Company post.
Thanks to the knowledge of the Indigenous peoples who traded at the Athabasca River post, Peter Pond had prepared a map that showed the Athabasca and Peace River joining to form the Slave River, which then flowed north into a large lake (Great Slave Lake). Pond initially believed the great northern river flowed west and eventually north to the Arctic Ocean; however, before leaving the North, Pond changed details on the map to show the great northern river discharging west from Great Slave Lake to the Pacific Ocean. This change contradicted the knowledge shared by the Indigenous people of the area.
In , a new trading post named Fort Chipewyan was established on Lake Athabasca, and it was from this post that, on June 3, , Mackenzie led a group to expl
CANADA HISTORY
In the vast chronicles of exploration, the name Sir Alexander Mackenzie looms large, a towering figure whose daring expeditions through the uncharted wilderness of Canada reshaped the nation's geographical and cultural landscape. His ventures not only opened critical pathways for trade and settlement but also united Canada’s immense landmass, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the first time in history. While other legendary explorers of his time, like Captain Cook and George Vancouver, navigated the globe's oceans and coastlines, Mackenzie chose an equally perilous path—an overland odyssey deep into the rugged heart of North America. His journey led him through the dense rainforests of the Pacific coast, over the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains, and across the sprawling grasslands of the Prairies. He became the first person to traverse the breadth of Canada from east to west and return, an achievement that would echo through the ages.
Mackenzie's roots trace back to the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, where he was born in the small fishing town of Stornoway. His early life was marked by significant upheaval, setting the stage for the daring vent
ALEXANDER MACKENZIE REACHES THE PACIFIC
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Alexander Mackenzie ( - )
Alexander Mackenzie, the first explorer to cross North America, was born in Scotland in At the age of ten, he emigrated to New York and four years later came to study in Montreal. At only 15 years old, Mackenzie became a clerk in the company of fur merchants Finlay and Gregory (which became Gregory, MacLeod and Company in ). Five years later, he was offered a share in the company on the condition that he went to Grand-Portage.
The American Revolution ended just as Mackenzie's career was starting. The creation of the Canadian-American border diverted the attention of the Montreal merchants from the basin south of the Great Lakes, which had become American territory, to the northwest, in Canadian territory. Mackenzie, located by Gregory, MacLeod in just this region, found himself in the right place at the right time, with the Montreal merchants ready to invest in finding a commercial route to the sea&#;--&#;which was now known to be in the west, thanks to Captain James Cook. Mackenzie
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