166 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

would certainly have been enthusiastic about
the general result. Nor were the consequences
which he had prophesied from such a union
unrealized. ‘The new company, under the
masterful control of Sir George Simpson,
ended the chaos in the North-West and estab-
lished a measure of regular government.
Above all, on the Pacific coast it soon began
to gain ground against the Russians and
Americans, and to make good the British
claim to a large part of the ownerless terri-
tory. If Mackenzie had been heeded twenty
years earlier, the Canadian boundary west of
the Rockies would have been well to the south
of the 49th parallel.

Though ample credit is usually given to
Mackenzie for his courage and determination
as an explorer, the consequences of his life’s
work have received less than their proper
share of attention. The claim can be advanced
with confidence that Mackenzie made possible
the inclusion of British Columbia in Canada.
Though the idea of a British dominion on the
Pacific had been put forward at intervals ever
since Drake had created his shadowy New