| Summary: | In 1789 Mackenzie, who was a printer in the Northwest Fur Co., explored westward from Hudson's Bay beyond the Great Slave Lake and discovered the river which now bears his name. He was convinced that an overland route must be found further south. In 1792 - 93 he led a party of ten men westward to what is now the Fraser river and followed that stream 'for twenty-five arduous days'. Baffled by the difficulties of keeping along the almost impassable banks of this river, they crossed the divide and by way of the rivers, now known as Blackwater, Dean and Bella Coola, reached the coast in July 1793. These explorers barely missed Vancouver's expedition which, during the same summer, explored the waters around Vancouver island. Before starting on the return eastward Mackenzie painted in large letters on the face of a rock: 'Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and nintey three.' Thus was completed the first recorded overland journey across North America. See Carey's History of Oregon, Chapter XIII.
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