EXPEDITIONS TO PACIFIC. 109 



travelled eastward with the furs he had obtained in trade to Raiuy Lake House, whieh 

 he reached on August 2ud. Mueh sutferiug was experienced by his party on this 

 expedition. 



On August 4th, he again started for the west and arrived at the Columbia on 

 October 3rd. In his notes he speaks of the Rapid River, now known as the Kickiug- 

 horse River. He continued at Fort Kooteuay, trading with the Indians and making 

 explorations in the neighbourhood. There is some confusion in the account of Thomxison's 

 travels, but it is clear that for several successive 3'ears he crossed the mountains many 

 times by A'arious routes. It would appear that late in the autumn of 1810, he ascended 

 Athabasca River to its source, and crossed the mountains by what is now known as 

 the Athabasca pass to the Columl)ia, where he arrived early in January. He spent the 

 remainder of the winter at the mouth of Canoe River, and in the sprina' of 1811 he left 

 for the mouth of the Columbia. But he did not follow the stream on this occasion; he 

 ascended the Columbia to its source, crossed McGillivray Portage, and descended Koo- 

 teuay River, thence by Pend d'Oreille and Spokane Rivers. On June 19th he reached 

 the falls of the Columbia known by the Indians as Ilth-koy-Ape (Fort Colville), and 

 thence followed the main river to the Pacific coast, where he arrived on July 15th, 

 1811. He was kindly received by the officers of the Pacific Fur Company, who had 

 arrived a few weeks earlier and were then establishing Fort Astoria. Mr. Thompson 

 remained here a few days and returned as he came to Fort Colville, thence by Arrow 

 Lakes and the Columbia to the mouth of Canoe River, whence he had started a few 

 months previously to ascend the stream. Mr. Thompson was thus the first civilized 

 man to traverse the main stream of the Columbia, certainly that portion of it above Fort 

 Colville, to its source. 



In 1199, Mr. Thompson married Miss Charlotte Small, aged 15. The ceremony took 

 place at He à la Croix, Buffalo Lake. He lived to be eighty-seven, dying at Lougueuil, 

 opposite Montreal, on February IGth, 1857, it is sad to write, in extreme poverty. His 

 widow followed him to the grave in a few weeks. Bancroft s.iys of David Thompson : 

 "No man performed more A^aluable services or estimated his achievements more 

 modestly." He was well educated ; and his meteorological and astronomical observa- 

 tions to this day command respect. His map of the Northwest Territories, 1*792-1812, 

 " embraces the region between latitudes 45° and 56^ and longitiides 84" and 124"," and 

 was made for the North-West Company in 1813-1814. It is in the possession of the 

 Crown Laud Department of Ontario.' 



(4) Journeys of Mr Alexander Henry, 1811-1814. 



Alexander Henry started from Montreal in July, 1799, by the river Ottawa. He 

 followed the ordinary route cm Lake Nipissiiig, French River, and Sault St. Mary to 

 Lake Superior, and the canoe route to Lake "Winnipeg. Engaged as a fur trader he spent 



' Some of tlie facts above given are from MSS., now in tlie possession of Mr. Cliarles Lindsey of Toronto, 

 giving an account of Mr. Thompson's travels. It is well worthy of publication. An outline of some of the 

 journeys of Mr. Thompson was submitted to the Canadian Institute, Toronto, by Mr. J. B. Tyrell, March 3, 1888. 

 Three daughters of David Thompson survive : Mrs. G. E. Sliaw, of Peterborougli, Ont., Mrs. K. Scott, Evansville, 

 Indiana, and Miss Thompson, Ivanhoe, Ohio. 



