May 16, 1793. Grisly And Hideous.

May 16th, 1793. Alexander MacKenzie’s Journey of Discovery. (Day 8)

     “The weather being clear, we re-embarked at four in the morning, and proceeded West by North 3 miles. Here the land again appeared as if it run across our course, and a considerable river discharged itself by various streams. According to the Rocky Mountain Indian*, It is called the Sinew River. This spot would be an excellent situation for a fort or factory, as there is plenty of wood, and every reason to believe that the country abounds in beaver.” 

      During the fur trade a “factory” was a major depot for furs and trade; so named because it had a “factor”, who was the chief trader. The first, York Factory, was built by HBC at Hudson’s Bay in 1684, and operated continuously as a fur trading post until 1957. This term was not used for Northwest Co, or XY Co. posts however, which were almost always named, “Fort Something” or “Somewhere House”. There will be many forts built along this stretch of river in the coming 19th century, including the “Old Fort” that is shown, just south of the modern city of Fort St. John, B.C. 

       However, this is still the 18th century, and the only inhabitants around here now are the First Nations people. *The “Rocky Mountain Indian” he refers to here  is a Dane-zaa guide, who is one of his own men.  From the 17th to the mid 19th centuries, the beaver was the main reason for the fur trade, and for the expansion of all trading and exploration across North America. The fashionable hats worn by all of the important men of Europe were now being manufactured with beaver felt mainly from Canada and Rupert’s Land. A “made beaver” was the main item of trade, and a universal currency of the fur trade.  

      The “Sinew River” is the river we know today as the Pine, which joins the Peace River at Taylor, B.C.   

      

      “Our course continued…(the latitude was by observation 56.16.54 North)...a small river appearing... North-West by one mile and a half, West by North half a mile, West by South one mile and a half, West one mile; and at seven we formed our encampment.”

      Not so small really, the river he passed we know now as the Moberly River. Today’s encampment was about 5 miles South-West of today’s community of Charlie Lake, B.C., in an unknown spot that will be completely underwater soon, as it is upstream from the construction site of the Dam at Site “C”. The two Google Earth photos below show the Dam construction site at centre; the top one shows historical Google imagery from 2005, and the second screenshot shown is from 2016. There has been a lot of construction done since then, and a current image would show even more dramatic changes to this valley. 

The  intrepid explorer has made about twenty river miles on this day.

      “Mr. Mackay, and one of the young men, killed two elks, and mortally wounded a buffalo, but we only took part of the flesh of the former...The country is so crowded with animals as to have the appearance, in some places, of a stall-yard, from the state of the ground, and the quantity of dung which is scattered over it. The soil is black and light. We this day saw two grisly and hideous bears.”