Mackenzie Reaches the Mackenzie River Delta (1789)

In July 1789, Alexander Mackenzie, a Scottish fur trader working for the North West Company, descended the river the Dene called the Dehcho, hoping it would lead to Cook Inlet in Alaska. The river was later named the Mackenzie River in his honour, and the delta at its mouth now bears his name.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish explorer and fur trader who later became known for the first European crossing of North America north of Mexico in 1793. His 1789 journey was undertaken on behalf of the North West Company, which in 1787 had merged with the company Mackenzie had served. In 1788 he was one of the founders of Fort Chipewyan on Lake Athabasca, the base from which his northern venture was mounted.

The Journey Down the Dehcho. Mackenzie set out by canoe on 3 July 1789, believing the great river would lead to Cook Inlet in Alaska. The waterway was known to the local Dene First Nations people as the Dehcho; it was later renamed the Mackenzie River for the explorer. The supplied passages do not record the details of the descent or the exact day of arrival at the delta.

Commemoration. The river Mackenzie travelled became the Mackenzie River, and his name was also given to Mackenzie Bay and Mount Sir Alexander, as well as the municipality of Mackenzie, British Columbia. These commemorations followed the 1789 voyage, though the passages do not state when the naming occurred.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.