July 4, 1793. A Troublesome Addition.

July 4, 1793.

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

     “At an early hour this morning, and at the suggestion of our guide, we proceeded to the landing-place that leads to the strangers' lodges...Our great difficulty here was to procure a temporary situation from our company, in order to hide some articles we could not carry with us…”

     “At our first hiding-place we left a bag of pemmican, weighing ninety pounds, two bags of wild rice, and a gallon keg of gunpowder. Previous to our putting these articles in the ground, we rolled them up in oilcloth, and dressed leather. In the second hiding-place...we hid two bags of Indian corn, or maize, and a bale of different articles of merchandise...we proceeded till half past eight, when we landed at the entrance of a small rivulet, where our friends were waiting for us.”

     Wild rice was a very important food source of the native peoples of North America, and was even considered sacred by some native cultures. The excellent food source was adopted and welcomed by the fur traders and voyageurs. The maize, or “Indian corn”, was prepared in those days by boiling, mashing, and drying it until it becomes soft and friable. A bushel of it mixed with two pounds of prepared fat was found to be monthly sustenance enough for one voyageur.

Picture 2. Indian Corn on the cob before preparation.    

     

     “Here it was necessary that we should leave our canoe, and whatever we could not carry on our backs…We prepared a stage, on which the canoe was placed bottom upwards, and shaded by a covering of small trees and branches, to keep her from the sun. We then built an oblong hollow square, ten feet by five, of green logs, wherein we placed every article it was necessary for us to leave here, and covered the whole with large pieces of timber.”

     “We carried on our backs four bags and a half of pemmican...a case with my instruments, a parcel of goods for presents, and a parcel containing ammunition…My own load, and that of Mr. MacKay, consisted of twenty-two pounds of pemmican, some rice, a little sugar, &c., amounting in the whole to about seventy pounds each, besides our arms and ammunition. I also had the tube of my telescope swung across my shoulder, which was a troublesome addition to my burden.”

“At half past six we arrived at an Indian camp of three fires, where we found our guide, and on his recommendation we determined to remain there for the night. The computed distance of this day’s journey was about twelve geographical miles; the course about West...so great were the fatigues of the day in our mode of travelling, that we were in great need of rest at night.”

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.”

July 2, 1793. Canoe Island.

July 2, 1793. Excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie, 227 Years Ago, To-day.

    

“It rained throughout the night, but at half past three we were ready to embark, when I offered to conduct the old man where he had supposed we should meet his friends, but he declined the proposition. I therefore directed a few pounds of pemmican to be left with him, for his immediate support, and took leave of him and the place, which I named Canoe Island.”

     The blind old man has chosen to stay put on the island and wait for his people to find him rather than take a ride with MacKenzie in the new canoe. 

     “During our stay there we had been most cruelly tormented by flies, particularly the sand-fly, which I am disposed to consider as the most tormenting insect of its size in nature. I was also compelled to put the people upon short allowance, and confine them to two meals a day, a regulation peculiarly offensive to a Canadian voyager. One of these meals was composed of the dried rows of fish, pounded, and boiled in water, thickened with a small quantity of flour, and fattened with a bit of grian (sic). These articles, being brought to the consistency of an hasty pudding, produced a substantial and not unpleasant dish.”

Sounds yummy. 

     “During our abode in Canoe Island, the water sank three perpendicular feet. I now gave the men a dram each, which could not but be considered, at this time, as a very comfortable treat. They were, indeed, in high spirits, when they perceived the superior excellence of the new vessel, and reflected that it was the work of their own hands.”

     I would have thought it a little early in the day for rum. Is he celebrating the completion of the new canoe, or is he just trying to make up with the men for putting them on short rations? 

     “At eleven we arrived at the rapids...We were not more than two hours getting up this difficult part of the river, including the time employed in repairing a hole which had been broken in the canoe, by the negligence of the steersman.”

Three hours on the new canoe and already a hole in it. 

     “We saw several fish leap out of the water, which appeared to be of the salmon kind. The old man, indeed, had informed us that this was the season when the large fish begin to come up the river...We landed at eight in the evening; and suffered indescribable inconveniences from the flies.”

Picture 2. Chinook Salmon in Fraser River. (Image: Clearwater Times)

July 1, 1793. Ready For Service.

1793, JULY. Monday. 1..

     

     “It was seven before I awoke, and on quitting my tent I was surprised at not seeing the guide and his companion, and my apprehensions were increased when I observed that (their) canoe was removed from its late situation....Mr. MacKay also told me...they had got to the point before he had observed their departure.” 

MacKenzie, like always, feels that the guides are going to desert him, so they had been taking turns keeping watch all night. This morning was Mr. MacKay`s watch, and he is perplexed that this happened without his knowledge.

Picture 1. “Canoe in Fog” Photo by Kurt Weiss

     “The interpreter now informed me that at the dawn of the day the guide had expressed his design, as soon as the sun was up, to go and wait for us, where he might find his friends. I hoped this might be true; but that my people should suffer them to depart without giving me notice, was a circumstance that awakened very painful reflections in my breast. The weather was clear in the forenoon.”

     MacKenzie has a lot to worry about as it is; he really doesn't need more trouble, especially from his own people. The guides he has employed really haven`t got much to do during this canoe-making exercise so they would naturally rather be with their families where they could wait for the explorer to catch up to them.

      “At five in the afternoon our vessel was completed, and ready for service. She proved a stronger and better boat than the old one, though had it not been for the gum obtained from the latter, it would have been a matter of great difficulty to have procured a sufficiency of that article to have prevented her from leaking. We now put our arms in order, which was soon accomplished, as they were at all times a general object of attention.”

Pictures 2 & 3. Ready For Service. A reproduction NW Co. finished canoe. MacKenzie`s new vessel would have looked very similar. 

(Photos Canadian Museum Of History)

    “The remainder of the day was employed by the people in cleaning and refreshing themselves, as they had enjoyed no relaxation from their labour since we landed on this spot.”

June 30, 1793. Great Good Humour.

June 30, 1793. (Day 53)  

Excerpts from the Journal of Alexander MacKenzie,

on his epic Voyage Of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean.

     The visitors to the island were glad to see the old man there, and he was equally glad to “see” them.

     “The blind old man gave a very favourable account of us to his friends, and they all three were very merry together...Our strangers conducted themselves with great good humour throughout the day. According to their information, we should find their friends above and below the carrying-place. They mentioned, also, that some of them are not of their tribe, but are allied to the people of the sea coast, who trade with the white men.”

     Trading with white men on the coast had been going on for two decades already. And in fact, Captain George Vancouver had been on a survey of the North Pacific coastline during his 1792-94 expedition, and just seven weeks earlier Vancouver had been at the place where MacKenzie is now headed, although he didn’t know that until he returned to England. They narrowly avoided an 18th century “exploratory traffic jam”. The Spanish had been on this coast since 1774, and in 1778 Captain Cook was there to claim “territories useful” for England. Ships had been in contact and trading with the natives for 20 years before MacKenzie got there on this overland journey. Of course those ships sailed “round the horn”, all the way around South America, to get to the western coast of North America. Cape Horn had first been rounded in 1616. 

Picture 1. Captain Cook's H.M.S. Discovery and Chatham with Mt. Baker in background. Original painting by Captain Steve Mayo (2012).

     Today’s was the shortest journal entry of the entire trip. There isn’t much going on except for the building of the canoe. An average build time for 1-2 expert canoe makers, building from scratch, was 5-7 days. This time will be shorter, and although he doesn't say so, I am assuming that they reused most, if not all of the wooden pieces from the old canoe, which were already shaped. The frame, ribs, sheathing could all be re-used, which would save a lot of time. Also he has everyone literally pitching in, to help build and finish it.

Picture 2. Lashing the gunwales with watape.

Picture 3. Cutaway drawing of typical canoe construction.

June 29, 1793. West Of Greenwich.

June 29. (Day 52).

Excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie, on his Voyage Of Discovery overland to the Pacific Ocean. 

     ”The weather continued to be fine. At five o`clock we renewed our labour, and the canoe was got in a state of considerable forwardness. The conductor of the work, though a good man, was remarkable for the tardiness of his operations...Ì therefore took the opportunity of unfolding my sentiments to him...I drew a conclusion that they wished to put an end to the voyage.”

He had overheard some conversations of the men.

     “...assuring him, that whatever plan they had meditated to pursue, it was my fixed and unalterable determination to proceed, in spite of every difficulty that might oppose, or danger that should threaten me...the conversation dropped, and the work went on.”

About two in the afternoon some company arrived on the island. “...we recognized our guide, and one of the natives whom we had already seen; the former began to immediately apologize for his conduct, and assured me that since he left me, his whole time had been employed in searching for his family, who had been seized by the general panic…”

     The guide brings good news; his relatives had assured him that they want to see MacKenzie and to trade with him, and that they will be at the first carrying-place. This was “as pleasing intelligence as we had reason to expect, and it is almost superfluous to observe that we stood in great need of it.”

     “I had a meridian altitude, which gave 53.3.7 North latitude. I also took time in the fore and afternoon, that gave a mean of 1.37.42 Achrometer slow apparent time. Which, with an observed immersion of Jupiter’s first satellite, made our longitude 122.48. West of Greenwich.” I’m not sure why he has taken another latitude reading, as he did one yesterday and hasn’t left the island. (Ironically, there is another island at that latitude, which is only about ¾ of a mile North of yesterday’s reading). Maybe he is just double checking yesterday's reading; he does have some time on his hands while he waits for the canoe to be built. His longitude reckoning, as usual, is a few miles off the actual. The longitude reading of 122.48. W is about 10 miles west of where he actually is.

June 28, 1793. Collectors Of Gum.

June 28, 1793. (Day 51)

Excerpts from The Journal of Alexander MacKenzie on his Voyage of Discovery to The Pacific Ocean.

     “At a very early hour of the morning every man was employed in making preparations for building another canoe, and different parties went in search of wood, watape, and gum.“

     

     Watape is the binding, the thread or cordage that is made from spruce roots, used for binding the canoe together and for sewing the birch-bark pieces. The roots are naturally very long, and usually run along the surface of the ground so are easy to collect. They were split, cleaned and boiled until they became supple. The top of the canoe skin was lashed at the gunwales, at regular intervals. Watape was the only material used for this purpose.

Pictures 1. Gathered spruce roots. 

Picture 2. Watape, processed from spruce roots.

“I had an altitude at noon, which made us in 53.2.32. North latitude.”

Picture 3. Google Earth Image of the Fraser River, Pinpoint is at 53.2.32. N.

Showing 2 small islands, the upper one of them divided from the shore by a  “very small channel”. Could this be the island of MacKenzie’s canoe building? Although the rivers have changed a lot in the last 227 years, it’s possible that this island is in the same place today. Top of the image is North. This island is about a mile and a half NW of today’s Quesnel airport, seen in lower RH of image..    

     “At two in the afternoon they all returned successful, except the collectors of gum, and of that article it was feared we should not obtain here a sufficient supply for our immediate wants. After a necessary portion of time allotted for refreshment, each began his respective work.”