Alexander Mackenzie Reaches the Pacific

Early Life

Alexander Mackenzie was born in 1764 in Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. As a young boy, he moved to New York with his father, then to Montreal when the American War of Independence broke out in 1776.

He left school and started in the fur-trading business in 1779. By 1785, he was a partner in the North West Company, and in 1788 he was in charge of the Athabascan department of the company.

All Part of the Job
"If you were young, strong, male, not too tall and willing to work 18 hours a day, eat bad food and sleep under a canoe, you could have been a voyageur for the North West Company…"

Owens, Ann-Maureen and Jane Yealland. Forts of Canada. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1996, p. 42.

A Night in the Toilet!
Fort William was one of the Northwest Company's forts. Its jail, called the "pot au beurre", was an outhouse.