Sir Alexander Mackenzie was born in 1764, in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis off the West Coast of Scotland. He traveled to New York with his father and then went to school in Montreal. In 1779, he entered a company that eventually joined with other Montreal firms involved in the fur trade, forming the North West Company. Mackenzie became a determined young fur trader who ultimately found his way overland across Canada, to the Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

In June 1789, Mackenzie embarked on his first remarkable journey from Fort Chipewyan (on the shore of Lake Athabasca, now NE Alberta). He was accompanied on the canoe expedition by French-Canadian voyageurs and Indian hunters and interpreters. They discovered the De Cho River, now known as the Mackenzie River, and traveled with it to the Arctic Ocean before returning to Fort Chipewyan in September of the same year.

In October 1792, Mackenzie again left Lake Athabasca in search of the elusive Northwest Passage. Traveling along the Peace River, he arrived at his winter quarters in Fort Fork after three weeks of paddling. Mackenzie set out again in May of the following year together with Alexander McKay, French-Canadian voyageurs, Indian hunters and interpreters. Following the Parsnip, McGregor and Fraser Rivers through the Rocky Mountains, they then headed west on foot along 2000 year old trails of the Carrier Aboriginal Nation, After a gruelling journey over the coastal mountains they reached the Pacific Ocean where, on a prominent rock near Bella Coola, Mackenzie wrote:

"Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land, the twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three."

Returning by the same route, Mackenzie and his expedition arrived back at Fort Fork in August 1793. His dangerous journey would not have been successful without the cooperation of the native people.

Mackenzie wrote a book about his travels that brought him fame and fortune. He became a celebrity in Britain and, in 1802, King George III knighted him for his outstanding Canadian explorations. Mackenzie died in 1820 and was buried in Avoch, near Inverness, Scotland.  


In an interesting twist of history, Mackenzie's voyages across North America were recognized by Napoleon as the means by which he could embark on a re-conquest of Canada. Napoleon, in an intrigue that had all the makings of a spy thriller, arranged for Mackenzie's book to be smuggled from England and translated into French. Mackenzie's description of the Western Canada river system was so precise that Napoleon, languishing in prison, gave orders to Bernadotte, his key Marshall, to lay out a strategic plan to retake New France. Mackenzie, thus became an unwitting accomplice by providing the navigational details to invade Canada by a surprise attack from New Orleans, via the Mississippi River.