Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage
I love stories like these.
This is a real-life, modern-day, canoe journey of the Mackenzie River. The author decided to follow in the footsteps of Alexander Mackenzie who paddled the river in the hopes of finding an inland Northwest Passage. "The Mackenzie river is the longest river system in Canada, and includes the second largest drainage basin of any North American river after the Mississippi." (Passage from Wikipedia)
From his starting point at Great Slave Lake all the way to the Arctic Ocean Brian Castner weaves his voyage to that of Mackenzie's. At certain points in the trip Castner and Mackenzie stood on the same spots, on the same dates, 227 yeas apart.
Blending history to the modern day by replicating an event, is an effective way to bring history alive and to compare the two worlds. At times, the author is vividly imagining what Mackenzie and his party went through only to be knocked back into the present by the passing of a speedboat or a container ferry.
In many ways, life has not changed at all in the Canadian north in 1779 Mackenzie was trying to find his fortune, the industry of the day were furs. Today, oil, gas and mining dominate.
I was thankful for the trip Brian Castner took and glad he chose to write about it. I was thrilled to shoot the rapids with him from the safety of my couch. I was happy to learn a bit more about Canadian history and to simply answer the question as to how the river got its modern name. It is traditionally known as the Deh-Cho by the way. I was also very happy to learn that no way in hell would I want to take a similar trip.
This was a terrific story.
Brian Castner's website - https://briancastner.com/
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