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Chapter XI - The Great Explorer's
Impulse
SIR ALEXANDER
MACKENZIE did two great things in reaching the Arctic Sea and the
Pacific Ocean by new routes, but the greatest thing lie did was
giving an impulse to other explorers. Vast portions of the northern
half of North America were yet unknown, when he followed the two
routes which were simply length without breadth. Other traders were
encouraged by his successes to open up new regions. Seven years
before the end of the eighteenth century Alexander Mackenzie reached
the Pacific Ocean. Two years afterwards David Thompson, a youth
educated at the Bluecoat School in London, and well versed in
mathematics and astronomy, with three companions, found his way from
Hudson Bay to Lake Athabaska. Returning to York Factory from the
very lake which Alexander Mackenzie had passed on both his
expeditions, Thompson reported in favour of prosecuting explorations
further -vest for the Hudson's Bay Company. His request was refused,
whereupon the enthusiastic explorer betook himself at once to Grand
Portage, and offered himself to the North-West Company. He was
immediately appointed astronomer and surveyor by the Montreal
traders. That choice was one of the wisest the Nor'-Westers ever
made.
Shortly after his
appointment in 1796 'Thompson joined himself to one of the northern
canoe brigades, and with his instruments began at once to establish
the latitude and longitude of the several posts. Following the fur
traders' route he arrived at Lake Winnipeg House at the mouth of the
Winnipeg River, coasted around Lake Wrinnipeg, and, leaving it,
ascended a small river and crossed to the Swan River district.
Reaching at this point the traders' paradise, and the rich prairies
of the west, Thompson turned southward, and gained the plains where
the buffalo herds were rnet. Here among beaver-meadows Thompson
wintered.
The summer having
cone, with its good roads and blossoming prairies, the explorer
followed the course of the Assiniboine River, and found comfortable
quarters at Assiniboine House, near the entrance of the Souris River
into the river he was descending.
From this point
Thompson made his famous journey to the Mandans on the Missouri
River, following the course, to a large extent, of the younger
Verendrye as described by Parkman. The journey was made in the
winter time over a treeless plain; the distance was two hundred and
eighty miles—thirty-three days of travelling under low
temperatures—and was performed with a few horses, and numerous dog
teams. At all important places on his route the astronomer made his
observations and gained the material for the important map which he
afterwards constructed.
Going eastward down
the Assiniboine early in 1798 Thompson reached the site of the
present city of Winnipeg, and found no fort or dwelling. He then
ascended the Red River, and came to Pembina House, where he took
observations to establish the forty-ninth parallel of latitude—the
boundary between Rupert's Land and the United States.
Now going southward
the energetic explorer determined to settle the debatable question
of the source of the Mississippi, near which were several forts
belonging to the Nor'Westers. He decided Turtle Lake to be the
source of the Father of Waters, but in this he was wrong, as the
true source was declared a generation afterwards to be Lake Itasca,
which is half a degree south of Turtle Lake. After fixing the
position of the several posts, Thompson then went eastward to Lake
Superior, and coasting along its north shore with difficulty reached
Grand Portage, whence he had departed three years before, and where
the account of his work was received with the highest praise by the
Nor'-Westers. He was regarded as a born explorer, upon whom the
mantle of Alexander Mackenzie had fallen.
Thompson threw
himself into his work with vigour, but it was not until 1805 that
the plans which Alexander Mackenzie and others had made were carried
out with great energy. The particular event that led to determined
action was the union of the smaller company, which, as already said,
was often known as "Sir Alexander Mackenzie & Co.," with the North-
West Company.
The united company,
seeking new worlds to conquer for the fur trade, sent David Thompson
up the Saskatchewan to explore the Columbia River, and examine the
vast "sea of mountains" bordering on the Pacific Ocean. The other
partner chosen was Simon Fraser, and his orders were to go up the
Peace River, cross the Rockies, and explore the region from the
northern side.
In 1806 Thompson
crossed the Rocky Mountains, and built, in the following year, a
trading-house for the North-West Company on the lower Columbia
River. With strange determination he persisted in calling this river
the Kootenay. For several years he passed to and fro from n the
Kootenay region to the other side of the mountains, reaching, at
times, Grand Portage.
The presence of the
Astor Fur Company at the mouth of the Columbia River was regarded as
a menace by the Nor'-Westers. Thompson received orders to checkmate
the Astorians by descending the Columbia River, and occupying the
point where this river empties into the Pacific Ocean. Accordingly
in the summer of 1811 the explorer started to descend the Columbia
River, which no white man had yet done. The American explorers,
Lewis and Clark, had, in 1805, crossed the Rocky Mountains further
south, and by way of the Lewis River had come upon the lower part of
the Columbia River, and followed it to the sea. This, together with
the proposed occupation of the mouth of the river by Astor, was what
led to Thompson's present expedition. Proceeding down the Columbia,
Thompson took formal possession of it, at the junction of the
Spokane and Columbia, here, as well as at other points, erecting
poles with notices upon them claiming the country for Britain.
In July, 1811, after
various delays from mutinies and other obstacles, Thompson reached
the mouth of the Columbia River, but was chagrined to find that the
Astor expedition had arrived by way of Cape Horn, and taken
possession of the coveted territory. Thompson philosophically
accepted the situation, but, reascendiiig the river, established two
posts at what lie considered good objective points. In the following
year David Thompson definitely left the service of the North-h est
Company, and spent the remainder of his life, which was a long one,
chiefly in government employment. In the year after his return from
western exploration Thompson prepared a great map of the country,
which, for a number of years, adorned the banqueting hall of the
bourgeois at Fort William, and is now in the Government Buildings at
Toronto.
Returning now to
Simon Fraser, who had been appointed by the fur traders to explore
the district of New Caledonia, we find that in 1806 he crossed the
Rocky Mountains, and came upon a river which he called Stuart River,
in honour of his able lieutenant, John Stuart. On this river Fraser
built a fort, which, with Scottish fervour, he called New Caledonia,
and this seems to have led to the whole of the northern region west
of the Rocky Mountains receiving the name of New Caledonia. Fraser
had been asked by the Nor'-Westers to descend the Tacouche Tesse
River, down which it will be remembered Alexander Mackenzie had gone
for some distance, till he left it to take a western road to the
Pacific Ocean. The general opinion was that the Tacouche Tesse was
simply the upper Columbia, and that, descending it, Fraser would
reach Thompson, who had gone across the mountains to the Columbia
farther south. Fraser's orders to advance had been brought to him by
two traders, Jules Maurice Quesnel and Hugh Faries.
Leaving Faries in
charge at the new fort, Fraser, with two able assistants, Stuart and
Quesnel, nineteen voyageurs and two Indian guides in four canoes,
left the mouth of Stuart River, and proceeded down the Tacouche
Tesse River on one of the most notable and dangerous voyages ever
attempted. We cannot undertake to give even a summary of the account
of the journey down the river, where a succession of rapids,
overhung by enormous heights of perpendicular rocks, made it almost
as difficult to portage as it would have been to risk the passage of
the canoes and their loads down the boiling caldron of the river.
Let it suffice to
quote a few words from Fraser's journal: "I have been for a long
period among the Rocky Mountains, but have never seen anything like
this country. It is so wild that I cannot find words to describe our
situation at times. We had to pass where no human being should
venture; yet in those places there is a regular footpath impressed,
or rather indented upon the very rocks by frequent travelling.
Besides this, steps which are formed like a ladder by poles hanging
to one another, crossed at certain distances with twigs, the whole
suspended from the top, furnish a safe and convenient passage to the
natives down these precipices; but we, who had not had the advantage
of their education and experience, were often in imminent danger,
when obliged to follow their example."
As the party
proceeded down the river they saw a great river flowing in from the
left, making notable forks. Thinking that probably Thompson's
expedition by way of the Saskatchewan might at that very time be on
the upper waters of this tributary they called it Thompson River. In
this they were mistaken, but it has ever since borne the name
Thompson as one of the rivers of British Columbia. Another river,
flowing into the Taeouche Tesse from the east, was called, in honour
of the second bourgeois of the expedition, the Quesnel, and this
name has ever since been retained.
On July 2nd the party
reached an aria of the sea, and saw the tide ebbing and flowing.
They knew their journey had now practically ended, but they were not
allowed to visit the desired destination. The Indians were so
hostile that Fraser could not pass down to the mouth. He, however,
was near enough to take the latitude, and found that it was some
degrees north of the Columbia, whose latitude was known to hint. He
had discovered a new river. How hard is it to determine the relative
value of human achievement! This river was to be called for all time
the Fraser River, and yet the explorer did not grasp the magnitude
of the discovery lie had made and of the fame which was his. His
ascent of the river proved a less difficult task than his journey
down had been, taking nine days less.
These great discoveries were the last
made for some time by the fur companies. One reason of this was that
the pioneer discoverer, Alexander Mackenzie, retired from the active
service of the company, and took up, as we have seen, his residence
in Britain. Another, perhaps stronger reason for the abrupt
cessation of exploration is found in the troubles that beset the
companies, and the dangerous conflicts that took place in different
parts of the fur country after the project of Lord Selkirk to found
his colony on the banks of the Red River in 1811, under the auspices
of the Hudson's Bay Company.
It was not for more than a decade after
this, when peace had been restored, that Finlay proceeded up the
branches of the Peace River, and even later still that Robert
Campbell ascended the Liard River, and, crossing the height of land,
discovered the upper Yukon.
Enough has been said, however, to show
how the example and influence of Alexander Mackenzie resulted in the
wider exploration of even the most dangerous and inaccessible parts
of the Rocky Mountains, and to call attention to the honour to which
he is entitled as the pioneer in the line of discovery. |
