July 11, 1793. Pain And Perplexity.

July 11, 1793. Daily excerpts from the Journal of Alexander MacKenzie on his overland Voyage to The Pacific Ocean. Day 64.

     “I passed a most uncomfortable night: the first part of it I was tormented with flies, and in the latter deluged with rain. In the morning the weather cleared, and as soon as our clothes were dried, we proceeded through a morass. This part of the country had been laid waste by fire, and the fallen trees added to the pain and perplexity of our way. A high, rocky ridge stretched along our left.”

     “Though the rain returned, we continued our progress till noon, when our guide took to some trees for shelter. We then spread our oil-cloth, and, with some difficulty, made a fire.”

     In the 18th century, oilcloth was one of very few flexible, waterproof materials that were available. It is, or was a close-woven cotton duck or linen cloth with coatings of boiled linseed oil that make it waterproof. It was used wherever a waterproof covering was needed; tents, tarpaulins and weatherproof clothing.

Picture 1. Oil-Cloth in use. (Photo Keith H. Burgess)

     “At half-past three we came in sight of a lake; the land at the same time gradually rising to a range of mountains whose tops were covered with snow,”

     This is today known as Tsacha Lake. The trail follows the south side of the lake. There was a fishing lodge and an airstrip built here at some point, however the lodge and all buildings are apparently abandoned due to financial reasons.

Picture 2. The abandoned Tsacha Lake Lodge.

Picture 3.  MacKenzie Trail Lodge sign at the abandoned site.

     “At five in the afternoon we were so wet and cold (for it had at intervals continued to rain) that we were compelled to stop for the night...Our conductors now began to complain of our mode of travelling, (sic) and mentioned their intention of leaving us; and my interpreters, who were equally dissatisfied, added to our perplexity by their conduct.”

       These hardy men are Canadian Voyageurs, and paddling and poling a canoe across the wilds of Canada is their thing. Risking their lives to run a cascading rapid is their thing. But carrying ninety pounds on their backs for 30 or 40 miles day after day through tangled underbrush and burnt timber while being soaked to the skin is not their thing. And to top it all off, MacKenzie decides he must further reduce everyone’s food rations.

     “Besides these circumstances, and the apprehension that the distance from the sea might be greater than I imagined, it became a matter of real necessity that we should begin to diminish the consumption of our provisions, and to subsist upon two-thirds of our allowance; a preposition which was as unwelcome to my people, as it was necessary to put into immediate practice.”

July 10, 1793. Most Delightful Situation.

July 10, 1793.

Daily excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie, on his overland Voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

     “At an early hour of this morning we prepared to cross the water. The traverse is about thirty yards, and it required five trips to get us all over. At a short distance below, a small river falls in...when it expands into a lake...”

He has now reached what we know as the Kluskus lakes. This is in the territory of the Lhoosk'uz Dené. A reserve was established there in 1912. 

     “At half past eight we came to the termination of the lake, where there were two houses that occupied a most delightful situation…” This beautiful area had been used as a meeting place by natives for thousands of years, and 50 years after MacKenzie it actually became the site of a small HBC trading post, Fort Kluskus. Built in 1844, it was short-lived due to the fact that the trading patterns and associations between the local people and those of the coast were already well established. 

       “Their inhabitants called themselves Sloua-cuss-Dinais...I have no doubt that they are the same people, from their name alone, which is of the Chipewyan language. My interpreters, however, understood very little of what they said, so I did not expect much information from them. Some of them said it was a journey of four days to the sea, and others were of the opinion that it was six; and there were among them who extended it to eight; but they all uniformly declared that they had been to the coast.”

Picture 1. Old Kluskus.

     “At twelve I obtained an altitude, which made our latitude 53.4.32 North, being not so far South as I expected.” 

     The actual latitude at the southern shore of Kluskus Lakes is 53.4.32 N. Once again his latitude reckonings are bang on.

Picture 2. Kluskus Lakes. (photo Northern Health)

     “At four in the afternoon, we proceeded with considerable expedition, by the side of the lake, till six, when we came to the end of it; we then struck off through a much less beaten track, and at half past seven stopped for the night. Our course, was about West-South-West thirteen miles, and West six miles.”

July 9, 1793. Grey Partridges.

July 9, 1793. Daily excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie, on his overland Voyage to The Pacific Ocean.

     “A heavy and continued rain fell through great part of the night, and as we were in some measure exposed to it, time was required to dry our clothes; so that it was half past seven in the morning before we were ready to set out...I thought it prudent to conceal half a bag of pemmican...we buried it under the fireplace, as we had done on a former occasion.”

     So far he has buried dried food at several places along the way, realizing that they will need the sustenance when they make the return journey.

     “...continued our route along the river or lake...till five in the afternoon, when the water began to narrow, and in about half an hour we came to a ferry, where we found a small raft. At this time it began to thunder, and torrents of rain soon followed, which terminated our journey for the day.” 

     “Our course was about South, twenty-one miles from the lake already mentioned. We now discovered the tops of mountains, covered with snow, over very high intermediate land.”

      He can now see some of the mountains in the area now known as Tweedsmuir Provincial Park.

“We killed a whitehead and a grey eagle, and three grey partridges; we also saw two otters in the river, and several beaver lodges along it.”

     The “grey partridges” he refers to are most likely examples of the Ruffed Grouse, a common bird of the woods across Canada and the USA. (Picture 1). 

He may have confused them for a bird he was familiar with, the European Grey or Hungarian partridge, which is a bird of open areas and farmlands, rather than forests. The “huns” were introduced widely across America years after MacKenzie.

Picture 1. Territory of The Ruffed Grouse. (2016)

Picture 2. The Ruffed Grouse (Audobon) 

     ”When the rain ceased, we caught a few small fish, and repaired the raft for the service of the ensuing day.”

July 8, 1793. Mustard And Mint.

July 8, 1793.

Daily excerpts from the journal of Alexander MacKenzie, on his overland Voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

     “It rained throughout the night, and it was seven in the morning before the weather would allow us to proceed. The guide brought me five small boiled fish, in  a platter made of bark; some of them were of the carp kind, and the rest of a species for which I am not qualified to furnish a name.”

     “Having dried our clothes, we set off on our march about eight, and our guide very cheerfully continued to accompany us; but he was not altogether so intelligible as his predecessors in our service.” 

     “In this part of the journey we were surprised with the appearance of several regular basons (sic), some of them furnished with water, and the others empty; their slope from the edge to the bottom formed an angle of about forty-five degrees, and their perpendicular depth was about twelve feet. Those that contained water, discovered gravel near their edges, while the empty ones were covered with grass and herbs, among which we discovered mustard, and mint. (Pictures 2 & 3.) 

There were also several places from whence the water appears to have retired, which are covered with the same soil and herbage.”

     The “basons” that MacKenzie has come across are glacial kettles found at the foot of Titetown Lake, which were formed when isolated blocks of ice left by the retreating ice sheet melted. An obvious feature from the ground, they are even more prominent when viewed from above. In fact when looking at the area with Google Earth, and if you start looking for circular impressions in the lower centre of image, you can definitely see more of these basins than just the obvious ones. (Picture 1).

Picture 1. Google Earth Image showing Titetown Lake and MacKenzie’s basons. Top of image is North.

Picture 2. Wild Mint plant, as found in B.C.

Picture 3. Wild Mustard found in B.C. (Photo Northern Bushcraft)

July 7, 1793. Act Of Negligence.

 July 7, 1793.

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

“I was so busily employed in collecting intelligence from our conductors, that I last night forgot to wind up my timepiece, and it was the only instance of such an act of negligence since I left Fort Chipewyan on the 11th of last October.”

     There are ways to re-set his clock, however none of them are easy. The transit of Jupiter’s moons combined with his astronomical tables could give him time; provided he can see Jupiter and can wait for the next transit. Using the Sun is a simple, but far less accurate method, because the time from noon to noon again is sometimes more, and sometimes less than, 24 hours. Also, sunrise and sunset times change by a few minutes daily. He must have a table for those corrected times as well, although he doesn’t say so. Either way, he obviously got it fixed that morning, as he continues to quote times in the journal. It is also quite possible that Mr. MacKay had a timepiece with him as well, which he could copy from.    

     “At five we quitted (sic) our station, and proceeded across two mountains, covered with spruce, poplar, white-birch, and other trees. We then descended into a level country, where we found a good road, through woods of cypress.”

     It is quite difficult to follow this trail with Google Earth, compared to following his voyage using the river courses. Trails can be difficult to see, even when zooming in. And his reckoning of miles may be less accurate than his computations of river miles. Also his lack of descriptive land-marks makes it hard to pinpoint the actual camp locations. Portions of the trail have been used for thousands of years, and there are a number of prehistoric cultural sites along the route.

Picture 1. The Alexander MacKenzie Heritage Trail, today known as the  Nuxalk-Carrier Grease Trail.

Picture 2. B.C. Government plaque.

Picture 3. Euchiniko Lake, B.C. 

     “About three we perceived more people before us...Here I was under the necessity of procuring another guide, and we continued our route on the same side of the river, till six in the evening, when we crossed it...our guide recommended us to proceed onwards to a family of his friends...where we arrived at half past seven. He had gone forward, and procured us a welcome and quiet reception.”

     Once again, he is relying entirely on his native guides to introduce him to the next group of people as he comes into contact with them, and to interpret. He needs them in order to avoid conflict, or to surprise anyone, and to make sure that he will be welcomed. He has met several people on this day, and I suggest that interested readers indulge themselves in his account of that.

     “The water of the river before the lodge was quite still, and expanded itself the form of a small lake. In many other places, indeed, it had assumed the same form.”

July 6, 1793. Of The Fir Kind.

July 6, 1793. (Day 59)

Excerpts from the journal of Alexander Mackenzie on his way to the Pacific Ocean.

     “At four this morning I arose from my bed, such as it was...I took the lead in our march, as I had done yesterday, in order to clear the branches of the wet which continued to hang upon them. We proceeded with all possible expedition through a level country with but little underwood; the larger trees were of the fir kind.”

Picture 1. B.C. Interior Douglas Fir. 

     “At half past eight we fell upon the road, which we first intended to have taken from the Great River, and must be shorter than which we had travelled. The West-Road river was also in sight, winding through a valley.”

     Once again, he has taken the long way. 

     “Our guides now told us, that as the road was very good and well traced, they would proceed to inform the next tribe that we were coming. About noon we parted, and in two hours we came up with two men and their families...One of them was very well understood by my interpreter, and had resided among the natives of the sea coast...According to his information, we were approaching a river...and that in the bay which the sea forms at the mouth of it, a great wooden canoe, with white people, arrives...”

     In fact, there were already a total of 69 ships that had visited the west coast of Canada prior to MacKenzie’s arrival. Picture 2.

“At five in the afternoon we were overtaken by a heavy shower of rain and hail, and being at the same time very much fatigued, we encamped for the night near a small creek. Our course till we came to the river, was about South-West ten miles, and then West, twelve or fourteen miles…”

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.”