BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library
BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library
BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library
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18 RODERIC MCKENZIE<br />
the crews singing in concert. N otwithstand ing the surprise the<br />
chorns caused, we both were well received at the water side by<br />
our respective employers. Mr. McGillivray and Ilived on friendly<br />
terms ever after (1) ........................................................ ..<br />
1787 It being now the beginning of June, t 787, Mr. MacKenzie, finding<br />
that the Athabaska canoes retarded too much, felt anxious<br />
on account of the lateness of the season, and took his departure<br />
for the Grand Portage.<br />
Murder of At length the Athabaska brigade made its appearance, and the<br />
Mr. Ross. f h 1 h f M<br />
guide in armed us t at the de ay was caused by the deat a r.<br />
Ross, who had been shot in a scuffie with Mr. Pond's men. This<br />
misfortune, I thought, should be communicated to tbe other<br />
partners as soon as possible, and, having no one I could trust, I<br />
resolved on going myself, gave charge of my post to Versailles,<br />
the interpreter, and embarked on one of the Athabaska canoes.<br />
At the first encampment I had one of the canoes prepared for<br />
my voyage, and left the others in charge of the only guide we<br />
had. The following morning I embarked with five men who<br />
volunteered and depending on my foreman as a guide. He knew<br />
little or nothing of the route, which we lost as often as it could<br />
be lost, so that it took us one month of hard labour to arrive at<br />
our destination.<br />
(1) Mr. William McGillivray became a partner at the reorganization of the North<br />
West Company in 1790, and soon became one of its most influential members.<br />
He was appointed a Legislative Councellor in 1814, in recognition of the services<br />
rendered to the country by the Company during the war. The North-West Oompany<br />
was then at the height of its power, and had considerably contributed. with its men and<br />
ships, to the taking of Michilimakinac, in .July 1812. During the whole war, their<br />
well supplied stores were thrown open to the Government for the use of the Indians<br />
in the West.<br />
A few years before the coalition of 1821, Mr. McGillivray returned to thc Highlands<br />
of Scotland where he purchased a property, intending, to enjoy in comparative quietncss<br />
the handsome fortune he had made in Canada; but the hardships he had endured<br />
in the N orth-West had ruined his constitution and he died about 1825.
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