Alexander MacKenzie on the Peace River
For anyone who is following along on this daily journey and interested in reading more of his writing than just excerpts, you can download Alexander MacKenzie’s accounts for free from the gutenberg press.
The title of the volume I’m using is “Voyages from Montreal Through The Continent Of North America...” Vol 2. (It actually has a much longer title) Originally published in London in 1801, the edition I downloaded was pub. 1902.
The picture shows a valuable first edition.
By ALEXANDER MACKENZIE
May 23rd, 1793. Excerpts from his journals.
“The weather was clear at four this morning, when the men began to carry. I joined Mr. MacKay and the two Indians in the labour of cutting a road...we could see but little...as mountains...covered with snow, were seen far above us in every direction.”
The portage continues. Everything looks differently from the bush, compared to what they are used to seeing from the river.
“The trees are spruce, red-pine, cypress, poplar, white birch, willow, alder,arrow-wood, red-wood, liard, service-tree, bois-picant- and I never saw any of the last kind before. It rises to about nine feet in height...”
The bois-picant (Fr: prickly wood), also known as devil’s club.
“It is covered in small prickles, which caught in our trowsers (sic), and working through them, sometimes found their way to the flesh. The shrubs are, the gooseberry, the currant, and several kinds of briars.”
“Our progress, however, exceeded my expectation...At five, in a state of fatigue that may be more readily conceived than expressed, we encamped near a rivulet or spring that issued from beneath a large mass of ice and snow.”
It has been a long and arduous day of making the trail and moving their baggage over rough terrain through thick woods. These men would rather be in the canoe than packing it.
“Our toilsome journey of this day I compute at about three miles...the passage through them painful and tedious.”
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