Why did Sir Alexander Mackenzie explore?
It was Mackenzie’s passion to reach the Pacific Ocean overland. In the summer of 1789 he set out, hoping to discover a passage westward by way of a river, described to him by the Indians, which flowed out of Great Slave Lake. After 3 weeks exploring the north shore of the lake, they found the outlet.
Who did Sir Alexander Mackenzie sail for?
A major partner in the North West Company, Mackenzie was based in Montréal from 1794 to 1799, but travelled to Grand Portage, New York, and Philadelphia on company business. In 1799, he severed ties with the company (owing in part to conflict with Simon McTavish) and sailed for England.
Who sent Alexander Mackenzie to Canada?
When his father joined the British army, Mackenzie, motherless, was left with two aunts who sent him to Montreal in 1778. Montreal, the centre of the fur trade, enticed Mackenzie in 1779 to enter the industry that must have seemed an exciting occupation to a boy who was nearly a man.
When did John f.mackenzie go on his first voyage?
The firm’s partners, noting Mackenzie’s business and leadership skills, offered him a partnership “on condition that [he] would proceed to the Indian country in the following spring, 1785. The “Indian country was the Canadian Northwest. Mackenzie’s fame rests on the two remarkable voyages he undertook to the Arctic and the Pacific Ocean.
What did Kenneth Mackenzie do with his family?
His wife had died while Alexander was still a child. Kenneth sailed for North America with his two sisters and Alexander, leaving both his daughters behind. (Alexander’s older brother Murdoch studied medicine; a terse family record states that he then “followed the sea and was lost on the coast of Halifax.”)
When did Kenneth MacKenzie leave Lewis and Clark?
In the 1770s a severe depression developed on Lewis, and in 1774 Kenneth Mackenzie decided to join his brother John in New York. His wife had died while Alexander was still a child. Kenneth sailed for North America with his two sisters and Alexander, leaving both his daughters behind.
When did James Mackenzie move to New York?
Facing economic depression in Scotland, his father moved the family to New York City in 1774. Because of the dangers posed by the American Revolutionary War (1775–83), Mackenzie stayed with family in Johnstown in the Mohawk Valley before heading north to Montréal, where he attended school in 1778.