On July 20, 1793, Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completed the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico. Here is a quote from his biography:
“Emigrating at a young age from his native Scotland, Mackenzie began working for a trading company aligned with the North West Company, the big rival to the Hudson Bay Company.
In 1788 Mackenzie travelled to and later took charge of a trading port at Lake Athabasca (in modern Alberta). Tasked with discovering a river route to the Pacific Ocean, Mackenzie set out in 1789 and became the first to traverse what is now called the Mackenzie River, at 1,025 miles long (1,650 km), which led him not to the Pacific, as had been predicted, but to the Arctic Ocean.
In 1792 he set out on his second major expedition west to the Pacific travelling by bark canoe and overland to the Pacific, careful to take the advice of local Indians along the way. There he inscribed his name on a rock on the Pacific shore in July of 1793, becoming the first to journey across North America, north of Mexico. Within a few months he and his companions had returned safely.
Back in London he published an account of his travels in “Voyages from Montreal … to the Frozen and Pacific oceans” in December 1801 to acclaim. He then became an MP for Lower Canada briefly before moving back to the United Kingdom and retiring in Scotland. He was knighted in 1802.”
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I just heard of the death of famed theologian Christian orator John MacArthur, at age 86. His expository preaching was excellent, and through his broadcast sermons he undoubtedly helped countless thousands come to saving faith. Doctrinally, he was a quasi-Calvinist, and he believed in a pre-Tribulation rapture. To his credit, he was never swayed by popular opinion, the mass media, or faddishness. He first published the MacArthur Study Bible in 1997. The various editions include more than 20,000 interpretative notes.
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In honor of the birthday week of Samuel Colt, we are running a special sale at Elk Creek Company. Many antique and percussion replica gun prices have been reduced — including all of our Colts — and I’ll include the bonus of an autographed hardback copy of my novel Expatriates with the first 10 orders. The sale will end on Saturday, July 26th, 2025.
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Today’s guest article was written by A.C. of the Stakeholder Prepping Podcast. Because he is a SurvivalBlog advertiser, he is not eligible to write for our writing contest.
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We still need some entries for Round 119 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 119 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.
