Nor is it a matter of moment to us, how the struggle began until
we have brought before our minds the stalwart figure of Sir Alexander
Mackenzie--Lord Selkirk's great protagonist. Like many a distinguished
man who has made his mark in the new world, and notably our great Lord
Strathcona, who came as a mere lad to Canada, Alexander Mackenzie, a
stripling of sixteen, arrived in Montreal to make his fortune. He was
born as the Scottish people say of "kenn't" of "well-to-do" folk in
Stornoway, in the Hebrides. He received a fair education and as a boy
had a liking for the sea. Two partners, Gregory and McLeod, were
fighting at Montreal in opposition to the dominant firm of McTavish and
Frobisher. Young Alexander Mackenzie joined this opposition. So great
was his aptitude, that boy as he was, he was despatched West to lead an
expedition to Detroit. Soon he was pushed on to be a bourgeois, and was
appointed at the age of twenty-two to go to the far West fur country of
Athabasca, the vast Northern country which was to be the area of his
discoveries and his fame. His energy and skill were amazing, although
like many of his class, he had to battle against the envy of rivals.
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