Alexander MacKay
| Alexander MacKay | |
|---|---|
| McKay, Alexander | |
| Born | c. 1770 Mohawk Valley, New York |
| Died | c. 1811-06-15 Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia |
| Occupation | Fur trader; explorer; North West Company clerk and partner; Pacific Fur Company partner |
| Father | |
| Mother | |
| Partner | |
Alexander MacKay (also written McKay; c. 1770 – c. 15 June 1811) was a Scottish-Canadian fur trader and explorer who served as Alexander Mackenzie's lieutenant on the first overland crossing of North America to the Pacific in 1793, and who later died aboard the ship Tonquin at Clayoquot Sound while serving as a partner in John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company.
Early life
MacKay was born around 1770, probably in the Mohawk Valley, New York, the son of Donald McKay and Elspeth (Elspy) Kennedy. His father had served in the 78th Foot at Quebec in 1759. After the American Revolution the family came north as United Empire Loyalists, settling first near Trois-Rivières, Lower Canada, before eventually relocating to Glengarry, Upper Canada (Martintown).[1]
Career in the North West Company
By November 1791 MacKay and his brothers Donald and William were working as North West Company clerks in the west. MacKay was stationed at Fort Chipewyan by 1792.[1] On 10 January 1793 Alexander Mackenzie wrote requesting MacKay's transfer to Fort Fork, noting he "would be of great Service to me should I undertake any expedition." MacKay joined him on 12 April, and on 9 May 1793 the party set out — Mackenzie, MacKay, six voyageurs, and two Indian hunters — on what became a 74-day journey to the Pacific coast.[1]
Throughout the overland crossing MacKay served as scout: he assessed rivers for navigability, chose portage routes, cut paths through dense bush, and led the hunters. When the party came down the Fraser River in an Indian canoe on 22 June, Mackenzie noted MacKay's "great satisfaction," which "enabled to keep us company with diminution of labour." The return from the mouth of the Bella Coola nearly ended in mutiny when the men fell into "frantic terror" at hostile Indians and treacherous terrain. Mackenzie later singled out MacKay in a footnote: "It is but common justice to him, to mention in this place that I had every reason to be satisfied with his conduct." In a 1799 recommendation Mackenzie placed MacKay "amongst the first."[1][2]
Between 1793 and 1800 MacKay clerked in the North West Company's Upper English River department, likely near Lac La Loche, Saskatchewan, where he re-established the Île-à-la-Crosse post. By 1799 he was earning £100 Halifax currency annually. Promoted to partner in 1800, he served in the English River department (Upper division) until 1804, attending the 1800 Grand Portage rendezvous and holding two shares under the 1802 agreement.[1]
Following the 1805 rendezvous at Kaministiquia (present-day Fort William, Thunder Bay), MacKay rotated to Montreal and returned west in 1806 with the unusual assignment of monitoring a rival trader, Delorme, whom he forced to withdraw by felling trees across his route — conduct later criticized by Lord Selkirk in his published account of the North West Company.[1][3] After wintering at Lake Winnipeg (1806–07), MacKay returned to Fort William and offered to retire in place of John Sayer, on identical terms. Sayer chose retirement; MacKay then wintered on the Winnipeg River as proprietor before coming back to Fort William in 1808 for the last time. He resigned on condition of receiving £1,000 for one share and retaining his second share for seven years, then retired to Montreal.[1]
Pacific Fur Company and the Tonquin
Dissatisfaction shared by several retired Nor'Westers drew MacKay to John Jacob Astor's Columbia River venture. MacKay, Donald McKenzie, and Duncan McDougall signed a preliminary agreement with Astor in New York on 10 March 1810, then travelled to Montreal to recruit for both the overland and sea expeditions. Among those enlisted were Gabriel Franchère, David Stuart, Robert Stuart, MacKay's thirteen-year-old son Thomas McKay, and Jean-Baptiste Perrault (who later withdrew at Michilimackinac).[1]
MacKay joined the Beaver Club on 17 December 1809 after attending as Alexander McKenzie's guest on 1 April. His last recorded attendance was 21 April 1810, when he introduced guests including two men named Stewart and Duncan McDougall.[1][4]
MacKay was not present in New York for the formal ratification of the Pacific Fur Company on 23 June 1810, which allotted him five of one hundred shares. He created a sensation on 3 August by arriving in a birchbark canoe manned by elaborately dressed Canadians singing voyageur songs — a display that would later provoke the implacable hostility of Captain Jonathan Thorn aboard the Tonquin.[1]
Before sailing, MacKay consulted the British ambassador Francis James Jackson about his status and that of other British subjects should war with the United States occur. Whether information he disclosed contributed to Astoria's eventual surrender to the North West Company, as Washington Irving later alleged, has never been established.[1][5]
Alexander Ross considered Astor's decision to assign MacKay to the sea expedition rather than the land party "an egregious inversion of the ordinary rules of prudence," given MacKay's background as an overland traveller. MacKay's fellow passengers aboard the Tonquin regarded him as their true leader rather than Astor's designated representative McDougall; the resulting confusion of authority produced repeated quarrels between the two partners and a catastrophic relationship with Captain Thorn, a disciplinarian whose severity MacKay consistently opposed without success.[1][6]
Death
The Tonquin reached the mouth of the Columbia in March 1811. In early May MacKay led a trading and exploring party up the river, and in early June he sailed as supercargo when the Tonquin departed on a trading voyage up the Pacific coast. Before leaving, he confided to Alexander Ross that he expected disaster, and placed his son Thomas in Ross's care.[1]
At Clayoquot Sound, Captain Thorn's contemptuous treatment of the local Indigenous people — contrary to MacKay's repeated warnings — provoked an attack. A subsequent explosion destroyed the ship and killed everyone aboard save one survivor. MacKay, who was highly regarded among the coastal peoples, reportedly fell first.[1][7]
Gabriel Franchère called MacKay's death "an irreparable loss" to the Pacific Fur Company. Contemporaries described him as "brave and enterprising" though also "whimsical and eccentric."[1] His partner Marguerite Waddens, apparently left behind in the west when MacKay retired in 1808, subsequently became the wife of Dr. John McLoughlin.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Jean Morrison."Jean Morrison, "MacKAY, ALEXANDER," Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5."[website].Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 5 (University of Toronto/Université Laval).1983.University of Toronto/Université Laval.Link.(Rights: copyrighted | Access: open)
- ↑ Alexander Mackenzie."Journals and letters (Lamb)."[book].Mackenzie, Journals and letters, ed. W. K. Lamb.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk."A sketch of the British fur trade in North America; with observations relative to the North-West Company of Montreal."[book].1816.London, 1816.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ "Beaver Club minute-book, 1807–27."[record].McCord Museum (transcript at Public Archives of Canada).(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Washington Irving."Astoria, or anecdotes of an enterprize beyond the Rocky Mountains."[book].ed. R. D. Rust, Boston, 1976.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Alexander Ross."Adventures of the first settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River."[book].ed. M. M. Quaife, Chicago, 1923; repr. New York, [1969].(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ Gabriel Franchère."Journal of a voyage on the north west coast of North America during the years 1811, 1812, 1813 and 1814."[book].trans. W. T. Lamb, ed. and intro. W. K. Lamb, Toronto, 1969.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)
- ↑ T. C. Elliott."Marguerite Wadin McKay McLoughlin."[book].Oregon Historical Quarterly.1935.vol. 36 (1935): 338–47.(Rights: unknown | Access: open)