{"id":1969,"date":"2026-06-11T00:41:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clarenville.ca\/75th\/?page_id=1969"},"modified":"2026-06-11T08:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:33:22","slug":"william-cormack","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/clarenville.ca\/75th\/william-cormack\/","title":{"rendered":"William Epps Cormack"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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William Epps Cormack <\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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William Epps Cormack, Newfoundland explorer<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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William Epps (Eppes) Cormack was an explorer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, agriculturalist, and author best known for his trek across the island of Newfoundland. <\/span><\/div>
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Cormack was the son of a Scottish merchant who settled in Newfoundland. He was born in St. John\u2019s on May 5, 1796 and educated at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.<\/span><\/div>
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Cormack was determined to explore the unmapped interior of Newfoundland, something no European had done before. Despite more than three centuries of English presence in Newfoundland, settlement was still in 1822 confined to the coast; the interior of the island was almost unknown. <\/span><\/div>
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Cormack had three goals: to satisfy his geographical curiosity about the interior and its resources, to further colonization by opening up the hinterland, and to establish friendly contact with any surviving native Beothuks.<\/span><\/div><\/div>
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After sailing from St. John\u2019s to New Bonaventure, Trinity Bay, he set out from Random Bar (now known as Milton) on September 5, 1822 with Sylvester Joe, a Mi’kmaq guide from Bay d’Espoir. They completed their journey on foot across Newfoundland in 58 days. He did not encounter any Beothuk though.<\/div>
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Cormack named Mount Sylvester after his guide, a place name that survives to this day.<\/div>
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Cormack published his data on the flora, fauna and geology of the interior of Newfoundland in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal in 1824 and his complete account, Journey Across Newfoundland<\/em>, in 1856.<\/div>
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He spent his last years in British Columbia where he died in April 1868.<\/div><\/div>
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Cormack\u2019s point of departure is a National Historic Site and is located on the border of Shoal Harbour\/ Clarenville and Milton next to the Hefferton Causeway leading to Random Island.<\/div><\/div>
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