June 22, 1793. A Retrograde Motion.

June 22, 1793. 227 Years Ago, To-day.

     “At six in the morning we proceeded on our voyage...Our courses were (11 ¼ miles)...the country, on the right, presented a very beautiful appearance…We now landed near a house...Our stay did not exceed half an hour...From this place we steered (2 ¾ miles) when we landed again on seeing some natives on the high ground...they approached us one after another...I shook hands with them all, and desired my interpreters to explain that salutation as a token of friend-ship….They immediately invited us to pass the night at their lodges.”

     He has found a village of friendly natives who, along with their hospitality, are about to give him the intelligence he seeks regarding the best route to the sea. In short, they tell him that he should not go any further downstream; that the river is impassable and the natives of it are not friendly. His description of these meetings are very detailed, including some attempts at language translations, and I strongly suggest that anyone interested in the topic should read MacKenzie’s journal entries of these days, for themselves.   

    

      “These people describe the distance across the country as very short to the Western ocean; and according to my own idea, it cannot be above five or six degrees.”

     One degree of longitude is equal to about 69 miles, at the equator, decreasing as you go north or south from it. Google Earth shows that he is actually 300 miles as the crow flies from the coast, at this latitude, or about 7 degrees of longitude.

Picture 1. MacKenzie’s Map of 1801. Note that he has marked the river as the  Columbia. In just a few years, Simon Fraser will be the one to disprove that. 

      “According to their account, this way is so often travelled by them, that their path is visible throughout the whole journey, which lies along small lakes and rivers. It occupied them, they said, no more than six nights, to go to where they meet the people who barter iron, brass, copper, beads, etc...for skins. The iron is about eighteen inches of two-inch bar. To this they give an edge at one end…”

     He has to make a momentous decision now; should he continue on down this river, or follow the advice of these natives and try to go overland to the sea? 

     “I had no more than thirty days provision remaining...besides our ammunition would soon be exhausted, particularly our ball, of which we had not more than a hundred and fifty…”

Picture 2. Carved wooden statues at Hudson’s Hope, B.C.  honouring MacKenzie.

     “I now called those of my people about me...and after passing a warm eulogium on their fortitude, patience, and perseverance, I stated the difficulties that threatened our continuing to navigate the river, the length of time it would require, and the scanty provisions we had for such a voyage: I then proceeded for the foregoing reasons to propose a shorter route, by trying the overland road to the sea.” 

     He seems to have already made his decision, but he still needs to convince his men that it's the right choice.  

     “To carry this project into execution I must (return a considerable distance up the river)...as in a voyage of this kind, a retrograde motion could not fail to cool the ardour, slacken the zeal, and weaken the confidence of those, who...follow the conductor of it. Such was the state of my mind at this period…distressed and distracted.”