page_title: Alexander Mackenzie (explorer)
section_title: 1792–93 Peace River expedition to the Pacific Ocean
hierarchical_section_title: Alexander Mackenzie (explorer) / Explorations / 1792–93 Peace River expedition to the Pacific Ocean
caption_attribution_description: Mackenzie, Alexander. Map of the North Part of America on which is laid down Mackenzies Track (dotted line) from Montreal to the North Sea [map] Scale not given. In: A Collection of Voyages and Travels, from the Discovery of America to the Commencement of the Nineteenth Century (Volume 24). London: 1809. Image Courtesy of University of Manitoba Archives &amp; Special Collections
context_page_description: Sir Alexander Mackenzie was a British explorer known for accomplishing the first east to west crossing of America north of Mexico in 1793, which preceded the more famous Lewis and Clark Expedition by 12 years. The Mackenzie River is named after him, the longest river system in Canada and the second longest in North America.
context_section_description: In 1791, Mackenzie returned to Great Britain to study the new advance in the measurement of longitude.  Upon his return to Canada in 1792, he set out once again to find a route to the Pacific. Accompanied by two native guides (one named Cancre), his cousin, Alexander MacKay, six Canadian voyageurs (Joseph Landry, Charles Ducette, François Beaulieu, Baptiste Bisson, Francois Courtois, Jacques Beauchamp) and a dog simply referred to as "our dog", Mackenzie left Fort Chipewyan on 10 October 1792, and traveled via the Pine River to the Peace River. From there he traveled to a fork on the Peace River arriving 1 November where he and his cohorts built a fortification that they resided in over the winter. This later became known as Fort Fork.
  Mackenzie left Fort Fork on 9 May 1793, following the route of the Peace River. He crossed the Great Divide and found the upper reaches of the Fraser River, but was warned by the local natives that the Fraser Canyon to the south was unnavigable and populated by belligerent tribes. He was instead directed to follow a grease trail by ascending the West Road River, crossing over the Coast Mountains and descending the Bella Coola River to the sea.  He followed this advice and reached the Pacific coast on 20 July 1793, at Bella Coola, British Columbia, on North Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Having done this, he had completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico, 12 years before Lewis and Clark. He had unknowingly missed meeting George Vancouver at Bella Coola by 48 days.
  He had wanted to continue westward out of a desire to reach the open ocean, but was stopped by the hostility of the Heiltsuk people. Hemmed in by Heiltsuk war canoes, he wrote a message on a rock near the water's edge of Dean Channel, using a reddish paint made of vermilion and bear grease, and turned back east. The inscription read: "Alex MacKenzie / from Canada / by land / 22ᵈ July 1793" (at the time the name Canada was an informal term for the former French territory in what is now southern Quebec and Ontario). The words were later inscribed permanently by surveyors. The site is now Sir Alexander Mackenzie Provincial Park and is designated a First Crossing of North America National Historic Site. In 2016, Mackenzie was named a National Historic Person.
  In his journal Mackenzie recorded the Carrier language for the first time.
caption: Map of the North Part of America on which is laid down Mackenzie's Track from Montreal to the North Sea
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