1802 Cree Tribes - ALEXANDER MACKENZIE - Fort Fork DE

Title: Einige Nachricht von den Knisteneaux Indianern. Aus M'Kenzie's reise nach der Nordwestküste Amerika's. [Some Remarks on the Knisteneaux Indians, from Mackenzie's Journey to the Northwest Coast of the Americas.]

Weimar: Industrie-Comptoirs, 1802. 8vo. 18 pages. Text is in German. A scarce primary resource. This is a complete monthly issue, containing the above mentioned account. Attractively bound booklet style in recent blue paper covers with label.

This issue contains a substantial early decription, by pioneer fur trader and explorer Alexander Mackenzie, of North America's indigenous Cree tribes, as observed while he was at Fort Fork in 1792. Includes the Cree calendar, a twelve month system with names which revolves around nature. This account draws directly from Mackenzie’s then contemporary, now classic account, entitled "Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Laurence, through the Continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans; in the Years 1789 and 1793. With Preliminary Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Fur Trade of that Country," first published in 1801.

These are the original pages printed in 1802, and NOT a reprint. This narrative is from a rare multi-volume geographical and scientific journal titled "Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden", which issued fifty volumes from 1798-1816 and which encompassed critical contemporary topics of geography and astronomy. Adam Christian Gaspari and Franz Xaver von Zach were editors of this important scientific journal.

Cree (Knistenaux, Christenaux, or Cristeneaux after their village of Kenisteniwak), is one of the largest group of indigenous peoples in North America, located mainly across Canada and historically in the United States from Minnesota westward but are found today in Montana. The Cree are generally divided into 8 major groups: Naskapi, Montagnais, Attikamekw, James Bay Cree, Moose Cree, Swampy Cree, Woods Cree and Plains Cree. However, among the Cree, they usually referred to themselves collectively as Nehilawe.Skilled buffalo hunters and horsemen, the Plains Cree were allied to the Assiniboine and the Saulteaux before encountering English, Scottish (especially Orcadian) and French settlers in the 16th century.

Sir Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish-Canadian explorer who moved to Montreal in 1776 during the American Revolution. In 1779 he traveled to Lake Athabasca and in 1788 founded Fort Chipewyan. He 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 instead reached 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 renamed in his honour.

In 1792 Mackenzie set out once again to find a route to the Pacific, leaving Fort Fork following the Peace River route. He found the upper reaches of the Fraser River, but was warned by the local natives of un-navigable waters and hostile tribes. He was instead directed to follow an established trading route by ascending the West Road River, crossing over the Coast Mountains, and descending the Bella Coola River to the sea. He followed this advice and reached the Pacific coast on July 20, 1793 at Bella Coola, British Columbia, on North Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Thus, he completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America by a European north of Mexico, in the process crossing the Continental Divide.

Fort Fork was used by the North West Company as the major post on the central region of the Peace River until 1805. It was important as a trading centre and also as a provisioning post where the local First Nations would trade meat for goods. Another important aspect of the post was its gardens which produced potatoes and turnips.