June 2nd, 1793. Oppressed With Fatigue.

Day 25. 227 Years Ago To-day.

Excerpts from the daily Journals of Alexander MacKenzie, on his epic Voyage of Discovery overland to the Pacific Ocean.

     “...morning being clear and pleasant, we proceeded at an early hour against a rapid current, intersected by islands. About eight we passed two large trees, whose roots having been undermined by the current, had recently fallen into the river; and in my opinion, the crash of their fall had occasioned the noise which caused our late alarm.” 

     They spent the last night on guard, as some men had thought they heard discharges of fire-arms and were wary. MacKenzie thinks it was not guns they heard last night, but rather that it was the sound of large trees crashing down. 

      It is slow going. The river is very high and rapid. Again, we don’t have any of his course logs for this week (until June 4), as they were lost with his notes; it’s likely they only made a few river miles on this day. Picture 1 shows part of the map he made for publication in 1801.

 Picture 1. (1801 map)

Picture 2. 

Shows cutbanks and canoes along the Parsnip River at low water, photo taken by Survey crew (1930).

     “The men were so oppressed with fatigue, that it was necessary they should encamp at six in the afternoon. We, therefore, landed on a sandy island, which is a very uncommon object, as the greater part of the islands consist of a bottom of round stones and gravel, covered from three to ten feet with mud and old drift-wood. Beaver-work was as frequently seen on the preceding day.”