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86-646: Beginning in 1807, David Thompson , working for the North West Company (NWC), explored much of what would become the Columbia District. In 1811 he located Athabasca Pass , which became the key overland connection to the emerging fur district. The American Pacific Fur Company (PFC) founded Fort Astoria near the entrance of the Columbia River and began to counter the interior NWC trade posts. Funded largely by German-American merchant John Jacob Astor ,

172-575: A postage stamp . The David Thompson Highway in Alberta was named in his honour, along with David Thompson High School on the side of the highway near Leslieville, Alberta . There are also two David Thompson Secondary Schools, one in Vancouver, BC, and one in Invermere, BC. His prowess as a geographer is now well-recognized. He has been called "the greatest land geographer that the world has produced." There

258-555: A boy, by English author and TV presenter Ray Mears . Thompson was the subject of a 1964 National Film Board of Canada short film David Thompson: The Great Mapmaker , as well as the BBC2 programme Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness (Episode 5), broadcast in November 2009. He's also the subject of 2010 KSPS-TV film Uncharted Territory: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau . He

344-784: A downstream anadromous fish collection facility as part of the Cowlitz Falls Project. The fish facility, along with the Cowlitz River Salmon Hatchery's diversion dam below Mayfield Lake, has permitted the reintroduction of salmon and steelhead in the upper Cowlitz River basin for the first time since the construction of the Mossyrock and Mayfield dams in the 1960s. The Cowliz River's two hatcheries provide an exceptional sportfishing opportunity for recreational anglers in Washington and Oregon. The river consistently ranks as one of

430-688: A few years later was employed to survey the newly established borders with the United States from Lake of the Woods to the Eastern Townships of Quebec , established by Treaty of Ghent after the War of 1812 . In 1843 Thompson completed his atlas of the region from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Afterwards, Thompson returned to a life as a land owner, but soon financial misfortune would ruin him. By 1831 he

516-671: A global circuit. Company letters, reports, and personnel were generally conveyed overland along a route between Fort George and Fort William on Lake Superior, making use of Athabasca Pass. Later, under the Hudson's Bay Company, the York Factory Express used this route, reoriented to York Factory on Hudson Bay. The Columbia District under the North West Company was only marginally profitable at best. There were numerous problems at many posts. The only consistently profitable areas were

602-641: A more northerly site at Fort Okanogan . The North West Company established its post of Fort Nez Percés near the Snake River confluence several years later. Continuing down the Columbia, Thompson passed over the Celilo Falls , almost losing the canoe on the rocks, and portaged around the rapids of The Dalles and the Cascades Rapids . On 14 July 1811, Thompson reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria at

688-642: A number of others. Increasing numbers of American settlers arriving on the Oregon Trail gave rise to the Oregon boundary dispute . With the signing of the Oregon Treaty in 1846 the U.S.-British boundary was fixed on the 49th parallel . This effectively destroyed the geographical logic of the HBC's Columbia Department, since the lower Columbia River was the core and lifeline of the system. The U.S. soon organized its portion as

774-530: A ship to North America on 28 May of that year, leaving England. On 2 September 1784, Thompson arrived in Churchill (now in Manitoba ) and was put to work as a clerk/secretary, copying the personal papers of the governor of Fort Churchill, Samuel Hearne . The next year he was transferred to nearby York Factory , and over the next few years spent time as a secretary at Cumberland House , and South Branch House of

860-474: A strategic site, located at the junction of a variety of trails leading to vastly different regions. The fort became an important center for the procurement of horses, a base for expeditions far to the southeast, and a focal point for fur brigades preparing to journey through the Columbia River Gorge . The shipping of furs to Canton, China, was a financial failure for both the North West Company and, later,

946-648: A summary of his lifetime of exploring and surveying the interior of North America. The map covered the wide area stretching from Lake Superior to the Pacific, and was given by Thompson to the North West Company. Thompson's 1814 map, his greatest achievement, was so accurate that 100 years later it was still the basis for many of the maps issued by the Canadian government. It now resides in the Archives of Ontario . In 1815, Thompson moved his family to Williamstown, Upper Canada , and

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1032-633: A thirteen-year-old Métis daughter of Scottish fur trader Patrick Small and a Cree mother. Their marriage was formalised thirteen years later at the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Montreal on 30 October 1812 . He and Charlotte had 13 children together; five of them were born before he left the fur trade. The family did not adjust easily to life in Eastern Canada ; they lived in Montreal while he

1118-673: A trading post. (The English translation of Lac la Biche: Red Deer Lake, was first recorded on the Mackenzie map of 1793.) Thompson spent the next few seasons trading based in Fort George (now in Alberta), and during this time led several expeditions into the Rocky Mountains . On 10 July 1804, at the annual meeting of the North West Company in Kaministiquia , Thompson was made a full partner of

1204-403: A very powerful mind, and a singular faculty of picture-making. He can create a wilderness and people it with warring savages, or climb the Rocky Mountains with you in a snow-storm, so clearly and palpably, that only shut your eyes and you hear the crack of the rifle, or feel the snow-flakes melt on your cheeks as he talks. On 10 June 1799 at Île-à-la-Crosse , Thompson married Charlotte Small ,

1290-494: Is a monument dedicated to David Thompson (maintained by the state of North Dakota ) near the former town site of the ghost town Verendrye, North Dakota , located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north and 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Karlsruhe, North Dakota . Thompson Falls, Montana , and British Columbia's Thompson River and Thompson Falls on the Blaeberry River are also named after the explorer. The year 2007 marked

1376-463: Is referenced in the 1981 folk song "Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers . The national park service, Parks Canada , announced in 2018 that it had named its new research vessel RV  David Thompson , to be used for underwater archaeology, including sea floor mapping, and for marine science in the Pacific, Atlantic, Arctic Oceans, and the Great Lakes. It will be the main platform for research on

1462-658: Is the Lexington bridge, a two-lane bridge between the large unincorporated community of Lexington to Exit 42 on the east side of the bank. At Castle Rock , the A St. bridge provides access from downtown to the school and residential areas across the river. A few miles north, after the Toutle River split, the BNSF line crosses the river. Across the Lewis / Cowlitz County line, between the towns of Vader and Toledo, Washington , I-5 crosses

1548-650: The Cariboo Gold Rush area during the 1860s. As also had included Fort Langley since as early as 1827. With the creation of the Crown Colony on the British mainland north of the then- Washington Territory in 1858, Queen Victoria chose to use Columbia District as the basis for the name Colony of British Columbia , i.e. the remaining British portion of the former Columbia District. In their British Columbia Chronicle , historians Helen B. Akrigg and G.P.V. Akrigg coined

1634-511: The Fraser Canyon and the Lower Mainland . In 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company built Fort Vancouver on the lower Columbia River to serve as the headquarters of the entire Columbia Department, which was previously the role of Fort Astoria (renamed Fort George). The Hudson's Bay Company York Factory Express , overland route to Fort Vancouver, evolved from an earlier express brigade used by

1720-592: The Grey Coat Hospital , a school for the disadvantaged of Westminster. Thompson graduated to the Grey Coat mathematical school, well known for teaching navigation and surveying. He received an education for the Royal Navy: including mathematics of trigonometry and geometry, practical navigation including using of nautical instruments, finding latitudes and longitudes and making navigational calculations from observing

1806-613: The Jay Treaty of 1794 between Great Britain and the United States after the American Revolutionary War. By 1798 Thompson had completed a survey of 6,750 km (4,190 mi) from Grand Portage , through Lake Winnipeg , to the headwaters of the Assiniboine and Mississippi rivers, as well as two sides of Lake Superior . In 1798, the company sent him to Red Deer Lake ( Lac La Biche in present-day Alberta) to establish

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1892-535: The Kootenay River and Snake River countries. New Caledonia produced many furs, but its remoteness made it costly to operate. Nevertheless, the North West Company succeeded in creating a functional network oriented to the Pacific via the Columbia River. Another important legacy was the construction of Fort Nez Perces on the Columbia River near its confluence with the Snake River. Fort Nez Perces would long remain

1978-449: The North West Company between Fort Astoria (renamed Fort George) to Fort William on Lake Superior . By 1825 there were usually two brigades, each setting out in spring from opposite ends of the route, Fort Vancouver , and York Factory on Hudson Bay , and passing each other in the middle of the continent. Each brigade consisted of about forty to seventy five men and two to five specially made boats and traveled at breakneck speed (for

2064-571: The Oregon Territory . The administrative headquarters of fur operations, and of the Columbia Department, then shifted to Fort Victoria , which had been founded by James Douglas in 1843 as a fall back position in preparation for the "worst case" scenario settlement of the dispute, in the face of manifest destiny . By 1846, the Columbia District proper had been more than halved and the name had fallen into relative disuse, until revived when

2150-636: The Toutle River , which was overtaken by volcanic mudflows ( lahars ) during the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens . When the smelt spawn in the Cowlitz River, the gulls go into a feeding frenzy that lasts for weeks. Kelso, Washington is known as the "Smelt Capital of the World". The Cowlitz River has three major hydroelectric dams , with several small-scale hydropower and sediment retention structures within

2236-581: The Welshman , although he left his native hills when very young. I might have been spared this description of Mr David Thompson by saying he greatly resembled Curran the Irish Orator... I afterwards travelled much with him, and have now only to speak of him with great respect, or, I ought to say, with admiration... No living person possesses a tithe of his information respecting the Hudson's Bay countries... Never mind his Bunyan-like face and cropped hair; he has

2322-512: The Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site . The David Thompson Astronomical Observatory at Fort William Historical Park was named to commemorate David Thompson and his discoveries. Cowlitz River The Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States , a tributary of the Columbia River . Its tributaries drain a large region including

2408-525: The 150th year of Thompson's death and the 200th anniversary of his first crossing of the Rocky Mountains. Commemorative events and exhibits were planned across Canada and the United States from 2007 to 2011 as a celebration of his accomplishments. In 2007, a commemorative plaque was placed on a wall at the Grey Coat Hospital, the school for the disadvantaged of Westminster David Thompson attended as

2494-558: The 1890s geologist J.B. Tyrrell resurrected Thompson's notes and in 1916 published them as David Thompson's Narrative , as part of the General Series of the Champlain Society . Further editions and re-examinations of Thompson's life and works were published in 1962 by Richard Glover, in 1971 by Victor Hopwood, and in 2015 by William Moreau. Thompson's body was interred in Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery in an unmarked grave. It

2580-495: The 23-mile (37 km) long Riffe Lake (previously Davisson Reservoir). It is the highest dam in the Pacific Northwest. The dam is named for the nearby city of Mossyrock , and the lake for the town of Riffe, which, along with Kosmos, was destroyed by the flooding of the Cowlitz River valley above the dam. The Mayfield Dam is 850 feet (260 m) long and 185 feet (56 m) high. An 860-foot (260 m) tunnel connects

2666-510: The Americans temporarily dominated was the maritime fur trade along the coast. But the HBC successfully took over the coastal maritime trade during the 1830s through various means, such as constructing trading forts. The North West Company found the Native Americans of the Columbia region generally unwilling to work as fur trappers and hunters. The company depended upon native labor east of

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2752-494: The Astorians' Pacific Fur Company. A supply ship arrived each spring at Fort George (Astoria). Fur brigades from the interior of the Columbia and New Caledonia districts would converge on Fort George each spring. Furs were loaded on the ship and supplies carried back to the interior. The ship would then carry the furs to Canton , China, where furs would be exchanged for tea and other goods, which were then carried to Britain, completing

2838-580: The Columbia District HBC operations, and the other fort managers along the route. This continued until 1846. Between the acquisition of the North West Company in 1821 and the Oregon Treaty of 1846, the HBC greatly expanded the operations of the Columbia Department. The fur trade was extended to essentially every major river from the Yukon River in the north to the mouth of the Colorado River in

2924-646: The Cowlitz Basin. The Cowlitz Falls Project is a 70 megawatt hydroelectric dam built in the early 1990s and completed in 1994. The dam is 140 feet (43 m) high and 700 feet (210 m) wide. The Cowlitz Falls Project produces on average 260 GWh annually for Lewis County PUD . Its reservoir, Lake Scanewa , is located at the confluence of the Cowlitz and Cispus Rivers downstream of Randle . Mossyrock Dam began generating power for Tacoma City Light in 1968. It rises 605 feet (184 m) from bedrock and created

3010-653: The Cowlitz. Just upstream from its mouth at the Columbia river, a railroad bridge connecting the Port of Longview to the BNSF rail line crosses the Cowlitz, with a road bridge for SR 432 (Tennant Way) beside. Further upstream are the Allen St. and Cowlitz Way bridges, connecting West Kelso with the rest of Kelso . Just north of Kelso, a railroad bridge provides crossing for the Columbia & Cowlitz Railroad . Connecting SR 411 to Interstate-5

3096-427: The Hudson's Bay Company before being transferred to Manchester House in 1787 . During those years he learned to keep accounts and other records, calculate values of furs (it was noted that he also had several expensive beaver pelts at that time even when a secretary's job would not pay terribly well), track supplies and other duties. On 23 December 1788, Thompson seriously fractured his tibia , forcing him to spend

3182-581: The Hudson's Bay Company, in part due to the East India Company's monopoly on British trade in the Far East. The North West Company was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821. Operations west of the Rocky Mountains were reorganized and the fur districts of New Caledonia and Columbia were merged in 1827 under the name Columbia Department. The name New Caledonia continued to be used for the old northern district, and in time came to be used for areas such as

3268-462: The Iroquois and local natives. In addition the North West Company began to hire Native Hawaiians, known as Kanakas . This practice was continued and greatly expanded by the Hudson's Bay Company. The North West Company was unchallenged in the fur trade of the region from 1813 to 1821, when it was merged with the Hudson's Bay Company. During this period the company put into practice the system attempted by

3354-525: The Miss McGillivray's and a singular-looking person of about fifty. He was plainly dressed, quiet, and observant. His figure was short and compact, and his black hair was worn long all round, and cut square, as if by one stroke of the shears, just above the eyebrows. His complexion was of the gardener's ruddy brown, while the expression of his deeply-furrowed features was friendly and intelligent, but his cut-short nose gave him an odd look. His speech betrayed

3440-586: The NWC. HMS  Racoon arrived the following month and in honor of George III of the United Kingdom , Fort Astoria was renamed to Fort George . In 1815 the North West Company's business west of the Rocky Mountains was officially divided into two districts, the older New Caledonia District in the northern interior, and the Columbia District to the south. Also in 1815 the New Caledonia district began receiving

3526-441: The North West Company was based . In his published journals, Thompson recorded seeing large footprints (“which measured fourteen inches in length by eight inches in breadth”) near what is now Jasper, Alberta , in 1811. It has been suggested that these prints were similar to what has since been called the sasquatch . However, Thompson noted that these tracks showed "a small Nail at the end of each [toe]", which led him to surmise it

Columbia District - Misplaced Pages Continue

3612-475: The Pacific Ocean. In June 1807 Thompson crossed the Rocky Mountains and spent the summer surveying the Columbia basin ; he continued to survey the area over the next few seasons. Thompson mapped and established trading posts in Northwestern Montana , Idaho , Washington , and Western Canada . Trading posts he founded included Kootenae House , Kullyspell House and Saleesh House ; the latter two were

3698-401: The Rocky Mountains and found it difficult to operate without assistance in the west. For this reason the company began, in 1815, to bring groups of Iroquois , skilled at hunting and trapping, from the Montreal region to the Pacific Northwest. This practice soon became standard policy and was continued for many years by both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company and was essential for

3784-532: The abundant wildlife of the lake and surrounding area: the dam raised the water level by only a few feet. A serious side effect of the Mount St. Helens 1980 eruption has been the downstream movement of enormous amounts of sediment through the North Fork Toutle River . After the eruption, river-borne sediment increased over five thousand-fold, making the Toutle River one of the most sediment-laden rivers in

3870-406: The bulk of its annual supplies by sea from the lower Columbia River rather than overland from Fort William and Montreal . By 1820 the North West Company operated six posts on the lower Columbia River and its tributaries, including Fort George (Astoria), Fort Nez Percés , Fort Okanogan , Spokane House , Flathead Post , and Kootanae House . Under the North West Company the Columbia District

3956-422: The company men had previously sailed around Cape Horn on board Tonquin . During the War of 1812 , the Pacific Northwest was a distant region of the conflict. Prior to the war, both companies operated in the region peaceably with each other. News of a coming British warship put the American company into a difficult position. In October 1813, management met at Fort Astoria and agreed to liquidate its assets to

4042-400: The company. He became a 'wintering partner', who was based in the field rather than Montreal, and was granted two of the 92 NWC's shares worth more than £4,000. He spent the next few seasons based there managing the fur trading operations, but still finding time to expand his surveys of the waterways around Lake Superior . At the 1806 company meeting, officers decided to send Thompson back into

4128-460: The continent along the way. For this historic feat, Thompson has been described as the "greatest practical land geographer that the world has produced". David Thompson was born in Westminster , Middlesex, to recent Welsh migrants David and Ann Thompson. When Thompson was two, his father died. Due to his widowed mother not having financial resources, she placed Thompson, 29 April 1777, the day before his seventh birthday, and his older brother in

4214-434: The continent). His contemporary, the great explorer Alexander Mackenzie , remarked that Thompson did more in ten months than he would have thought possible in two years. Despite these significant achievements, Thompson died in Montreal in near obscurity on 10 February 1857, his accomplishments almost unrecognised. He never finished the book of his 28 years in the fur trade, based on his 77 field notebooks, before he died. In

4300-403: The extension of the fur trade into much of the Columbia basin. The Iroquois were intended not only to support company personnel but, it was hoped, teach local natives the skills of hunting and trapping, and convince them to take up the work. This effort was largely unsuccessful. The reason generally given for the unwillingness of the natives to take up trapping and hunting was that their way of life

4386-403: The first trading posts west of the Rockies in Idaho and Montana, respectively. These posts established by Thompson extended North West Company fur trading territory into the Columbia Basin drainage area. The maps he made of the Columbia River basin east of the Cascade Mountains were of such high quality and detail that they continued to be useful into the 20th-century . In early 1810, Thompson

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4472-527: The fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail as they could get supplies before starting their homestead. By 1843 the Hudson's Bay Company operated numerous posts in the Columbia Department, including Fort Vancouver, Fort George (Astoria), Fort Nisqually , Fort Umpqua , Fort Langley , Fort Colville , Fort Okanogan , Fort Kamloops , Fort Alexandria , Flathead Post , Kootanae House , Fort Boise , Fort Hall , Fort Simpson , Fort Taku , Fort McLoughlin (in Milbanke Sound ), Fort Stikine , as well as

4558-407: The fur trade, he left . He walked 130 kilometres (80 mi) in the snow in order to enter the employ of the competition, the North West Company . There he continued to work as a fur trader and surveyor . Thompson's decision to defect to the North West Company (NWC) in 1797 without providing the customary one-year notice was not well received by his former employers. But the North West Company

4644-409: The head of Riffe Lake, the 27 Road provides access to the forestland south of the Cowlitz from Morton and Glenoma to the north. At Randle , SR 131 crosses the Cowlitz to provide access to the Cispus basin and the northern areas of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument . Between Randle and Packwood, Highway 12 crosses the Cowlitz at the Cora bridge. At Packwood, Skate Creek Road spans

4730-404: The interior. Concern over the United States-backed expedition of Lewis and Clark prompted the North West Company to charge Thompson with the task of finding a route to the Pacific to open up the lucrative trading territories of the Pacific Northwest . After the general meeting in 1806, Thompson travelled to Rocky Mountain House and prepared for an expedition to follow the Columbia River to

4816-432: The lands they traverse. In 1820, the English geologist, John Jeremiah Bigsby , attended a dinner party given by The Hon. William McGillivray at his home, Chateau St. Antoine, one of the early estates in Montreal 's Golden Square Mile . He describes the party and some of the guests in his entertaining book The Shoe and Canoe , giving an excellent description of David Thompson: I was well placed at table between one of

4902-440: The longitude of Cumberland House using lunar distances . The mean of these observations was 102°12′ W, about 2' east of the modern value. The mean error of the 34 observations was about 15' of longitude. Broughton (2009) notes that the precision of the type of sextant used by Thompson was 15" of arc, corresponding to 7.5' of longitude giving an absolute limit to the precision of an individual observation. The error in Thompson's mean

4988-523: The mouth of the Columbia, arriving two months after the Pacific Fur Company 's ship, the Tonquin . Before returning upriver and across the mountains, Thompson hired Naukane , a Native Hawaiian Takane labourer brought to Fort Astoria by the Pacific Fur Company's ship Tonquin . Naukane, known as Coxe to Thompson, accompanied Thompson across the continent to Lake Superior before journeying on to England. Thompson wintered at Saleesh House before beginning his final journey in 1812 back to Montreal, where

5074-449: The new Mainland Colony needed a name. The uncharted territory of the remainder of the Columbia District, including the remainder of the British coast north of Puget Sound , as far north as at least Queen Charlotte Strait ( Fort Simpson and Fort McLoughlin were administered from Fort St. James , the capital of New Caledonia ). After 1846 New Caledonia informally referred to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush region in 1848 and farther north

5160-412: The next two winters at Cumberland House convalescing. It was during this time that he greatly refined and expanded his mathematical, astronomical, and surveying skills under the tutelage of Hudson's Bay Company surveyor Philip Turnor . It was also during this time that he lost sight in his right eye. In 1790, with his apprenticeship nearing its end, Thompson requested a set of surveying tools in place of

5246-421: The reservoir to the powerhouse. The dam began producing electricity in 1963. Mayfield Lake offers many recreational opportunities: there are several county and state parks and the lake is below the Mossyrock Dam. The modulated inflow from the Mossyrock Dam allows Mayfield Lake to maintain a water level that rarely fluctuates more than a few feet. It is located several miles downstream of Mossyrock. Packwood Lake

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5332-401: The river, providing access to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Tatoosh Wilderness , as well as connecting the downtown and residential areas of Packwood. Upstream from Packwood, the Cowlitz splits into the Muddy and Clear Forks, with several Forest Service and Park Service roads crossing each. When the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery began operation in 1968, it was the largest of its kind in

5418-463: The river. At Toledo, SR-505 crosses the river as well. Where Highway 12 crosses Mayfield Lake, just west of Mossyrock, causeways were built out to the middle of the lake, where a short bridge section connects the two sides. A small bridge provides a crossing for SR 122 at the head of Mayfield Lake. Just east of Mossyrock, the Cowlitz River Bridge on Highway 12 was the largest concrete arch bridge in North America until 1971 at 550 feet (170 m). At

5504-409: The slopes of Mount Rainier , Mount Adams , and Mount St. Helens . The Cowlitz has a 2,586-square-mile (6,698 km ) drainage basin , located between the Cascade Range in eastern Lewis County, Washington and the cities of Kelso and Longview . The river is roughly 105 miles (169 km) long, not counting tributaries. Major tributaries of the Cowlitz River include the Cispus River and

5590-682: The south, and east to the headwaters of the Missouri River tributaries. American fur trade competition was effectively blocked through various strategies, including selectively overhunting frontier regions to create "fur deserts", and the construction of forts on the Pacific Northwest coast to intercept furs before American ships could acquire them. The HBC also diversified their economic activity and began exporting agricultural foodstuffs, salmon, lumber, and other products. Russian Alaska , Hawaii , and Mexican California were developed as markets for these exports. The HBC opened agencies in Sitka , Honolulu , and Yerba Buena ( San Francisco ) to facilitate

5676-417: The sun, moon and tide, and drawing maps and charts, taking land measurements, and sketching landscapes. He later built on these skills to make his career. In 1784, when Thompson was 14, the Grey Coat treasurer paid the Hudson's Bay Company the sum of five pounds, upon which the youth became an apprentice employee of the company, contracted for a period of seven years to be trained as a clerk. He set sail on

5762-476: The supply ships with the furs from Fort Vancouver often being shipped to China where they were traded for Chinese goods before returning to England . The furs from York factory being sold in London in an annual fur sale. The brigades carried supplies in and furs out by boat, horseback and as back packs for the forts and trading posts along the route. They also carried status reports for supplies needed, furs traded etc. from Dr. John McLoughlin , Chief Factor of

5848-546: The term "Southern Columbia" for the "lost" area south of the 49th Parallel, but this has never come into common use, even by other historians. David Thompson (explorer) David Thompson (30 April 1770 – 10 February 1857) was an Anglo-Canadian fur trader , surveyor , and cartographer , known to some native people as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer". Over Thompson's career, he travelled 90,000 kilometres (56,000 mi) across North America , mapping 4.9 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) of

5934-669: The time). Indians along the way were often paid in trade goods to help them portage around falls and unnavigable rapids. An 1839 report cites the travel time as three months and ten days—almost 26 miles (40 km) per day on average. This established a 'quick' (about 100 days for 2600 miles (4200 km)) way to resupply their forts and fur trading centers as well as transmitting messages between Fort Vancouver and York Factory on Hudson Bay. The supplies were brought into Fort Vancouver and York Factory by ship every year (they tried to maintain one years extra supplies to avoid disastrous ship wrecks etc.). The furs they had traded were shipped back on

6020-478: The trade. Fort Vancouver was the nexus for the fur trade on the Pacific Coast; its influence reached from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands, and from Alaska into Mexican-controlled California. At its pinnacle, Fort Vancouver watched over 34 outposts, 24 ports, six ships, and 600 employees. The employment of Hawaiian Kanakas was gradually expanded until at least 207 in the Columbia Department by 1845, with 119 located at Fort Vancouver. Also, for many settlers

6106-403: The typical parting gift of fine clothes offered by the company to those completing their indenture. He received both . He entered the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trader . In 1792 he completed his first significant survey, mapping a route to Lake Athabasca (where today's Alberta / Saskatchewan border is located). Between February and May 1793, Thompson made 34 observations of

6192-519: The villages along the way to establish good relations, helped by copious quantities of tobacco. In 1805 Lewis and Clark had descended the Snake River, and continued down the Columbia. On reaching the junction Thompson erected a pole and a notice claiming the country for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site. This notice was found later that year by Astor company workers looking to establish an inland fur post, contributing to their selection of

6278-435: The world. The Toutle River Sediment Retention Structure was constructed to trap this sediment before it was carried farther downstream, where it could clog the river channel, exacerbate floods along the lower Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers, and fill the Columbia River shipping channel, which still requires periodic dredging. An overflow channel has been added to divert lahars around the dam. Numerous road and rail bridges span

6364-506: The world. Currently, it produces nearly 13 million fish each year. Adjacent is the barrier dam, which diverts spawning and upriver migrating fish to a separating station where fish are sorted by species. Some of the fish are used by the hatchery while others are transported upstream to continue migration. The Bonneville Power Administration , in cooperation with the Lewis County PUD, state and federal agencies and Tacoma Power, constructed

6450-452: Was a bear, but he had doubts, saying, "I held it to be the track of a large old grizzled bear; yet the shortness of the nails, the ball of the foot, and its great size was not that of a Bear". The years 1807-1812 are the most carefully scrutinized in his career and comprise his most enduring historical legacy, due to his development of the commercial routes across the Rockies, and his mapping of

6536-584: Was bounded, roughly, by the southern edge of the Thompson River on the north, and by the southern and eastern limits of the Columbia River basin. North and west of the Thompson was the New Caledonia fur district, in what is now north-central British Columbia . The Thompson River region was its own fur district, centered on a fur trading post that later became the city of Kamloops . The Thompson River District

6622-484: Was dammed in 1964 by the Washington Public Power Supply System (now called Energy Northwest). The dam holds back the lake (previously held back by an ancient landslide), redirecting streamflow to a 27 megawatt hydroelectric generator in the Cowlitz River valley floor 2,000 feet (600 m) below just outside the town of Packwood . When designing and building the dam, care was taken so as not to affect

6708-584: Was delayed by an angry group of Peigan natives at Howse Pass . He was ultimately forced to seek a new route across the Rocky Mountains and found one through the Athabasca Pass . David Thompson was the first European to navigate the full length of the Columbia River . Between Kettle Falls (3 July 1811) and the Junction of the Columbia and Snake Rivers (9 July), he was travelling through country that had never been visited by Europeans, and took time to visit

6794-641: Was highly focused on salmon and fishing, and that the abundance of salmon resulted in little incentive for taking up hunting and trapping. Instead of cooperation there were altercations between the Iroquois and local natives. In 1816 parties of the North West Company, including a number of Iroquois, explored the Cowlitz River valley and the Willamette Valley , reaching as far south as the Umpqua River . Both exploring expeditions ended with violent clashes between

6880-512: Was more supportive of Thompson pursuing his work on surveying and mapping the interior of what was to become Canada, as they judged it in the company's interest to know the exact locations of their settlements and the distances between them. In 1797, Thompson was sent south by his employers to survey part of the Canada-US boundary along the water routes from Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods to satisfy unresolved questions of territory arising from

6966-629: Was not until 1926 that efforts by J.B. Tyrrell and the Canadian Historical Society resulted in the placing of a tombstone to mark his grave. The next year, Thompson was named a National Historic Person by the federal government, one of the earliest such designations. A federal plaque reflecting that status is at Jasper National Park , Alberta. Meantime, Thompson's achievements are central reasons for other national historic designations: In 1957, one hundred years after his death, Canada's post office department honoured him with his image on

7052-586: Was returning eastward toward Montreal but, while en route at Rainy Lake , received orders to return to the Rocky Mountains and establish a route to the mouth of the Columbia. The North West Company was responding to the plans of American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor to send a ship around the Americas to establish a fur trading post of the Pacific Fur Company on the Pacific Coast. During his return, Thompson

7138-403: Was several times less than this. The time he took on these observations, about 3 hours of calculation each, indicates that he understood the power of averages. In recognition of his map-making and surveying skills, the company promoted Thompson to the surveyor in 1794. He continued working for the Hudson's Bay Company until 23 May 1797 when, frustrated by an order to cease surveying and focus on

7224-613: Was so deeply in debt he was forced to take up a position as a surveyor for the British American Land Company to provide for his family. His luck continued to worsen and he was forced to move in with his daughter and son-in-law in 1845. He began work on a manuscript chronicling his life exploring the continent, but this project was left unfinished when his sight failed him completely in 1851. The land mass mapped by Thompson amounted to 3.9 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) of wilderness (one-fifth of

7310-532: Was the link between the Columbia and New Caledonia Districts. In the Treaty of 1818 between the U.S. and Britain, the two powers agreed that each had free and open access to the Oregon Country . This " joint occupation " continued until the Oregon Treaty of 1846, yet American attempts to conduct commercial operations in the region failed in the face of competition by the Hudson's Bay Company. The only sphere in which

7396-472: Was travelling. Two of the children, John (aged 5) and Emma (aged 7), died of round worms , a common parasite. By the time of Thompson's death, the couple had been married 57 years, the longest marriage known in Canada pre- Confederation . Upon his arrival back in Montreal, Thompson retired with a generous pension from the North West Company. He settled in nearby Terrebonne and worked on completing his great map,

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