Historic Tours Available in August

Have you ever been curious about the St. Augustine Mission, the Mackenzie Cairn or Twelve Foot Davis? We have a number of Historic Tours coming up in August that will satisfy your curiousity.

Tours are offered free of charge on the following dates - just show up anytime during the allotted hours:

St. Augustine Mission
Provincial Historic Site, Shaftesbury Trail, River Lot 22, Highway 685

Sunday August 10th: 2:30-4:30 pm
Sunday August 24th: 1:00-4:00 pm

Mackenzie Cairn
National Historic Site, Shaftesbury Trail, River Lot 19, Highway 684

Sunday August 10th: 11:00-1:30 pm

Twelve Foot Davis
Fairgrounds Road off Highway #2 South

Sunday August 17th: 2:00-4:00 pm
Friday August 22nd: 6:30-8:00 pm



75.624.5, St. Augustine Mission Church, c. 1930 

Our partners for this project include the Municipal District of Peace, Mighty Peace Tourism, Northern Sunrise County, Town of Peace River, Alberta Infrastructure, Peace River Correctional Centre and Young Canada Works. For more information, please feel free to contact the Museum.

Paddling Through Time Exhibit Opening

      Paddling Through Time is the Peace River Museum’s new exhibit and it features the stories of several impressive canoe trips along the Mighty Peace River. From explorers Alexander Mackenzie and David Thompson to a unique 1967 Centennial trip to Montreal. The exhibit opening June 2^nd from 6:30 to 8pm  will be an opportunity to meet some of the crew from the second annual York Boat Voyage which will be launching  from Dunvegan May 31^st.

Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace

We are embarking on a new exhibit at the Peace River Museum: "Paddling Through Time: 220 Years of Canoeing on the Peace"
The exhibit follows the early explorers, Sir Alexander Mackenzie and David Thompson on their early travels on the Peace River. It meanders on in time to early settlers finding a new home and politicians and boosters promoting to those searching settlers.
Flowing forwards, we come to the Canada's Centennial in 1967 and a brave group of voyageurs who retrace Sir Alexander Mackenzie's historic voyage across Canada (minus the detour to the Arctic Ocean!).
We will bring it forward in time to current uses of the river with kayaks and canoes and supply some fun games for children while exploring our Peace River!
The exhibit begins on May 21st with an official opening on Saturday, June 2nd (stay tuned for more details) and will run until September of this year.

Aboriginal Pioneers of the Peace - Alex Mackenzie

The "Aboriginal Pioneers of the Peace" is a feature written by Beth Wilkins, Curatorial Assistant and Researcher, in conjunction with the Museum's Treaty 8 Exhibit on display until the end of August. The articles have also been published on the Community Page of the Peace River Record-Gazette.

Alex McKenzie

PRMA 68.130

Alexander McKenzie was born November 1843, near Three Rivers, Quebec, to Alexander Mackenzie, Sr. and Mary Traversy, a Metis woman. It is said he is a descendant of explorer/fur trader Sir Alexander Mackenzie.

He was orphaned when only an infant and thus sent back to his father’s homeland, Scotland, to be nurtured and educated by his parental relatives.

Alex is among the first Peace River settlers, arriving in 1863, coming from Norway House to the Athabasca District on snowshoes. Peace River became his home for more than half a century.
He married Elizabeth (Eliza) Sawan, nee LePretre/LaFleur) at St. luke’s Anglican Church, Fort Vermilion, Sept. 30, 1876. Eliza died June 6, 1917.

Alex retired from the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1888 after 27 years. His successful, adventurous career, laden with hardships and hairsbreadth escapes, was admired even by his opposition for his cleverness and his attention to service. He was extremely popular with the natives, which made trading easier. Farming then became his main endeavour on River Lots 30 and 31 on the Shaftesbury Trail. His family continues to farm on those lots. The Province of Alberta, in 1993, lauded the family with the Alberta Century Farm and Ranch Award for having owned, operated and maintained the 285-acre farm for more than 100 years.

A well-known picture of McKenzie shows him wearing the typical coureur-de-bois outfit, formerly worn by all Hudson’s Bay Company employees and natives in the country – a blue blanket cloth mackinaw with cream blanket cloth cape and red trimmings, a turban cap to match and black pants with trimmings of Indian design.

Alexander McKenzie died Jan. 16, 1919 from the flu.

It was said that his death brought to an end the link between the Peace River Country of that day and the early days when the first of the Hudson’s Bay traders ventured into the unknown North to ply their trade with the natives of the country.



Sources: Peace River Record; Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre files; Peace River Record-Gazette; Caron Riley

Make sure to join us starting next week for Recollections from Jean Cameron Kelly, the second school teacher in Peace River and her journey north in 1913. The first installment was in our inaugural newsletter which is available to all members of the Museum. Information about Museum memberships is available here: http://peacerivermuseum.blogspot.com/2008/08/membership-drive-2008.html