The Course of Empire Group Chat

The Life and Expeditions of Sir Alexander Mackenzie Sir Alexander Mackenzie was born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in 1764, the son of a Scottish soldier. When his mother died he was sent to his father and uncle who were stationed in New York. The Revolution broke out shortly afterwords and his father and uncle fought as Loyalists. For his own safety, the young Alexander was sent to Montreal in 1778. His father died in 1780, leaving him an orphan. By 1787, Mackenzie was an employee of the North West Company and he headed out west. After the founding of Fort Chipewyan, Mackenzie led an expedition in 1789 down the Mackenzie River hoping to reach the Pacific, part of the centuries long search for the fabled Northwest Passage. Instead he discovered that it led to the Arctic ocean. A little disappointed, he returned to Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska and set out on another expedition in 1792, this time following the Peace River, heading southwest. They crossed over to the Fraser River and travelled over land to the Bella Coola village on a “grease trail,” one of their inland trading routes. Mackenzie had only reached one of BC’s many saltwater inlets and he attempted to travel to the open ocean through Dean Channel. Unfortunately his passage was blocked by war canoes from the Heiltsuk. Being cut short again, Mackenzie found a spot just to the east of present day Ocean Falls, and with a mixture of ochre and animal grease wrote this inscription: “Alex Mackenzie, From Canada By Land, 22nd July, 1793.” He had missed British Captain Vancouver by six weeks, who was busy mapping the maze of channels on the West Coast. Mackenzie returned to Fort Chipewyan and eventually published an account of his journey and was knighted by George III in 1801. Thomas Jefferson read Mackenzie’s account and it prompted him to send the Lewis and Clark expedition to secure the North West for American interests. Mackenzie returned to Lower Canada and was elected to the Legislature from 1804-08. After that he retired to his native Scotland where he married a Scottish heiress. Alexander Mackenzie died at Avoch, Inverness-shire, in 1820, at the age of 56.