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David Thompson (explorer)
Encyclopedia
David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer". Over his career he mapped over 3.9 million square kilometers of North America and for this has been described as the "greatest land geographer who ever lived."
to recent Welsh
migrants, David and Ann Thompson. When Thompson was two, his father died and the financial hardship of this occurrence resulted in his and his brother's placement in the Grey Coat Hospital
, a school for the disadvantaged of Westminster. He eventually graduated to the Grey Coat mathematical school and was introduced to basic navigation skills which would form the basis of his future career. In 1784, at the age of 14, he entered a seven-year apprenticeship with the Hudson's Bay Company
. He set sail on May 28 of that year, and left England forever.
(now in Manitoba
) and was put to work 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 clerk at Cumberland House and South Branch House before arriving at Manchester House in 1787. On December 23, 1788, Thompson seriously fractured his leg, forcing him to spend the next two winters at Cumberland House convalescing. It was during this time 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 made the unusual request of a set of surveying tools in place of the typical parting gift of fine clothes offered by the company to those completing their indenture. He received both. He then entered the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trader and in 1792 completed his first significant survey, mapping a route to Lake Athabasca
(presently straddling the Alberta
/Saskatchewan
border). In recognition of his map-making skills, the company promoted him to surveyor in 1794. Thompson continued working for the Hudson's Bay Company until May 23, 1797 when, frustrated with the Hudson's Bay Company's policies, he left and walked 80 miles in the snow to enter the employ of the competition, the North West Company
where he continued to work as a fur trader and surveyor.
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Thompson's decision to defect to the North West Company
in 1797 without providing the customary one-year notice was not well received by his former employers. However, joining the North West Company allowed Thompson to pursue his interest in surveying and work on mapping the interior of what was to become Canada. In 1797, Thompson was sent south by his employers to survey part of Canada-U.S. boundary along the water routes from Lake Superior
to Lake of the Woods
to satisfy unresolved questions of territory arising from the Jay Treaty
between Great Britain
and the United States
. By 1798 Thompson had completed a survey of 6750 km (4,194.3 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 (in present-day Alberta
) to establish a trading post. 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
.
In 1804, at the annual meeting of the North West Company in Kaministiquia
, Thompson was made a full partner of the company and 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
. However, a decision was made at the 1806 company meeting to send Thompson back out into the interior. Concern over the American
-backed expedition of Lewis and Clark
prompted the North West Company to charge Thompson with the task of finding a route to the Pacific in order to open up the lucrative trading territories of the Pacific Northwest
.
to the Pacific. In June 1807 Thompson crossed the Rocky Mountains and spent the summer surveying the Columbia basin and continuing to survey the area over the next few seasons. Thompson mapped and established trading posts in Northwestern Montana
, Idaho
, Washington, and Western Canada; including Kootenae House and Saleesh House
; the first trading post west of the Rockies in Montana extending North West Company fur trading territories. 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 regarded as authoritative well into the mid-20th century. in fact, Thompson’s drawings of the upper portion of the Missouri River were incorporated into a map for the Lewis and Clark expedition that followed seven years later.
In early 1810, Thompson was returning eastward towards Montreal
but while on route at Rainy Lake
, received orders to return to the Rocky Mountains and establish a route to the mouth of the Columbia. This was a response by the North West Company to the plans of John Jacob Astor
to send a ship around the Americas to establish a fur trading post. During his return, Thompson was delayed by an angry group of Peigan
natives which ultimately forced him to seek a new route across the Rocky Mountains through the Athabasca Pass
.
David Thompson was the first European to navigate the full length of the Columbia River. During Thompson's 1811 voyage down the Columbia River he camped at the junction with the Snake River
on July 9, 1811, and 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 Astorians looking to establish an inland fur post, contributing to their selection of a more northerly site at Fort Okanogan
. The North West Company's Fort Nez Percés
was established near the Snake River junction several years later. Continuing down the Columbia, Thompson passed the barrier of The Dalles
with much less difficulty than experienced by Lewis and Clark
, as high water obscured Celilo Falls
and many of the rapids. On July 14, 1811, Thompson reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria
at 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
laborer 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 back to Montreal in 1812.
In his published journals, Thompson recorded seeing large footprints 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]", and stated that these tracks "very much resembles a large Bear's Track".
on June 10, 1799 at Île-à-la-Crosse, a mixed-blood child of a Scottish fur trader and a Cree
mother. Their marriage was formalized at the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Montreal
on October 30, 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 and two of the children, John (aged 5) and Emma (aged 7) died of round worms, a common parasite. Their marriage lasted 58 years, the longest Canadian pre-Confederation marriage known.
, Thompson retired with a generous pension from the North West Company
. He settled in nearby Terrebonne
and worked on completing his great map, 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 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 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 this 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 of wilderness (one-fifth of 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 February 10, 1857, his accomplishments almost unrecognized. He never finished the book of his 28 years in the fur trade, based on his 77 field notebooks, before he died. In the 1890s geologist J.B. Tyrrell
resurrected Thompson's notes and in 1916 published them as David Thompson's Narrative.
Thompson's body was interred in Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery
in an unmarked grave. It was not until 1926 that efforts by J.B. Tyrell
and the Canadian Historical Society resulted in the placing of a tombstone to mark his grave.
In 1957, one hundred years after his death, the Canadian government honoured him with his image on a Canadian postage stamp. The David Thompson Highway in Alberta
was named in his honour, along with David Thompson High School situated on the side of the highway near Leslieville, Alberta
. His prowess as a geographer is now well-recognized. He has been called "the greatest land geographer who ever lived."
There 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 two miles north and one mile west of Karlsruhe, North Dakota
. Thompson Falls, Montana
and British Columbia's Thompson River
are also named after the explorer.
The year 2007 marked the 150th year of Thompson's death and the 200th anniversary of his first crossing of the Rocky Mountains. Commemorative events and exhibits are planned across Canada and the United States from 2007 to 2011 as a celebration of his accomplishments.
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.
Early life
Thompson was born in WestminsterWestminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
to recent Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
migrants, David and Ann Thompson. When Thompson was two, his father died and the financial hardship of this occurrence resulted in his and his brother's placement in the Grey Coat Hospital
Grey Coat Hospital
The Grey Coat Hospital is a Church of England comprehensive secondary school for girls in Westminster, London, England.-History:The school was founded on St. Andrew's Day in 1698. Eight members of the congregation of St. Margaret's, Westminster donated towards the founding of the school, initially...
, a school for the disadvantaged of Westminster. He eventually graduated to the Grey Coat mathematical school and was introduced to basic navigation skills which would form the basis of his future career. In 1784, at the age of 14, he entered a seven-year apprenticeship with the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
. He set sail on May 28 of that year, and left England forever.
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)
He arrived in ChurchillChurchill, Manitoba
Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World" that has helped its growing tourism industry.-History:A variety of nomadic...
(now in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
) and was put to work copying the personal papers of the governor of Fort Churchill, Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne
Samuel Hearne was a an English explorer, fur-trader, author, and naturalist. He was the first European to make an overland excursion across northern Canada to the Arctic Ocean, actually Coronation Gulf, via the Coppermine River...
. The next year he was transferred to nearby York Factory
York Factory, Manitoba
York Factory was a settlement and factory located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. The settlement was headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, from 1821 to...
, and over the next few years spent time as a clerk at Cumberland House and South Branch House before arriving at Manchester House in 1787. On December 23, 1788, Thompson seriously fractured his leg, forcing him to spend the next two winters at Cumberland House convalescing. It was during this time he greatly refined and expanded his mathematical, astronomical and surveying skills under the tutelage of Hudson's Bay Company surveyor Philip Turnor
Philip Turnor
Philip Turnor was a surveyor and cartographer for the Hudson's Bay Company.Turnor hired on for three years as an inland surveyor with the HBC and landed at York Factory in August, 1778...
. It was also during this time that he lost sight in his right eye
In 1790 with his apprenticeship nearing its end, Thompson made the unusual request of a set of surveying tools in place of the typical parting gift of fine clothes offered by the company to those completing their indenture. He received both. He then entered the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trader and in 1792 completed his first significant survey, mapping a route to Lake Athabasca
Lake Athabasca
Lake Athabasca is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N.-History:The name in the Dene language originally referred only to the large delta formed by the confluence the Athabasca River at the southwest corner of the lake...
(presently straddling the Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
/Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
border). In recognition of his map-making skills, the company promoted him to surveyor in 1794. Thompson continued working for the Hudson's Bay Company until May 23, 1797 when, frustrated with the Hudson's Bay Company's policies, he left and walked 80 miles in the snow to enter the employ of the competition, the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
where he continued to work as a fur trader and surveyor.
North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
in 1797 without providing the customary one-year notice was not well received by his former employers. However, joining the North West Company allowed Thompson to pursue his interest in surveying and work on mapping the interior of what was to become Canada. In 1797, Thompson was sent south by his employers to survey part of Canada-U.S. boundary along the water routes from Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
to Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. It separates a small land area of Minnesota from the rest of the United States. The Northwest Angle and the town of Angle Township can only be reached from the rest of...
to satisfy unresolved questions of territory arising from the Jay Treaty
Jay Treaty
Jay's Treaty, , also known as Jay's Treaty, The British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolution,, and...
between Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. By 1798 Thompson had completed a survey of 6750 km (4,194.3 mi) from Grand Portage, through Lake Winnipeg, to the headwaters of the Assiniboine
Assiniboine River
The Assiniboine River is a river that runs through the prairies of Western Canada in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is a tributary of the Red River. The Assiniboine is a typical meandering river with a single main channel embanked within a flat, shallow valley in some places and a steep valley in...
and Mississippi
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
Rivers, as well as two sides of Lake Superior. In 1798, the company sent him to Red Deer Lake (in present-day Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
) to establish a trading post. 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
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
.
In 1804, at the annual meeting of the North West Company in Kaministiquia
Fort Kaministiquia
Fort Camanistigoyan, now standardized as Fort Kaministiquia, located at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River on Lake Superior in what is now northwestern Ontario, Canada, was established in 1717 by Zacharie Robutel de la Noue following the restoration of the system of trading permits by...
, Thompson was made a full partner of the company and 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
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
. However, a decision was made at the 1806 company meeting to send Thompson back out into the interior. Concern over the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-backed expedition of Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
prompted the North West Company to charge Thompson with the task of finding a route to the Pacific in order to open up the lucrative trading territories of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
.
Columbia travels
After the general meeting in 1806, Thompson travelled to Rocky Mountain House and prepared for an expedition to follow the Columbia RiverColumbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
to the Pacific. In June 1807 Thompson crossed the Rocky Mountains and spent the summer surveying the Columbia basin and continuing to survey the area over the next few seasons. Thompson mapped and established trading posts in Northwestern Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Washington, and Western Canada; including Kootenae House and Saleesh House
Saleesh House
Saleesh House, also known as Flathead Post, was a North West Company fur trading post built near present-day Thompson Falls, Montana in 1809 by David Thompson and James McMillan of the North West Company. It became a Hudson's Bay Company post after that company absorbed the North West Company....
; the first trading post west of the Rockies in Montana extending North West Company fur trading territories. 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 regarded as authoritative well into the mid-20th century. in fact, Thompson’s drawings of the upper portion of the Missouri River were incorporated into a map for the Lewis and Clark expedition that followed seven years later.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
but while on route at Rainy Lake
Rainy Lake
Rainy Lake is a relatively large freshwater lake that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake and is harnessed to make hydroelectricity for US and Canadian locations. The U.S...
, received orders to return to the Rocky Mountains and establish a route to the mouth of the Columbia. This was a response by the North West Company to the plans of John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor , born Johann Jakob Astor, was a German-American business magnate and investor who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States...
to send a ship around the Americas to establish a fur trading post. During his return, Thompson was delayed by an angry group of Peigan
Peigan
Peigan refers to two Native tribes in the Blackfoot Confederacy:* Northern Peigan, in Alberta, Canada* Piegan Blackfeet in Montana, USA...
natives which ultimately forced him to seek a new route across the Rocky Mountains through the Athabasca Pass
Athabasca Pass
Athabasca Pass is a high mountain pass in the Canadian Rockies. It is the headwaters of the Whirlpool River, a tributary of the Athabasca River.The pass lies between Mount Brown and McGillivray Ridge...
.
David Thompson was the first European to navigate the full length of the Columbia River. During Thompson's 1811 voyage down the Columbia River he camped at the junction with the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
on July 9, 1811, and 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 Astorians looking to establish an inland fur post, contributing to their selection of a more northerly site at Fort Okanogan
Fort Okanogan
Fort Okanogan was founded as a fur trade outpost by John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company in 1811. It was built at the confluence of the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers, in what is now Okanogan County, Washington...
. The North West Company's Fort Nez Percés
Fort Nez Percés
Fort Nez Percés, sometimes also spelled Fort Nez Percé , named after the Nez Perce people and later known as Fort Walla Walla, was a fortified British fur trading post on the Columbia River on the territory of modern-day Wallula, Washington...
was established near the Snake River junction several years later. Continuing down the Columbia, Thompson passed the barrier of The Dalles
The Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is...
with much less difficulty than experienced by Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
, as high water obscured Celilo Falls
Celilo Falls
Celilo Falls was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington...
and many of the rapids. On July 14, 1811, Thompson reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria was the Pacific Fur Company's primary fur trading post in the Northwest, and was the first American-owned settlement on the Pacific coast. After a short two-year term of US ownership, the British owned and operated it for 33 years. It was the first British port on the Pacific coast...
at the mouth of the Columbia, arriving two months after the Pacific Fur Company
Pacific Fur Company
The Pacific Fur Company was founded June 23, 1810, in New York City. Half of the stock of the company was held by the American Fur Company, owned exclusively by John Jacob Astor, and Astor provided all of the capital for the enterprise. The other half of the stock was ascribed to working partners...
's ship, the Tonquin
Tonquin
The Tonquin was an American merchant ship involved with the Maritime Fur Trade of the early 19th Century. The ship was used by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company to establish fur trading outposts on the Northwest Coast of North America, including Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River...
.
Before returning upriver and across the mountains, Thompson hired Naukane
Naukane
Naukane , also known as John Coxe, Edward Cox, and Coxe was a Native Hawaiian chief who traveled widely through North America in the early 19th century...
, a Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians
Native Hawaiians refers to the indigenous Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands or their descendants. Native Hawaiians trace their ancestry back to the original Polynesian settlers of Hawaii.According to the U.S...
laborer 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
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
before journeying on to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Thompson wintered at Saleesh House before beginning his final journey back to Montreal in 1812.
In his published journals, Thompson recorded seeing large footprints near what is now Jasper, Alberta
Jasper, Alberta
Jasper is a specialized municipality in western Alberta, Canada. It is the commercial centre of Jasper National Park, located in the Canadian Rockies in the Athabasca River valley....
, 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]", and stated that these tracks "very much resembles a large Bear's Track".
Marriage and children
He married Charlotte SmallCharlotte Small
Charlotte Small was the Métis wife of explorer David Thompson . She was the daughter of North West Company partner Patrick Small and an unnamed Cree woman. Her siblings were also involved in the fur trade; Patrick Small, Jr...
on June 10, 1799 at Île-à-la-Crosse, a mixed-blood child of a Scottish fur trader and a Cree
Cree
The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...
mother. Their marriage was formalized at the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
on October 30, 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 and two of the children, John (aged 5) and Emma (aged 7) died of round worms, a common parasite. Their marriage lasted 58 years, the longest Canadian pre-Confederation marriage known.
Later years
Upon his arrival back in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Thompson retired with a generous pension from the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
. He settled in nearby Terrebonne
Terrebonne, Quebec
Terrebonne is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shores of the Rivière des Mille-Îles and of the Rivière des Prairies, North of Montreal and Laval....
and worked on completing his great map, a summary of his lifetime of exploring and surveying the interior of North America. The map covered the wide area stretching from Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
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 a few years later was employed to survey the newly established borders with the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. It separates a small land area of Minnesota from the rest of the United States. The Northwest Angle and the town of Angle Township can only be reached from the rest of...
to the Eastern Townships
Eastern Townships
The Eastern Townships is a tourist region and a former administrative region in south-eastern Quebec, lying between the former seigneuries south of the Saint Lawrence River and the United States border. Its northern boundary roughly followed Logan's Line, the geologic boundary between the flat,...
of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, established by Treaty of Ghent
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
after the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. In 1843 Thompson completed his atlas of the region from Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
to the Pacific Ocean.
Afterwards, Thompson returned to a life as a land owner, but soon financial misfortune would ruin him. By 1831 he 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 this 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.
Death and afterward
Despite these significant achievements, Thompson died in Montreal in near obscurity on February 10, 1857, his accomplishments almost unrecognized. He never finished the book of his 28 years in the fur trade, based on his 77 field notebooks, before he died. In the 1890s geologist J.B. Tyrrell
Joseph Tyrrell
Joseph Burr Tyrrell was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 1884....
resurrected Thompson's notes and in 1916 published them as David Thompson's Narrative.
Mount Royal Cemetery
Opened in 1852, Mount Royal Cemetery is a 165-acre terraced cemetery on the north slope of Mount Royal in the borough of Outremont, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The burial ground shares the mountain with the much larger adjacent Roman Catholic cemetery -- Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges...
in an unmarked grave. It was not until 1926 that efforts by J.B. Tyrell
Joseph Tyrrell
Joseph Burr Tyrrell was a Canadian geologist, cartographer, and mining consultant. He discovered dinosaur bones in Alberta's Badlands and coal around Drumheller in 1884....
and the Canadian Historical Society resulted in the placing of a tombstone to mark his grave.
In 1957, one hundred years after his death, the Canadian government honoured him with his image on a Canadian postage stamp. The David Thompson Highway in Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
was named in his honour, along with David Thompson High School situated on the side of the highway near Leslieville, Alberta
Leslieville, Alberta
Leslieville is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. It is located east of Rocky Mountain House along the Canadian National Railway and has an elevation of ....
. His prowess as a geographer is now well-recognized. He has been called "the greatest land geographer who ever lived."
There is a monument dedicated to David Thompson (maintained by the state of North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
) near the former town site of the ghost town, Verendrye, North Dakota
Verendrye, North Dakota
Verendrye is a ghost town in McHenry County, North Dakota, United States. The Verendrye Electric Cooperative was established here in 1939 but relocated to Velva within a couple years. By 2007, the remnants of the town amounted to two or three house foundations and the backless facade of an old...
, located approximately two miles north and one mile west of Karlsruhe, North Dakota
Karlsruhe, North Dakota
-External links:*...
. Thompson Falls, Montana
Thompson Falls, Montana
Thompson Falls is a city in and the county seat of Sanders County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,321 at the 2000 census.-History:...
and British Columbia's Thompson River
Thompson River
The Thompson River is the largest tributary of the Fraser River, flowing through the south-central portion of British Columbia, Canada. The Thompson River has two main branches called the South Thompson and the North Thompson...
are also named after the explorer.
The year 2007 marked the 150th year of Thompson's death and the 200th anniversary of his first crossing of the Rocky Mountains. Commemorative events and exhibits are planned across Canada and the United States from 2007 to 2011 as a celebration of his accomplishments.
Thompson was the subject of a 1964 National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
short film David Thompson: The Great Mapmaker , as well as the BBC2 programme Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness
Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness
Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness is a television series hosted by Ray Mears, showing Mears in Canada. The series is broadcast by the BBC.Mears also released a book of the same title.-Synopsis:Ray Mears explores the Canadian wilderness...
(Episode 5), broadcast in November 2009.
Works
- 1814: Map of the North-West Territory of the Province of Canada
- 1897: New light on the early history of the greater Northwest: the manuscript journals of Alexander Henry, fur trader of the North West Company, and of David Thompson, official geographer and explorer of the same company, 1799–1814 : exploration and adventure among the Indians on the Red, Saskatchewan, Missouri and Columbia Rivers (edited by Elliott Coues)
- 1916: David Thompson's narrative of his explorations in western America, 1784–1812 (edited by J.B. Tyrell)
- 1950: David Thompson's journals relating to Montana and adjacent regions, 1808–1812 (edited by M. Catherine White)
- 1962: David Thompson's narrative, 1784–1812 (edited by Richard Glover)
- 1974: David Thompson's journal of the international boundary survey, 1817–1827 : western Lake Erie, August–September 1819 (edited by Clarke E. Leverette)
- 1993: Columbia Journals (edited by Barbara Belyea)
- 2006: "Moccasin Miles – The Travels of Charlotte Small Thompson 1799–1812" Contemporary and Historical Maps: Charlotte Small (S. Leanne Playter/Andreas N. Korsos|Publisher: Arcturus Consulting)
- 2006/2007: "David Thompson in Alberta 1787–1812"; "David Thompson on the Columbia River 1807–1812"; "The Explorations and Travels of David Thompson 1784–1812"; "Posts and Forts of the North American Fur Trade 1600–1870" Contemporary and Historical Maps: David Thompson (Andreas N. Korsos|Publisher: Arcturus Consulting)
Further reading
Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection- Elle Andra-Warner,2010. David Thompson: A Life of Adventure and Discovery. Heritage House Publishing Co.Ltd.
External links
- Complete text of David Thompson's Narrative (Tyrrell edition) Champlain Society digital collection
- Complete text of David Thompson's Narrative (Glover edition) Champlain Society digital collection
- Contemporary and Historical Maps Maps depicting David Thompson's travels, Charlotte Small's travels, Posts and Forts of the Canadian Fur Trade 1600–1870, and other explorations
- Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
- "The greatest land geographer who ever lived: A short history" by J.B. Tyrell
- David Thompson Canadian Fur Trader and Mapmaker
- The Life of David Thompson
- How David Thompson Navigated A technical, in-depth study of the methods used by David Thompson, based on his journals
- DavidThompson200: bicentennial commemorations of Thompson's explorations
- The Writings of David Thompson edited by William E. Moreau. Three volumes. This edition of the works of Thompson has been in preparation for the past nine years, and is to be published by The Champlain Society with McGill-Queen's University Press and the University of Washington Press.
- David Thompson Papers, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library