Alexander Mackenzie Traveler Country: USA

Biography of Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie was born in Stornoway, Scotland in 1764. He spent his entire conscious life serving in the North West Fur Company. While trading with the Native Americans, Mackenzie repeatedly heard stories from them about a potential water route to the Pacific Ocean. In 1789, Mackenzie managed to convince the Company to organize an expedition to search for this route. The group consisted of Mackenzie and 12 others. They set off in three canoes down the Slave River to the Great Slave Lake. From the lake, they discovered another river, which would later be named the Mackenzie River. For forty days, Mackenzie and his companions descended this river until they reached the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Much to their disappointment, it was not the Pacific Ocean.
In 1793, Mackenzie embarked on another search. Accompanied by nine companions, he began his journey from the Peace River. After reaching the Rocky Mountains, the expedition crossed overland and discovered a new river (which would later be named the Fraser River by Simon Fraser). Their attempt to navigate down the river almost ended in tragedy when their canoes flipped in rapids, but they miraculously survived. They continued on foot until they finally encountered a river that led them to the Pacific Ocean. However, it was too shallow and narrow for navigation. The North West Company refused to finance a third expedition, so in protest, Mackenzie resigned and returned home to Scotland.
There, he prepared a report of his travels and published it under the title "Voyages from Montreal". The President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, read Mackenzie's book and was impressed by his accounts. When Jefferson organized an American expedition three years later to search for a passage to the Pacific Ocean, he provided Lewis and Clark, the expedition leaders, with a copy of Alexander Mackenzie's book. Alexander Mackenzie passed away in 1820.