Note 61 — Chapter IX

David Thompson was one of the most interesting and remarkable men of the fur-trading coterie. Born in London in 1770, and educated at Christ’s Hospital, he went to America (1789) as employé of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He was greatly interested in science, and during his extensive travels made meteorological and astronomical observations. The company by whom he was first employed discouraged geographical pursuits; Thompson therefore went over to the North West Company (1797) as affording more scope to his talents. During the winter of 1797-98 he visited the Mandan Indians, on the Missouri, and the following summer explored the sources of the Mississippi. By 1801 he had pushed his explorations to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, whither in 1806 he sought for the waters of the Columbia. During the next four years he collected furs and explored on the upper Columbia, building several posts, and reaping a rich harvest among tribes hitherto unexploited. After his failure to seize the mouth of the Columbia for the British, Thompson went back to his Columbia posts, but finally abandoned the upper country in 1812. He lived in Lower Canada until his death in 1857, occupied in surveys for boundary lines, and astronomical pursuits. His last years were spent in poverty and neglect.—Ed.