Alexander Mackenzie is a famous traveler and explorer. At the end of the 18th century, he wrote a book about his campaigns.
Alexander Mackenzie led the 1792-1794 land and water voyage that led to the discovery of the northwestern route to the Pacific Ocean. The famous traveler described all this in his work. The memory of Alexander Mackenzie is immortalized in the names of the river, park, schools and even a flower.
Biography
The future traveler was born in 1764. He spent his childhood on the Hybrid Islands, in the port city of Stornoway. Maybe even then Alexander dreamed of traveling, exciting discoveries of new places?
Mackenzie's husband and wife gave birth to four children. Alexander's mother, Isabella Macover, was from a merchant family. She raised her sons and was a housewife. Alexander's father, Ken Cork, was in charge of commercial affairs, and during the Jacobite uprising he went to serve as an ensign.
The future traveler completed his school education in 1774, then settled in New York. His uncle lived here. After the war with the Americans, Alexander's relatives and he himself left for Montreal, where Mackenzie began working in a trading company.
Career
The firm in which the future researcher worked was engaged in the supply of fur. Communicating with the indigenous people, Alexander heard more than once that the flow of all the rivers in this area is directed to the northwest. To check this, to make his own contribution to the opening of the passage to the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of the summer of 1789, Mackenzie undertook the first expedition.
He hired Indian guides, and the group set out on a canoe trip. But the goal was not achieved. Therefore, the researcher called the reservoir that he met on the way of travelers "the River of disappointment." But later this reservoir was named after Alexander Mackenzie.
Successful hike
The traveler did not abandon his dream, but decided to properly prepare for the second campaign. The researcher studied the maps, got acquainted with the latest achievements that help determine the coordinates on the ground.
When everything was ready, Alexander, along with his cousin, with Canadian travelers and two guides from the locals, set off again to the northwest.
But then, due to the onset of cold weather and the formation of ice on the reservoirs, the travelers were forced to stop for the winter.
They waited for the ice to melt in a fortification called Fort Fork. Due to the unpredictable course of the river, part of the route had to go overland, to drag a canoe, food and ammunition.
When the expedition entered Queen Charlotte's Bay in mid-July 1793, it was the first documented intercontinental crossing of North America.
Alexander Mackenzie wanted to continue on to the Pacific Ocean, but because of the militant local people he could not do this. However, the traveler immortalized his trip and discovery, he carved an inscription on the stone about when he reached this place.
Memory
Now it is a tourist spot. Those who wish can walk a segment of the Mackenzie expedition by boat or horseback. There is also a museum here. And in honor of Alexander Mackenzie, two schools, a river, a park were named, and an amazing variety of roses was also bred.
Personal life
At the age of 48, Mackenzie Alexander married a 14-year-old girl with whom he lived for 8 years - until his death. The couple managed to give birth to one daughter and two sons. Husband and wife often traveled from their estate to the capital of England for work and for a change of scenery.
