Stepping Westward SEED =

many others speak of it as the most comfortable post in the
North. It was painted inside, and a great deal of thought was
given to the interior arrangements. The famous library
established by Roderick was known throughout the North-
West. Fort Chipewyan, as the new establishment was called,
was not only the “Emporium of the North,” but was
dubbed the “Little Athens” as well.

All the events connected with the development of the
North-West led to the ultimate establishment of Fort
Chipewyan with Alexander Mackenzie in charge. The un-
explored North and West stretched out in alluring expanses
before his door. It was part of his domain. He was lord
of all he surveyed and much more. It was his business as
a trader to know that territory. It is not in the nature of man
to live tranquilly on the edge of an unknown empire. Sooner
or later the desire to continue his travels will carry him
over new spaces until his mind is satisfied with fuller
knowledge.

In attempting to account for the impulses which led
Mackenzie to undertake his explorations it should not be
lost sight of that, like all the traders of that day, he had
acquired a technique of travel, had learned the ease of getting
to new places, and was naturally interested in the marvellous
network of navigable lakes and rivers which connected the
whole of the known part of Canada. What was more natural
to suppose than that the remainder, the unexplored, unknown
part, was probably penetrated and linked with the known
part by a maze of navigable lakes and rivers, as easy to
negotiate and as far-reaching and important as the system
that was so familiar to them? It is difficult to resist the call
of the next reach, the next bend, the next lake and what
may lie beyond each.

The traders had a great deal of leisure in the summer