July 5, 1793. Two Halfpence.

July 5, 1793. (Day 58)

Excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie on his overland Voyage to The Pacific Ocean.

     “At seven we were ready to depart; when I was surprised to hear our late guide propose, without any solicitation on our part, to resume his office; and he actually conducted us as far as a small lake, where we found an encampment of three families...I endeavoured to persuade an elderly man of this encampment to accompany us to the next tribe, but no inducement of mine could get him to comply with my wishes…I was therefore, obliged to content myself with the guides I had already engaged...”

     Because MacKenzie doesn’t name people individually it’s sometimes difficult to know which guide(s), or who exactly that he is referring to sometimes. He always seems to hope that one or two guides will stay on with him all the way, but during this part of his journey he is more likely to find that people are only willing to take him as far as the next camp.

    “I exchanged two halfpence here, one of his present Majesty, and the other of the State Of Massachusetts’s Bay, coined in 1787. They hung as ornaments in children’s ears.”

      They must have been a conversation piece for many years after.

Picture 1. 1787 Massachusetts Half-Cent. Picture 2. George lll British Half-Pence. Today the British coin is worth about £220, and the Massachusetts 1787 half cent is worth about $3,500. 

     

     “Our guides conducted us along the lake through thick woods, and without any path, for about a mile and a half, when we lost sight of it. This piece of water is about three miles long and one broad. We then crossed a creek and entered upon a beaten track, through an open country, sprinkled with cyprus (sic) trees.”

Picture 3. The Yellow Cypress is the only member of the Cypress family to be found in Canada, and occurs in a narrow temperate zone through B.C. from Alaska to California.

     “At five in the afternoon we arrived on the banks of another lake, when it again threatened rain...it was therefore determined, that we should stop here for the night.”