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A Fight For Enhancement – Sir Alexander Mackenzie

“One of our country’s major historical figures,”1 Sir Alexander Mackenzie, was the first European to cross the continent of North America.2 During his time, much of the west coast still remained undiscovered and unknown on the map of trading routes. This, in turn, kept the dreams and myths of a Northwest Passage to Cathay alive for Mackenzie. After his explorations of Western Canada, he began urging the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company to unite and form a chartered corporation on the coast. However, even after his two expeditions, Mackenzie’s ideas and discoveries were overlooked due to the impracticalities of his routes and the selfishness of his fellow fur traders. Although Alexander Mackenzie’s expeditions and suggestions were neglected during his existence, his discoveries greatly influenced the fur trading company by expanding its routes and presenting a united front with the North West and the Hudson’s Bay Company.
The beginnings of Alexander Mackenzie’s expeditions were not as successful as planned. He ventured off in hopes of reaching the Pacific yet was still shielded from the secrets he set out to reveal as he realized he reached the Arctic and not the Pacific. (Refer to Appendix A) This led to the name he referred to the river he followed, the “River of Disappointment.”3 Mackenzie had “hopes of getting into Cook’s River; tho’ was disappointed”4 when he realized that he was, in fact, no where near the Pacific. On top of his disappointment, Mackenzie’s expedition was not welcomed as a great triumph for the company. However, he was not surprised as he still hadn’t found a path to the Pacific. “My expedition was hardly spoken of, but this is what I expected.”5 However, the perseverance of this young explorer aided him in traveling to England to learn new surveying skills and buy new instruments. Mackenzie was determined to not only find a route to the western ocean, but to accurately fix his position to prove where he had been. Despite the...