May 15, 1793. A Beautiful Scenery.

May 15, 1793. 227 years ago to-day. (Day 7) 

Excerpts from: Alexander MacKenzie’s “Voyage from Montreal to the Pacific Ocean, via the Peace River 1793.” 

If you have been following along with this, or if you’re just starting the journey, today is Day 7 of the famous voyage and the Explorer and his crew of 9 have now paddled and poled upstream for about 175 river miles since they left Fort Fork, near present day Grimshaw, Alberta a week ago. I have been quoting some excerpts from his daily journal descriptions, and following his route by using Google Earth. I like to read books and journals of the fur trade history, and this is a fun project for me as I’m trying to pinpoint some of the actual locations of their encampments and adventures. The voyageurs are working their way upstream against the mighty Peace River, with a rising current and a strong spring run-off. They have with them only the very basic technology, and yet seem to be undaunted. Fur trader Alexander MacKenzie is searching for an overland route from Canada to the Pacific Ocean, and a way across the Rocky Mountains. 

“The rain prevented us from continuing on our route till past six in the morning, when our course was South-West by West three quarters of a mile; at which time we passed a river on the left...the bank was steep, and the current strong.”

The Kiskatinaw River. 

“The last course continued...where a river flowed in from the right…”

The one we know today as the Beatton River. 

“The land to the right is of a very irregular elevation and appearance, composed in some places of clay, and rocky cliffs, and others exhibiting stratas of red, green, and yellow colours. Some parts, indeed, offer a beautiful scenery, in some degree similar to that which we passed on the second day of our voyage, and equally enlivened with the elk and the buffalo, who were feeding in great numbers, and unmolested by the hunter.” 

He remarked in his journal about how beautiful the scenery was on day two. 

“The river, in this part of it, is full of islands; and the land, on the South or left side, is thick with wood.”  This area he describes is now protected and known as Peace River Corridor Provincial Park.

“In an island which we passed, there was a large quantity of white birch, whose bark might be employed in the construction of canoes.”

Canada’s fur traders were always on the lookout for this precious resource,  everywhere they went in Canada. The voyageurs had learned how to make canoes from the natives, and they could build or repair a canoe at any time, provided they had access to birch-bark. 

The campsite this night was on the islands just a mile or two downstream from the present day Taylor Bridge, on the Alaska Highway.