The name honours Alexander Mackenzie,[1] who in 1793 on his Peace River to Pacific Ocean expedition was the first European to visit the Alexandria First Nation village.

[3] The First Nations village on the west side of the river was known as Tautin (Ltau'tenne, "sturgeon people"), part of the Takulli (Carrier), which originally numbered in the hundreds.

[4] In 1826, when the Chilcotin attacked this village opposite the fort, the fur traders supplied arms to the vulnerable defenders.

[4] In 1821, George McDougall of the North West Company Chala-Oo-Chick trading post, west of Fort George, paddled downriver to establish the Alexandria trading post,[10] prior to the corporate merger with the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) that summer.

[14] Alternative accounts suggest the reasons as erosion of the riverbank,[15] the fort burned to the ground, and/or accessing more arable land across the river for farming.

[2] When news of the murder of Samuel Black, chief factor at Fort Kamloops, was received in 1841,[17] one account indicates a party of four rode through the snow from Alexandria,[18] whereas another states they delayed until mid-summer.

[28] The next year, the navigability of the Fraser was examined as an alternative route, but the 27 strong rapids in the passage south to the Bridge River mouth quashed the idea.

[30] Before the signing of the Oregon Treaty in 1846, Alexander Caulfield Anderson, the chief factor at Alexandria, was surveying alternative routes before one was finalised in 1849.

[38] While the ferry was withdrawn during the winter months, the early Lillooet–Soda Creek passenger stage was extended to Alexandria.

[40] That year, Walter Moberly built a wagon road northeastward to Richfield (immediately south of Barkerville).

[45] In spring 1960, the highway, which ran in front of the RC church, was realigned eastward to its present location following a landslide.

[50] About 0.8 kilometres (0.5 mi) north of Diamond Island, the pontoon[51] reaction ferry was established in 1913[52] as a subsidised government service.

[69] While driving onto the small ferry in April 1959, an automobile crashed through a guard chain and plunged into the river.

[73] In 1964, the official name changed to Marguerite[74] to avoid confusion with the community of Macalister 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) farther south.

[76][77] In 1984, local protests prompted the province to reverse its decision to discontinue the ferry, but daily hours reduced from 15 to 10.

By the 1910s, from north to south, the general areas straddling the river were Alexandria, Castle Rock, and Macalister.

[1] During that era of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, miners lived in tents and rough cabins.

[1] In 1860, Alexander Douglas McInnes acquired the HBC farmlands and resided a couple of miles south.

[82] By the next year, a school existed, but the initial name of Sisters Creek suggests it was to the north or relocated from there.

[46] Castle Rock is an unincorporated community on the west bank of the Fraser River between the cities of Williams Lake and Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada, located in that province's Cariboo Country opposite the community of Margeruite and near Alexandria.

The geographical features of Castle Rock are a rocky outcrop[100] and bar on the west shore of the Fraser River about 3.9 kilometres (2.4 mi) north of Alexandria,[101] whereas the general community area is a long way farther south.

[103] In 1949, a Quonset type structure replaced the Castle Rock school building on the west side of the river.

[104] In 1885, Harry Moffat established Landsdowne Farm, a dairy ranch, in the vicinity of later Marguerite,[105] where he remained a resident until 1927.

In early December 1920, the northward advance of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE) rail head reached Australian Creek,[112] about 10 kilometres (6 mi) north of Alexandria, before activity ceased for the winter.

[131] 1964: Two youngsters discovered a canvas bag in a ditch near Alexandria containing almost $80,000 in stolen treasury cheques and about $10 in change.

[132] 1979: Speed and alcohol were factors[133] when a fiery head-on collision between a car and a pickup truck near Alexandria killed nine people.