DAVID THOMPSON. 155 



Lat. 46« 36' 13", Long. 118* 50', where he was on Aug. 8th and 9th. 

 Here he says, " we laid up our canoes," and he must then have crossed 

 by land to Spokane House, where he was fi'om Aug, 12th to 15th. 

 The trail that he probably took was not far from the present line of 

 the Northern Pacific Railway. From Spokane House he followed 

 the Spokane River to its mouth, after which he ascended the Colum- 

 bia to Boat Encampment, at the mouth of the Canoe River, and thus 

 completed the survey of the stream from its source to its mouth. On 

 October 4th he was at " M.Y. Wm. Henry's Campment," at the head- 

 waters of the Athabasca River in Lat. 52^ 53', Long. 118'^ 35'. 



From this date till the beginning of the following May all that we 

 know of his whereabouts from his notes is that he records two obser- 

 vations for longitude at Ilthkoyape Falls on April 21st, 1812, so that 

 it appears not impossible that he wintered either at that or at Spok- 

 ane House. 



On the 6th of May of this yeai- he set out on foot from Boat En- 

 campment on the Columbia River, and travelling eastward by the 

 Athabasca Pass crossed the height of land on May 8th, and on the 

 11th reached the house of Mr. Wm. Henry on the Athabasca River, 

 in Lat. 5^'' 55' 16". On the 13th he started down the river from 

 here in a canoe, making his last survey in the North West Territories. 

 On the 20th he reached the mouth of Lesser Slave River, up which 

 he pushed to the house at its head. Descending the river again he 

 left its mouth on May 24th, and on the following day reached the 

 Red Deer or La Biche River,, which he ascended, reaching Red Deer 

 Lake or Lac la Biche on May 27th. Crossing the portage from this 

 lake he descended the Beaver River at least as far as Lat. 54*^ 22' 14", 

 Long. 110" 17', where the survey that we have been following is 

 broken off. It is not certain by what course he travelled to Cumber- 

 land House, but below this he doubtless followed on the ordinary 

 trade route to Lake Superior. On August 12th he left Fort 

 William and resurveyed the northern shore of Lake Superior to 

 Sault Ste. Marie where he arrived on the 24th of the same 

 month. Before October 20th he had arrived at Terrebonne, 

 in Lower Canada, where he took up his residence, and the two 

 following years were spent in preparing a map of Western Canada 

 for the North West Company, on a scale of about fifteen miles 



