June 14, 1793. 227 Years Ago, To-day. (Day 37). Excerpts from the Journals of Alexander MacKenzie on his Voyage of Discovery to The Pacific Ocean.
“The weather was fine, clear and warm, and at an early hour of the morning we resumed our repair of the canoe...At half past seven our two men returned hungry and cold...not having tasted food...for twenty-four hours, with their clothes torn into tatters, and their skin lacerated, in passing through the woods...they were of the opinion that from the frequent obstructions on this river, we should have to carry the whole way...through a dreadful country...much time and labour would be required…”
He has just realized that this small river is so plugged with log jams and beaver dams that it won’t be worth the effort required to canoe it. In 1993, on the 200th anniversary of this epic voyage, The Lakehead University Expedition retraced this journey using two modern canoes. They found the same result 200 years later: “The two days spent traversing this 17 km section was quite intense and dangerous, with constant portaging and lining.”
“we were engaged...repairing the canoe; and this work we contrived to complete by the conclusion of the day. The bark...with some pieces of oilcloth, and plenty of gum, enabled us to put our shattered vessel in a condition to answer our present purposes.”
This canoe has been repaired so many times already, and it gets heavier each time it is gummed or when more pieces are added to it.
Picture 1 & 2. A modern day crew making repairs to a large birch-bark canoe.
“The guide, who has been mentioned as manifesting continual signs of dissatisfaction, now assumed an air of contentment...I attributed to a smoke that was visible in the direction of the river; as he naturally expected, if we should fall in with any natives...that he should be released from a service which he found so irksome and full of danger.” The native guide wants to go home; he really doesn’t want to go down this horrible mess of a river, and feels that his job is done, after having shown MacKenzie the way through the chain of lakes and over the divide.
Once again, his latitude reckonings are very close to his actual location.
“I had an observation at noon, which made our latitude 54.23.48 North…”
Picture 3. An 18th century Ramsden Sextant. Mackenzie’s was probably similar.
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