MACKENZIE AND HIS BY CANOE TO THE ARCTIC AND THE PACIFIC 1789-93

By

ARTHUR P. WOOLLACOTT

With Illustrations from Thirty-two Photographs

1927 London ^ Toronto

J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. Education

FOREWORD

In the preparation of this essay, Mackenzie’s narrative, as contained in the original edition of his Voyages^ i8oi, was used as a basis. Supplementary information regarding the routes followed was obtained from other sources, particularly from the publications of the Geological Survey of . The writer himself travelled over the greater part of the track of the Pacific “voyage” by canoe and , from the town of , below Mackenzie’s Fort, to the Parsnip-Fraser divide, and thence down the Fraser. The tide-water section on the Pacific was checked up by reference to Bulletin No. 6, “Mackenzie’s Rock,” issued by the Historic Sites Commission, Ottawa, 1925; and the Indian Trail from the Blackwater to Bella Coola over the interior plateau, by reference to Dr. G. M. Dawson’s report of 1876, in the Geological Survey Report of Progress for that year. The first two chapters are in the nature of a summary of explorations in the North-West collated from Mackenzie’s own narrative, supplemented, where necessary, by reference to Dr. Davidson’s The North-West Company^ Dr. Elliot Coues’ New Light on the Early History of the Greater North-West. The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry and David Thompson^ Lawrence J. Burpee’s Search for the Western Sea^ and L. R. Masson’s Les Bourgeois de la Com- pagnie du Nord-Ouesty Quebec, 1889-90. 2 vols. The outline of Spanish, British, American, and Russian affairs on the Pacific, in chapters vi. and xiii., is derived V 107339 vi Mackenzie’s Voyages largely from Robert Greenhow’s Historical and Political Memoir of the North-West Coast of America^ New York,

1840J and his History of Oregon and California ^ and other Territories on the North-West Coast of America^ New York, 1845. The writer acknowledges the many courtesies extended to him by Mr. E. S. Robinson, the librarian of the Vancouver City Library, who freely placed the library’s valuable collec- tion of material relating to the North-West Coast, and the fur-trade in Canada, at his service; his thanks are also due to Mr. J. Forsyth, the Provincial Librarian, Victoria; to His Honour, Judge F. W. Howay, for permission to quote from his writings; to Mr. A. J. C. Nettel of the Vancouver Office of the Geological Survey; to Mr. J. E. Umbach, surveyor-general, Victoria; to Mr. Iver Fougner, Indian Agent, Bella Coola; to the University of California Press and the University of Chicago Press for permission to quote from their historical publications; and to the following for photographs: the Geological Survey, Ottawa; the North- West Territories and Yukon Branch, Ottawa; and Lt.-Col.

H. St. J. Montizambert for a rare photograph of the view observed by Mackenzie in the lower Parsnip valley on 5 June, 1793; and to the Topographical Branch of the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, for excellent maps of the Athabasca and Mackenzie Rivers. A bibliography will be found in Appendix E. This, how-

ever, is only a brief indication of the wealth of material relating to the subject of this book. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE Foreword ...... v I. Unrolling the Map of North-Western America, 1670-1789 ..... i

II. Stepping Westward . . . . .18 III. Seeking Pond’s Outlet .... 30

IV. La Grande Riviere en Bas . . . -47

V. Tracking Up-Stream a Thousand Miles . 70

VI. Spanish and Russian America on the Pacific . 91 VII. Wintering on the Peace .... 103

VIII. Through the “Mountain of Rocks” . .119

IX. Over THE Divide TO THE “Tacouche Tesse” . 133

X. “Back-Packing” to the Pacific . . . 158 XI. “Mackenzie’s Rock” ..... 171

XII. The