Daily Survival Guide
Jul. 22nd, 2010 09:39 am_______________________________________
On this day in 1793, Alexander Mackenzie became the first Euro-American to reach the Pacific Ocean north of Mexico. More than a decade before Lewis and Clark completed their historic expedition, Mackenzie marked his arrival at the Pacific on a rock across from what is know today as Vancouver Island. Having tried to reach the Pacific twice before, Mackenzie, accompanied by nine men, started out across the Continental Divide, moved south down the Fraser River and struck overland west to the Pacific. Mackenzie accomplished this feat without any of the governmental financial support that Lewis and Clark received.