David Thompson, the explorer

by Charles Norris Cochrane

The river flowed swiftly along between high and steep banks of rock, their slopes clothed with magnificent timber of all kinds. From time to time the stream narrowed so that the travellers were forced to paddle briskly in order to keep ahead of the current. As they approached Kootenay Falls, in Lincoln county, Montana, the river entered a cañon no less than a mile in length, terminating in a gorge where the trail left the river side and meandered along the dizzy slope of steep bed rock, three hundred feet above the level of the stream. An hour and a quarter was necessary for the carry; and they cut their shoes to pieces. The least slip would have meant sure destruction; and they struggled along over the jagged rocks without a grain of earth or sand on them to relieve their crippled feet. On the 14th of May, having followed the winding course of the stream southward across the present international boundary and northward again as far as Kootenay lake, they at length came upon ten tepees of Indians.

During all this time, they had shot nothing except for a few antelope and they were nearly famished. Once they came upon the carcase of an antelope, on which an eagle was feeding. Chasing the bird, they seized the meat, but it was tainted and made them all sick. The day following, they encountered the Indians. These, however, had nothing to offer the white men except a few dried carp and some bitter black bread, made of the moss collected from the bark of the resinous fir and the larch.

The snows of the mountains were now melting, and the water of the river had risen six feet, overflowing the wide meadows. Owing to the floods, none of the Kootenays were willing to come to the house to trade. To paddle home against the current was impossible. Thompson therefore laid up his canoe, bought horses from the Indians and engaged a guide who undertook to lead him overland by a well-known native trail northeast along the valley of the Grand Quête river to Kootenay House.

A day's travel brought them to a large brook, so deep and rapid that the horses could not cross. Thompson selected a large cedar growing by the bank. This he felled so that it lay across the stream and served as a bridge over which they carried their luggage. The horses were taken separately, and by means of a heavy strap of rawhide, dragged kicking and struggling to the further bank. The guide then went hunting, but returned empty handed, and the party went supperless to bed. Early next morning, he killed a small antelope, which was eagerly devoured. But the faint-hearted guide had already had enough. Without warning, he decamped and returned to his people, leaving the white men stranded among the hills, without provisions and utterly ignorant of the country.

For two days they waited with faint hopes of his return. Thompson then sent two of his men back to the tepees to ask for another guide. In the presence of these men, Ugly Head, one of the chiefs, made a bitter attack upon his followers. He reproached them for their lack of spirit, contrasting their conduct with that of the white men who braved every danger and hardship to bring them arms, ammunition and other things which they needed. "How many of you," he said, "will volunteer to accompany the strangers back to their home?" Not a man answered the call. They knew too well the dangers of mountain travel at that season of the year. In this crisis Ugly Head himself announced that he would act as guide; and, with the voyageurs to lead him, made his way to Thompson's camp.

The noble and manly conduct of the Indian inspired the little party with great confidence and hope. Under his leadership, they made their way among the rugged hills, avoiding the inundated meadows. The raging torrents they passed by throwing bridges of trees across them. Finally they reached the Kootenay river not far below the portage; and here, after building a canoe to complete their journey, they took leave of their guide. In a short time they were safe at Kootenay House.

Thompson had now to conduct the winter's hunt all the way east to Rainy River House, and bring back supplies for the following year. Among these supplies were two kegs of alcohol, which his partners insisted that he should take with him. Thompson was well aware of the deplorable results that had followed the introduction of spirits among the Indians, but he was overruled. When he came to the defiles of the Saskatchewan, he caused the two kegs to be loaded on the back of a vicious horse. By noon the kegs were empty and broken to pieces. He wrote to his partners, telling them what he had done, and vowing that so long as he was in charge of the fur trade across the mountains, he would do the same with every keg of alcohol which was sent to him. He was as good as his word; and thus for a few years at least succeeded in keeping the curse of spirits from the Indians of the Pacific slope.

When Thompson reached Kootenay House, the season was too far advanced to allow of further exploration. He therefore sent Finan McDonald to open a trading house at Kootenay Falls, while he himself remained for the winter at the post, taking observations and trading with the Indians. In the following spring, he had once more to cross the mountains with the furs, but by midsummer he was back at his house ready to prosecute his discoveries further to the south.

In the neighborhood of the Falls, Thompson had found that the Kootenay river bent sharply to the west and north. In this direction, he had traced its course to Kootenay lake, before the floods came on, compelling him to cross overland to his home under the guidance of the chief Ugly Head. To the south of the Kootenay was a ridge of mountainous country, intersected however, by well-marked Indian trails running north and south. These trails, he was told, led to another great river, parallel with the Kootenay and, like it, flowing mainly to the west. This river (now known as Clark's Fork) he made up his mind to explore.

His point of departure was from Ugly Head's encampment, near the present site of Bonner's Ferry, Idaho. There he laid up his canoes, and borrowed horses from the Kootenays for the journey across country. A two day's ride brought him to Clark's Fork at the point where it expands to form Lake Pend d'Oreille. Here he was met by a large deputation of Salish Indians, who welcomed him with presents and gave him every assistance in finding a site suitable for the erection of a post. Their joy was easy to understand, for they were armed merely with a few rude lances and flint-headed arrows, utterly useless in warfare against the Indians of the plains. Thompson had guns, ammunition, and iron arrow-heads for trade, but he warned them that in order to procure these advantages, they must learn to be industrious in hunting for beaver and other furs, and cease spending their days and nights in gambling—the pet vice of the savage. This they eagerly promised to do.