Note 72 — {210} CHAPTER XIII
Reading edition
The original Kootenay post was established by Thompson in July, 1807, on the Columbia River (called by him Kootenay) just below lower Columbia Lake. He wintered here in 1808–09 and 1809–10.
In 1808, Finan McDonald, a member of Thompson’s party, built a post at the southern end of the loop in the Kootenay River, in the north-west corner of the present state of Montana, five miles south of the boundary line. This became an important North West fort. McDonald remained until late in 1811, when Montour was placed in charge.
Nicholas Montour was in 1804 a clerk in the employ of the North West Company at Fort de Prairie. From 1811 to 1816 he was active on the Columbia, moving about between Fort Kootenay, Spokane, and Okanagan, with headquarters at Spokane after 1814. See Coues, Henry-Thompson Journals, ii, pp. 606, 672–675, 757.—Ed.