Alexander Mackenzie was an explorer, North West Company partner; first person to cross the North American continent and reach the Pacific over land.
Mackenzie’s health was failing; Bright’s disease appears to have been the most likely cause. In January 1820 he went to Edinburgh to seek medical advice; in March, on the return journey to Avoch, he died unexpectedly in a wayside inn near Dunkeld. (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)