104 SANDFOED FLEMING ON 



Period J.— From first Overland Journey in 1793 to Oregon Treaty in 1846. 



In the first period, the Hudson's Bay Compauy and its associated traders appear as 

 the active agents. During these fifty-three years we have a record of thirteen expeditions, 

 which, with one exception, that of Mr. David Douglas, the naturalist, were undertaken by 

 the company's officers who explored the western territory, and planted trading posts 

 over a primeval country, thousands of miles in extent. G-eographical knowledge was 

 not the main object of these explorers ; but their energy and enterprise enabled them to 

 make discoveries which had the remarkable consequence of establishing rights national 

 in their character, and of gaining information of much general importance and scientific 

 value. 



(1) Expeditious of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 1780-1*793. 



Among those who haA'e distinguished themselves by their explorations on this 

 continent, no name is more illustrious than that of Sir Alexander Mackenzie. He 

 ranks the first on the list of overland discoverers. He was the first white man from 

 Canada to reach the Arctic Ocean, the first European to pass through the Rocky Mountains, 

 the first overland traveller north of the Gulf of Mexico to arrive at the shores of the 

 Pacific. 



Alexander Mackenzie was born at Inverness, Scotland, it is said, in 1760. It is not 

 known when he arrived in Canada ; we, however, learn from himself that in 1785 he was 

 admitted a partner into the fur-trade operations in the west. He had then been five years 

 employed in the office of Mr. Gregory, so that he must have been twenty years of age 

 when he began. His first venture was with some goods to Detroit, at that date little more 

 than a trading post. Thence he proceeded to the Grand Portage, north of Lake Superior, 

 where he commenced his remarkable career. He informs us of his ambitious hopes in 

 the following words : " I not only contemplated the practicability of penetrating across 

 the continent of America, but was confident in the qualifications, as I was animated by 

 the desire, to undertake the perilous enterprise." 



For some years a severe struggle had been going on between several rival establish- 

 ments, and, independently of the natural difficulties of the trader's life, the greatest 

 opposition was encountered from the common foe, the Hudson's Lay Company. The 

 result was that a union of their several interests was effi?cted ; and, in the year 1787, 

 the Xorth-West Company was organized on a solid basis for the purpose of vigor- 

 ously carrying on the fur trade. 



Mackenzie became connected with the new company, and we find him in 1789 at Fort 

 Chipewyau, on the Lake of the Hills (Lake Athabasca). On June 3rd, of the same year, 

 he set out on his journey to the north, where he discovered the river which bears his name, 

 reaching its mouth which lies within the Arctic circle. This geographical discovery was 

 of the highest importance, inasmuch as it swept away all dubious conjectures which 

 had been formed as to the existence of a strait or passage for ships through the interior 

 of the North American continent. He returned to Fort Chipewyau on September 12th, 

 1789. 



We learn from Mackenzie, that on his voyage down the river he had felt himself 

 deficient in the knowledge of astronomy and navigation. He unhesitatingly, therefore, 



