1811.] DAVID THOMPSON VISITS ASTORIA. 297 



parts of the river, who gave skins, fish, and game, in exchange for 

 manufactured articles ; and every thing, in fine, seemed to promise 

 success to the enterprise. 



While the Astorians were thus engaged, they were unexpectedly 

 visited, on the 15th of July, by a party of the North-West Company's 

 men, under the direction of Mr. David Thompson, the surveyor or 

 astronomer of that body. These men had been despatched from 

 Canada in the preceding year, with the object of forestalling the 

 Americans in the occupation of the mouth of the Columbia, which 

 they hoped to effect before the end of that season : but they were 

 so long delayed in seeking a passage through the Rocky Mountains, 

 that they were obliged to winter in that ridge, near the northernmost 

 sources of the Columbia, under the 52d parallel of latitude ; whence 

 they hastened down the river in the spring of 1811, building huts 

 and erecting flags at various places, by way of taking possession of 

 the country. They were received at the fort not as rivals, but as 

 friends ; and were treated with the utmost respect and hospitality, 

 during their stay, by their old companion, the superintendent, 

 Macdougal, who, moreover, furnished them with provisions, and 

 even with goods, for trading on their departure up the river. 



Mr. Thompson and his followers in this expedition were, from 

 all the accounts as yet made public, the first white persons who 

 navigated the northern branch of the Columbia, or traversed any 

 part of the country drained by it. The British commissioners, in the 

 negotiation with the American plenipotentiary at London, in 1826, 

 nevertheless, attempted to place Mr. Thompson's expedition on 

 an equality, not only as to extent of discovery, but also as to date, 

 with that of Lewis and Clarke ; and to represent the establishments 

 which he is said to have founded on his way down the Columbia as 

 prior to those formed by the Pacific Company. In their statement 

 of the claims of Great Britain to territories west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, they say* — "The United States further pretend that their 

 claim to the country in question is strengthened and confirmed by 

 the discovery of the sources of the Columbia, and by the exploration 

 of its course to the sea by Lewis and Clarke, in 1805-6. In reply 

 to this allegation, Great Britain affirms, and can distinctly prove, 

 that, if not before, at least in the same and subsequent years, her 

 North- West Trading Company had, by means of their agent, Mr. 

 Thompson, already established their posts among the Flat-head and 



* See the British statement, among the Proofs and Illustrations, in the latter part 

 of this volume, under the letter H. 



38 



