First Crossing - Softcover

Hayes, Derek

4.09

23 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1550549944 ISBN 13: 9781550549942

Publisher: Douglas & Mcintyre, 2001

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Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition is this remarkable account of Alexander Mackenzie--the explorer who beat Lewis and Clark across the North American continent. Mackenzie accomplished this feat an astounding twelve years before the Corps of Discovery. Drawing extensively on the journals of Mackenzie and other turn-of-the-century explorers--and featuring historical and contemporary photographs, illustrations, and maps--Hayes presents a lively portrait of the explorer who both preceded Lewis and Clark and provided an impetus for their expedition.

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From the Publisher:

"[First Crossing is] great armchair history, made all the more compelling by an abundance of excellent illustrations." -- Carlos Schwantes, Ph.D., Pacific Northwest Historian

From the Inside Flap:

Twelve years before Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific, Alexander Mackenzie became the first documented person to cross the North American continent. He accomplished this feat at a time when the western half of North America was still a blank -- unmapped, unexplored, and unclaimed. Although fur traders had penetrated into the interior of the continent, no one had yet made the crossing from one ocean to the other.

An explorer and fur trader with the North West Company, Scottish-born Mackenzie lived during a time when fur-traders and world powers alike were vying for control of the New World's riches and lands. On the oceans, the myth of a Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific inspired countless sea explorations. On land, the dream of finding a navigable and commercially viable route across the continent fired the imaginations of many.

Mackenzie undertook two historic voyages by canoe in search of a route to the Pacific. On his second attempt, he realized his dream. In July 1793 he reached Pacific tidewater not far from present-day Bella Coola, British Columbia, becoming the first person to cross the North American continent. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark would not equal his feat for another dozen years.

Drawing on contemporary writings, including Mackenzie's own journal, this lively account details Mackenzie's life, explorations, adventures, and mis-adventures. Richly illustrated with present-day and archival photographs, as well as reproductions of historic maps (some never before published), it celebrates the exploits of an intrepid explorer and natural leader whose accomplishments set the state for future explorations, and who helped determine the national boundaries we know today.

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