Tue Last YEARS 165

sons and a daughter, and his widow survived
him until 1860.

The story of Mackenzie’s life is not com-
plete without an epilogue. Less than a month
after his death, Selkirk was also carried to his
grave. The way was opened for reconciliation
after a contest the latest phase of which had
lasted nearly ten years. Suddenly the decision
was announced, to the surprise and disgust of
many of the North-Westers, that the two
companies were to be united and that the
name of the Hudson’s Bay Company was to
be retained. The union was completed in
March, 1821. The struggle had at last
attracted the attention of the British govern-
ment to north-western America; in December
of the same year the united companies
obtained a charter granting them a monopoly
of trade with the Indians throughout the
whole North-West and on the Pacific coast.
Thus within twenty months of Mackenzie’s
death the great project was realized for which
he had been working since 1794. Though he
might not have approved of the details of the
union with the Hudson’s Bay Company, he