Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander’s Mackenzie’s Rivers of Disappointment

Alexander Mackenzie was one of the greatest of the fur-trader explorers. Mackenzie came to Canada as a young scouts man to work in the fur trade. By 1787 he was a partner in the famous North-West Company. He was put in charge of the Athabasca fur trading area. It was a large area rich with furs. Lying on the border between what is now Alberta and the Northwest. Mackenzie had his men build a fur trading post. He named it Fort Chipewyan.

Mackenzie set out to find a route to the Pacific in June of 1789. His journey began at Fort Chipewyan, from th...