25
CHAPTER
II.
THE COMING OF THE WHITE MEN.
HE
early history of British Columbia
corveries
ly
of
a
few
is
large-
adventurous
intrepid,
an account of the explorations and
spirits
who made
the
dis-
unknown wastes and
wilds of the western slope of the continent the field of their labors.
By
the sea the mar-
iners of Great Britain, Spain, Russia and the
United States had visited the North West
what
coast line of the Pacific, but
yond
that coast line,
ranges that reared their heights
ground was
knowledge was
lay
be-
beyond those mountain
unknown
gained by the fur hunters,
in the
back-
This
them.
to
who were
the
The first of these first explorers made who the first partial was Alexander Mackenzie, an as descent of the Fraser as early 1793, expedition made North West in the interests of the Company in whose in
service
he
was.
the
unknown
west.
The hardships and
well
nigh
insur-
mountable obstacles he encountered, and which would have daunted a less bold
spirit,
are modestly told in his
journals.
The course followed by Mackenzie
in
his
moment-