Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764 – 1820)
Mackenzie was born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. In 1774 his family moved to New York, and then to Montreal in 1776 during the American Revolution. In 1779 he obtained a job with the North West Company, on whose behalf he traveled to Lake Athabasca and founded Fort Chipewyan in 1788. Mackenzie was sent to replace Peter Pond, a partner in the North West Company. From Pond he learned that the First Nations people understood that local rivers flowed to the northwest.

Acting on this information he set out by canoe and discovered the Mackenzie River on July 10, 1789, following it to its mouth in the hope of finding the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. Although he ended up discovering the Arctic Ocean, he named the river “Disappointment River” as it did not lead to Cook Inlet in Alaska as he had expected. The river was later named in his honor.