July 3, 1793. West-Road River.

July 3, 1793.  

Excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie on his epic Voyage of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean. 

     “It had rained hard in the night, and there was some small rain in the morning. At four we entered our canoe, and at ten we came to a small river, which answered to the description of that whose course the natives said, they follow in their journies (sic)  towards the sea coast…” 

     He is not one hundred percent sure that this is his turning-off point. He is worried and perplexed because he didn’t see any evidence that his guide came this way. Not only does he need to be certain, he needs to convince his men too.

      “I represented to them that this appeared to me to be the spot from which the natives took their departure for the sea coast...I was determined to try it...Others, however, suggested that it might be better to proceed a few leagues further up the river, in expectation of finding our guide, or procuring another…This plan I very readily agreed to adopt, but before I left this place, to which I gave the name of West-Road River, I sent some of the men into the woods, in different directions, and went some distance up the (West-Road) river myself, which I found to be navigable only for small canoes. Two of the men found a good beaten path...”

      This river is today known as the West Road or Blackwater River, which they had passed by without fan-fare nearly two weeks before, on 20th of June, while on their way downstream. In our time, it has been deemed a heritage river, one of 20 designated by the Province of British Columbia. The First Nations  “Grease Trail” parallels the north side of this river, and had been used for centuries before his two men “found” it.

“At four in the afternoon we left this place, proceeding up the river; and had not been upon the water more than three quarters of an hour, when we saw two canoes coming with the stream...They proved to be our guide, and six of his relations. He was covered with a painted beaver robe, so that we scarcely knew him in his fine habiliment. He instantly desired to acknowledge that he had not disappointed us, and declared, at the same time, that it was his constant intention to keep his word. I accordingly gave him a jacket, a pair of trowsers (sic), and a handkerchief, as a reward for his honourable conduct.”

      MacKenzie is pretty happy and relieved to have found “his guide”. Perhaps the “trowsers” he gave the guide were similar to those shown in Picture 2.

Picture 2. English Trowsers (Leather Breeches) from 1800. 

    

     “They informed me that the road by their habitation is the shortest, and they proposed that we should take it.”