May 17. 1793
“It froze during the night, and the air was sharp in the morning, when we continued our course...at two in the afternoon the rocky mountains appeared in sight,with their summits covered in snow, bearing South-West by South: they formed a very agreeable object to every person in the canoe, as we attained the view of them much sooner than we expected. A small river was seen on our right, and we continued our progress South-West by South six miles, when we landed at seven, which was our usual hour of encampment.”
The first photo is one I took in June 2018, looking SW towards the distant mountains from The Peace River Valley Viewpoint site. MacKenzie would have been near here at two in the afternoon, when the “rocky mountains appeared in sight”.
Today they have passed by the Halfway River on the right, whose delta will also be flooded after Site C Dam is completed and will be bridged by a new 1 kilometer long bridge. The second photo is a BC Hydro rendition of what the new Halfway River bridge will look like when completed.
Today’s camp, 227 years ago, would have been about 4 miles upstream from Attachie, B.C. The buffalo he describes are the Wood Bison, and were great in numbers in this area.
“On the high grounds...we saw a buffalo tearing up and town with great fury, but could not discern the cause of his impetuous motions; my hunters conjectured that he had been wounded with an arrow by some of the natives. We ascended several rapids in the course of the day, and saw one bear.”
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