Alexander MacKenzie Route
From OutdoorWiki
Alexander Mackenzie was born at Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland in 1764. He came to North America in 1774, and was employed as a clerk in the fur trade in 1779. By 1787, he was a wintering partner in the Northwest Company, and was posted at Ft. Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca under the direction of fur trader Peter Pond.
Based on information and maps provided by Pond: Mackenzie, Laurent Leroux, a guide known as English Chief, his two wives, five voyageurs, two of their wives, and two young natives set out on June 3, 1789 to follow a large river flowing west from Great Slave Lake in search of a Northwest passage to the Pacific (Mackenzie in Lamb, 1970, p. 163). On July 13, Mackenzie and his party reached salt water, although it was the Beaufort Sea and not the Pacific Ocean. Mackenzie, realising that his navigation and mapping skills were inadequate, completed another two years in the fur trade and then returned to England in the fall of 1791 for further schooling in astronomy and cartography. After a winter's studies, Mackenzie returned to Canada in the spring of 1792 with a proper set of instruments and tables, improved skills and renewed determination.
Fully concentrated on the task ahead, Mackenzie pushed west to newly constructed Fort Fork, near the junction of the Smoky and Peace Rivers, where he spent the winter preparing for his next and last great voyage.
In May, 1793, Mackenzie departed on a difficult passage by canoe and foot through the Rocky Mountains. Mackenzie and his crew of six voyageurs, two natives and Alexander Mackay arrived on the Pacific Ocean near Bella Coola, British Columbia, inscribing in vermilion paint on a rocky outcrop on the shore of the Dean Channel:
Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety three
Contents |
Quebec
- Quebec City (46.809606°N,-71.212649°W)
- St. Lawrence - Ottawa Valley
- St. Lawrence River
- Ottawa River
Ontario
- Ottawa Valley
- Ottawa River
- Nipissing
- Mattawa River
- La Vase Portages
- Lake Nipissing
- French River
- Great Lakes
- Georgian Bay - Lake Huron
- Lake Superior
- Hudson Bay Divide
- Grand Portage Pigeon River
- Boundary Waters/Quetico
- Pigeon River
- North, South Fowl Lake
- Moose Lake
- Vasuex lake
- Fan Lake
- Mountain Lake
- Watap Lake
- Rose Lake
- Rat Lake
- South Lake
- Height of Land portage
- North Lake
- Little North Lake
- Little Gunflint Lake
- Gunflint Lake
- Magnetic Lake
- Pine River
- Pine Lake
- Granite River
- Lake Saganaga
- Cypress Lake
- Knife Lake
- Knife River
- Carp Lake
- Birch Lake
- Basswood Lake
- Basswood River
- Crooked Lake
- Iron Lake
- Lac La Croix
- Loon Lake
- Loon River
- Little Vermilion Lake
- Vermilion Lake
- Namakan Lake
- Rainy Lake
- Rainy River
- Lake of the Woods
Manitoba
- Hudson Bay Divide
- Lake of the Woods
- Winnipeg River/Lake Winnipeg
- Winnipeg River
- Gun Lake
- Little Sand Lake
- Roughrock Lake
- Tetu Lake
- Eaglenest Lake
- Numao Lake
- Nutimik Lake
- Dorthy Lake
- Natalie Lake
- Lac Du Bonnet
- Lake Winnipeg
- Lower Saskatchewan River Watershed
- Cedar Lake
- Saskatchewan River
Saskatchewan
- Lower Saskatchewan River Watershed
- Saskatchewan River
- Sturgeon-Weir Region
- Cumberland Lake
- Sturgeon-Weir River
- Amisk Lake
- Upper Churchill River
- Frog Portage
- Churchill River
- Trade Lake
- Keg lake
- Drinking Lake
- Nistowiak Lake
- Mountain Lake
- Otter Lake
- Devil Lake
- Nipew Lake
- Trout Lake
- Black Bear Island Lake
- Sandfly Lake
- Pinehouse Lake
- Sandy Lake
- Dreger Lake
- Knee Lake
- Primeau Lake
- Dipper Lake
- Shagwenaw Lake
- Lac Ile-a-la-Crosse
- Churchill Lake
- Peter Pond Lake
- La Loche River
- Lac la Loche
- Arctic Divide
- Methye Portage
- Clearwater River
Alberta
- Arctic Divide
- Clearwater River
- Lower Athabasca
- Athabasca River
- Lake Athabasca
- Peace River Watershed
- Peace River
British Columbia
- Peace River Watershed
- Peace River
- Dinosaur Lake
- Pacific Divide Region
- Williston Lake
- Artic Creek
- Artic Lake
- Portage Lake
- Fraser River
- Pacific Lake
- James Creek
- Herrick Creek
- McGregor River
- Fraser River
- Overland - Pacific
- Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail
- Blackwater/West Road River
- Bella Coola River
- Dean Channel
- Alexander MacKenzie Rock (52.378°N 127.471°W)
