All of Thompson's efforts therefore did not avail to bring satisfactory returns from a region so poor in furs, and inhabited by such a sparse and wretched population. It was with joy in his heart that he handed over the district to a partner in the early summer of 1806, and once more wended his way back to Fort William.
Two events of personal interest in the life of Thompson occurred during these eight years. The first was his marriage to Charlotte Small, the half-breed daughter of Patrick Small, an early trader in the West. Small was a member of a famous Irish family, which had given generals and admirals to the service of the Empire. He had, however, followed the custom of the country and taken a native woman to wife. Thompson's marriage took place at Isle à la Crosse in the summer of 1799. The other event took place on November 8, 1804, although the news of it did not reach Thompson until some time later. On that date the North West Company and the XY Company agreed to cease their ruinous competition and join forces for the expansion of their trade. In the terms of agreement, the name of David Thompson appears as a partner of the United Company. This was good news in itself; but better still was the prospect that loomed up before his eyes. With the wounds of competition healed, and the Canadian trading interests now presenting a united front, the last obstacle to an aggressive forward movement was removed, and the conquest of the Rockies might finally be achieved.
CHAPTER VI
ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE
There are long stretches in human life when the contest with fate seems endless and the result uncertain, but it is such periods that test the mettle of a man. In the life of David Thompson, the eight years just past had been marked by no striking achievement. Yet with unflagging patience and zeal he had discharged his routine duties, constantly adding to his equipment the knowledge and judgment that come from maturer years and wider experience. When therefore his hour at last struck, he was not unready. Expert surveyor, skilled trader, he was now to crown his life-work by a piece of original discovery and exploration on a scale grand enough to place him in the foremost rank among the builders of British North America.
It was summer of the year 1806 when Thompson returned from the Muskrat country to headquarters at Fort William. There he found a new excitement and a new enthusiasm in the air. During the preceding year the American officers, Lewis and Clark, had crossed from the upper Missouri to the valley of the Snake river, and followed that stream to its junction with the lower Columbia, down which they had made their way to the Pacific ocean. John Jacob Astor, the great American merchant, was exerting all his strength to build up a fur trading empire on the Pacific slope under the flag of the Republic; and the full extent of his ambitions was now disclosed. For some years the Hudson's Bay Company had been knocking at the barrier of the Rockies, and, spurred by competition, they might at any moment burst through. Fraser for the North-Westers had already advanced from the Forks of the Peace, and accomplished the difficult and dangerous feat of descending the Fraser river. But between the Fraser river on the north and the Snake on the south was a vast region on which the feet of white men had never trod; and the North West Company, no longer crippled by their civil war with the XY traders, were resolved to claim this region for themselves. Thompson was at once despatched to Rocky Mountain House, with definite instructions to cross the mountains, this time as senior officer at the post and in full charge of the operations.
The winter of 1806-7 was spent in preparation; and John McDonald of Garth, trader of the Company, together with Quesnel and Finan McDonald, clerks, lent a hand in the work. The route selected was by way of the North Saskatchewan, which Thompson knew must be practicable, because it was along this road that the Kootenay Indians had returned, when he sent them back to their homes some years before. He therefore despatched one of his men, a half-breed called Jaco Finlay, up this road into the mountains, with instructions to spy out the land. Everything was done with the utmost quietness. The Piegan Indians suspected nothing, although they were at all times visiting the fort. Even the Hudson's Bay people, encamped on the river just below the North-Westers, had not an inkling of Thompson's plans.
In the spring Jaco Finlay returned to the post with his report. He had penetrated through the gap in the mountains to a large valley near the head of the river, where he had built a small outpost and got in touch with the Kootenays. From this valley he had crossed the watershed to a small stream which flowed south-westward and emptied into a mighty river. At the mouth of this stream he had built a canoe, which he had carefully "cached" for Thompson's use.
At this moment an incident occurred in distant Montana, which, tragic in itself, was not without advantage for Thompson. Captain Lewis, the American officer, had became embroiled with the Blackfeet. They attacked his camp and two of their warriors were killed. Suddenly all the allied tribes were inflamed with the passion for revenge. War parties gathered throughout the plains, and the Piegans in the neighborhood of Rocky Mountain House were drawn off to the south. Perceiving the passes unguarded, Thompson gathered his equipment and made an immediate start. With his wife and children, Finan McDonald and a party of half-breeds to help him, he moved up the river by horse and canoe and entered the mountains.
As he advanced, the country became rougher and wilder. The grassy hills were left behind, and the mountains raised their heads in mad confusion height on height, bald and precipitous masses of solid rock, except for the patches of pinewood that clung here and there to their slopes. At times, the crags came together compressing the river to the width of a few yards, through which the current rushed against them. Again, when the valley widened, the stream would divide into many channels dotted with rugged islets and marked by shoals of rock and sand. Finally they reached the valley in which Jaco Finlay had built his house—a low and level plain to the north side of the river, about five miles long and not less than a mile in width. On every hand were to be seen the remains of old tepees erected by the Kootenays, who frequented the spot to make dried provisions from the buffalo and mountain goat. For this reason Thompson gave the valley the name of Kootenay plains.