Excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie’s epic Voyage Of Discovery to find an overland route to The Pacific Ocean.
“At ten we were ready to embark. I then took leave of the Indians, but encouraged them to expect us (to return) in two moons…We now pushed off the canoe from the bank, and proceeded East half a mile, when a river flowed in from the left, about half as large as that which we were navigating.”
The Table River.
“We continued the same course three quarters of a mile, when we missed two of our fowling pieces, which had been forgotten, and I sent their owners back for them…”
In 1990 my brother found an old gun near the creek and beaver dam on his farm in Bonanza Alberta, just a few miles north of the Peace River. I always wondered how a trapper or fur trader could lose such an important item as his “fowling-piece”, but this journal entry shows that it’s possible to lose even something as important as your gun. The one my brother found is shown in Picture 1 & 2. It was made around 1800, has a small circle about 0.4" inches in diameter with a sitting fox facing right, and the word "LONDON" to the right of it. 3 “wedding ring” bands also appear on the barrel, and help to identify it. These “Indian Trade Guns” were muskets made between 1790 and 1820 and were distributed in our area by the North-West Company. It was likely obtained from a trading post at Dunvegan or Fort St. John sometime in the early 19th century. The barrel has been shortened at some time in its history, likely because the barrel had been damaged. Some documents claim these barrels were made too light and if plugged at all they would split. A modified short musket barrel like this would be a handy tool for a trapper or explorer.
“Here a river flowed in from the left, (The Hominka River) which was about one-fourth part as large...We then continued...to the foot of a mountain on the South...we landed at seven o’clock and encamped. During the greatest part of the distance we came to-day, the river runs close to the mountains on the left.”
This can be seen easily with Google Earth. Top is North. Hominka River is shown flowing in to The Parsnip River from the East, at bottom of this image, and the “foot of the mountain on the South” is easily seen where the Parsnip changes its direction to SW. The Table River runs in from the East at the top of the image.
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