
Revisiting an Explorer’s Northwest Passage Disappointment After Nearly 230 Years - Thevet
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mackenzie-northwest-passage-disappointment-river
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theluketaylor
His travel to the edge of the arctic ocean might not even be Alexander
Mackenzie's most interesting journey (fascinating though it was)

He reached the Pacific ocean by land a full 12 years before Lewis and Clark.
He also took far less time to complete the journey since the network of
voyageurs in what would become western Canada meant he could start his journey
in Alberta rather than much further east in St. Louis.

But if you want to do further reading on someone wandering about in crazy
arctic conditions, check out John Rae. He explored much of the arctic coast on
foot (!) and discovered the remains of the doomed Franklin expedition. Also
managed the minor feat of proving the existence of the north west passage in
the process. He would be remembered as one of the greatest explorers of all
time if the passage proved remotely commercially navigable, instead he was
relegated to the minor pages of 19th century history. It didn't help Lady
Franklin was so insulted when he reported to the Admiralty her husband's
expedition likely resorted to cannibalism based on reports from local Inuit.

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brailsafe
Will do.

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macintux
Perplexing that there's no modern map with Mackenzie's route in the article.
Hard to make sense of the narrative.

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yazan94
Agreed, though it is possible to follow along using Google Maps with some
difficulty. I actually enjoyed tracking it myself to be honest.

They started at Lake Athabasca, made up their way up Slave River to get to
Great Slave Lake. Then they took the Mackenzie River through to the river
delta at the Kendall Island Bird Sanctuary. Garry Island is just past the
delta.

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brailsafe
This is a ridiculously impressive feat. ~1200 miles north, starting about 500
miles further north than the vast majority of people in Canada live. Not
accounting for conditional differences, this is like canoeing from the
Canadian border to Mexico.

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theluketaylor
The distances voyageurs could cover in a day was incredible. Even the many
portages did little to slow them down.

When they didn't have to haul 3 tons of trade goods they could really fly,
like when travelling with Mackenzie looking for the northwest passage.

George Simpson (later HBC governor) made his way from the shores of Hudson Bay
to the mouth of the Columbia River by canoe. He did use a horse for the
Athabasca pass, but that's hardly cheating. He set a record by doing it in 80
days with a light load. For 1824 that was incredibly fast since it's about a
4000 km trip.

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brailsafe
You have an interesting point. I hadn't really thought of that in quite a
while, given that it was core curriculum in my early years. Using other
professions like construction or moving for examples of how your body becomes
conditioned for the job, the voyageurs must have been beasts of men. The
lumberjacks of the river.

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dsimms
I was wondering how the arctic melt changes our view on the northwest passage.
Was it really ice-free enough in human memory such that it could have been a
myth?

