48 Mackenzie’s Voyages

latitude as the Columbia was indicated, and known as
the “River of the West,” later to be called the Oregon by
Jonathan Carver.

In 1775, Heceta passed the mouth of the Columbia,
but was unaware that the greatest river draining the Pacific
slope here entered the sea,! and in 1789, while Mackenzie
was making his trip to the frozen seas, John Meares also
passed the indentation, calling it Deception Bay. ‘The bar
was finally crossed in 1792 by Robert Gray of Boston, who
realised the importance of his discovery. A few months
later Lieutenant Broughton of Vancouver’s expedition
sailed a hundred miles up the river in boats and took posses-
sion of the country for the King of England.

Any notions, therefore, that Mackenzie may have had
about the Grand River coming out on the Pacific in a lati-
tude lower than its outlet on Great Slave Lake, must have
been derived from speculations current at the time, rather
than from actual knowledge of the existence of a river
flowing in that direction.2 Cook’s River, as Mackenzie
calls it, though Cook’s Entry was the usual designation,
now generally known as Cook’s Inlet, was the only break
in the coast of any consequence north of California. Hence
he had that position always in mind, though there is not
the slightest doubt that he hoped to come out lower down
the coast after traversing a country favourable for trade,
for it must not be forgotten that Mackenzie was an energetic
and successful trader, fired with an explorer’s enthusiasm,
which had mastered him and which he had allowed to
actuate him that he might add to the company’s wealth by
opening up new territories rich in fur resources.

As he hoped to discover a river discharging westward,

1On Spanish maps this indentation is marked Rio de San Roque.
8 The Spanish voyages of 1774-5 were not published until 1781.