"Many students of the Columbia River Basin are hardly yet alive to the important contributions made to the early geographic knowledge of the northerly half of this great interior basin by David Thompson…

Elliot, T. C.

English

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DAVID THOMPSON'S JOURNEYS IN IDAHOIn September of the year 1809 just two white men were en-joying life, health and the pursuit of happiness, or, to express it inone word of six letters, "living" in the wide area of country betweenthe Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains and the 42d and 49thparallels of north latitude, now embraced within the boundaries ofWashington, Oregon and Idaho; and those two men were DavidThompson, an Englishman of Welch descent, and Finan McDonald,a full-blood Scotchman. This statement is based upon our pres-ent knowledge of that period. Many students of the history of theColumbia River Basin are hardly yet alive to the important contri-butions made to the early geographic knowledge of the northerlyhalf of this great interior basin by David Thompson, the path-finder for the North-West Company (fur traders) during the years1807-1812, inclusive. More than one hundred years elapsed beforehis name even became known to many people in this region. Involumes VIII, IX, and X of this Quarterly the writer contributed aseries of studies and annotations under the title "David Thompson'sJourneys in the Spokane Country." He is now in a position to com-pliment that series with another, and, through the courtesy of Mr.J. B. Tyrrell, to present a transcript of the survey notes written byMr. Thompson in daily journals while within the boundary linesof the present state of Idaho. Lewis and Clark, in 1805-1806 passedacross Idaho by way of the Lolo trail, a road commonly used bythe Indians but never yet made of practical use for white men.David Thompson's travel and observation were along the route lateradopted by the engineers of one of our transcontinental railroads.Their entries in the journal now to be presented are of someespecial interest because they contain the written record of thebuilding of the first log houses, (used as a trading post) occupiedby white men and situated west of the Rocky Mountains and southof the 49th parallel; called "Kullyspell House." They also containthe record of the first commercial transaction to take place withinthe present state of Idaho. Lewis and Clark had bartered with theIndians for food and other things but not for gain. The date wasSeptember, 1809, and this series therefore antedates that in theprevious volumes of this Q~tarterly, which began with June, 181l.(97)98 T. C. ElliottBy way of introduction it is well to outline the activities ofDavid Thompson in 1809 prior to his arrival in Idaho in Septemberof that year. He had spent the previous winter at a trading post inBritish Columbia near the source of the Columbia River, and assoon as possible in the spring had crossed the ridge of the RockyMountains with furs purchased that winter, taking these to a trad-ing post of the Company on the Saskatchewan to be sent to FortWilliam. He then gathered together there sufficient trading goodsfor his own use (another trader was to follow him with more goodslater in the year) and returned over the Rocky Mountains to theColumbia River; from the source of the Columbia portaged over tothe Kootenae River and descended that river in canoes as far as thepresent location of Bonners Ferry, Idaho. From there with packanimals he crossed the divide to Pend d'Oreille Lake. Mr. McDon-ald had been sent on ahead from the Kootenae River to tell theIndians of his arrival and to get the pack horses needed, and thereis good reason to presume that the Indians had been previously in-formed and were waiting to meet him.The story told by the journal entries to follow is very quicklysummarized. The party came across the divide on the regular Ind-ian trail which connected the two watersheds, then mapped by Mr.Thompson as the "Lake Indian Road," to where the line of theNorthern Pacific railroad runs along the north end of Pend d'OreilleLake and follovved the route used by the railroad easterly to themouth of the Clark Fork River, to a large Indian camp there. Therailroad as first built ran close to the lake shore between Sand Pointand the mouth of Pack River instead of inland as it now runs; andHope, Idaho, was for many years a divisional point of much im-portance. From the Indian camp Mr. Thompson examined the lakeshore and selected the place for his trading post with reference tobeing directly on the line of all canoe travel by Indians upon theLake. He remained with his clerk and men until the first building,the warehouse to protect the goods and furs, was well on towardcompletion and then made a journey of exploration down the Pendd'Oreille River and back, going on horseback by land. Returningagain to the House on October 6, he at once began to make prepara-tions for a journey up the Clark Fork River, to select the site fora trading post among the Flathead Indians, and started off on thatjourney on the 11th of October. His clerk, Mr. McDonald, wasleft in charge at Kullyspell House.T. C. ELLIOTT.David Thompson's Journeys in Idaho 99JOURNAL OF DAVID THOMPSON, SEPTEMBER 8, TO OCTOBER 11, 1809September 8.Friday. A fine day, but very cold night. Ice was formed, but theleaves are yet everywhere very green, except a few on the Ground,which in places are a little faded. At 73/z a. .m. set off, Co. S. 20 E.3/z m. to a Brook" which we fol~owed, S. 40 E. :Yz M. then crossedit. It is 15 Yds. wide, deep & very easy Current. Co. S. 20 E. 6 M.to a Rill of Water which we followed down S. 40 E. 1:Yz M. to the.Lake.2 I do not pretend to take any Courses farther as I hope fora better opportunity, we went abt. 1 M. then met Canoes who em-barked abt. 20 pieces of L u m b e l' & Goods. We held onSE.D. 4 or 5 M. & Put up at 2:Yz p. m., the wind blowing too hardfor the canoes to hold on. Killed 2 Geese, Mr. McDonald3 1 do. &Bouche 1 do. Beaulieu4 1 Crane & the Flatheads5 3 Ducks.September 9.Sat~trday. A fine day, the wind moderating, the Canoes got off &we followed, but the wind rising, the Canoes were obliged to Lighten& reload part of the Horses. We all at length arrived in safety,thank God, at the mouth of the River6 at 2 p. m., where we campedfor the night. They all smoked, say 54 Flat Heads, 23 PointedHearts7 & 4 Kootenaes, in all about 80 men. They there made us ahandsome present of dried Salmon & other Fish with Berries & aChevruil &c.September 10.Sunday. 8 A very fine day. Early set off with 2 Flat Heads to lookfor a place to build a House, we at length found a place somewhateligible but Labours under the want of good earth. I returned &we got all the Goods embarked by the Flat Heads & landed thewhole by 3 p. m., when we set up our Lodge & Tents &c.1 Pack riverJ Bonner County, Ida.ho; a name applied during the Kootenae mi..ning ac-tivities in tile sixties.2 Our Pend Orellle Lake; a name applied by the French-Canadian hunters and trap-pers and traders who lirst met the indians in this vicinity (See the Henr~- Thompson Journ-als by Coues, Vol. 2, pages 711-712). Da...id Tilompson called it "Kullyspell Lake," atterthe native name of the Indians who resided for the most part on the river below it.3 Finan lI!cDonal(I, ranking as a clerk in the North-West Company; Ross Cox describeshim at length at pages 164-168 of his book entitled "Adventures on the Columbia. River."4 See Wash, Hlst. Quar. vol. 8, page] 85, note 10, for mention of this man, a. French-Canadian who was one of the very first residents in the Spokane country.5 These indians were more often called tile Saleesh b~' Mr. Thomp 'on but here are calledFlatheads. The name seems to have been used in written form first b~' Sergeant Ordwa.~- ofthe Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806, but )1r. Thompson was familiar witll It. The realorigin is obscure. -6 Clark Fork River, as now officially designated by the Kational Geographic Board. Da-vid Thompson called it the Saleesh and the Flathead river, without discrimination.7 As far as known to the writer this is the first written use of the name Pointed-heartreferring to Coeur 'dAlene (awl-hearted or sting)"-heartedj, the name applied to the Indiansof the well-known lake in Idaho when the Frenc.h.canadian trappers first fell in with them.}}lsewhere in his joumals Da\'ld Thompson calls these same Indians the "Skeetshoo's," andLewis and Clark mentioned them as the "Skeetshumlsh." It is notieeable that no KullyspellIndians were In this group.8 The slte of Kull)"spell House has now been quite positi,ely Identified at what Is lo-cally known as Sheepherder'S Point near 1>femaloose Island on the north shore of the Lake.Detailed discussion on this Item is deferred until later entries of the journal appear.100 T. C. ElliottSeptember II.Monday. A cloudy day with a little Rain-we made a scaffold forour Provisions & got Birch for Helves, which is very scarce-&Helved our Tools &c. &c.September 12.Tuesday. A rainy night but very fine day-began our warehouse.The Ground is so very full of small stones that the Holes for thePosts &c. &c. is a long time making. Got the Posts and needlesready-& threw down a Red Fir of 2 fm. rQund to make a canoe forfishing &c. 16 Canoes of Pointed Hearts passed us & camped withthe other Flat Heads.September 13.Wednesday.9 A fine Morning, but abt. 10 a. m. a heavy gale fromS. \V. which soon brought on moderate Rain, which lasted nearlyall night. Bouche & the Chein Faux brought 2 Chevruil, cut &hauled wood, the Needles & arranged a Horse Collar which broketowards evening we then got wood for another. Spent much of theday in trading with the Indians who brought abt. 120 or 130 skins.Put out the Fire the Indians kindled.September 14.Thursday, A blowy day, but fine. Wind S. Ely. Sat up the Posts& the Needles & raised the Warehouse abt. 2.0 ft high, made aHorse Collar, which is, however, too narrow. The wood is so veryheavy that it requires the force of 4 or 5 men to lift a single pieceof 10 or 11 ft. Traded abt. 20 skins & looked for wood for a HorseCollar &c.September 15.Friday. A fine day but blowy South. 3 Canoes arrived last night& put up at the Island. lO They made us a present of berries whichwe paid for. Put the House up the intended height 7 feet. Indianstraded a few things &c. & promise to bring all they have presently.Traded a Canoe for fishing &c.September 16.Saturday. A tolerable fine day. Put the Beams, Plate & RoofTree on the Warehouse & cut wood of birch for Helves & trenails,also Cedar for Net Floats. vVe arranged & set 2 'Nets to theNorthd.September 17.Sunday. A fine Morng, but very rainy Day. All the Indians ar-rived with what they have remaining to trade, abt. 1;l4 packs &much berries. We spent the whole day in this Business &c. 6 Mul-lets & 2 small Trout, Thank God.9 Here is the record of the heginnhlg of COmmerce in Idaho. The use of the termI'HoL':';c Collar" is for a kind of :rokc for hauling logs with 11ors(,8.. 10 ::\{cma}oose Islanrl, Ul1(\n w}li('h tllere is a houlder the Jndinn~ cCn~~d(\l' l':ncrf'd rmdwcr-e nccustomed to honor h;\T (1('po~itln6 f;ifts ncnr it. Bo(~it':'; of thC'h' dean were al~<, (Ie·posited here.David Tho1npson's Journeys in Idaho 101September 18.Monday. A rainy Night & Morng. & till 2 p. m. when it ceased.We arranged 3 other Nets & set them & began cutting the roofingof Cedar which must be hauled abt. 400 yds. as the wood abt. us istoo large & too heavy. Traded a Horse for 15 Skins value.Septemoer 19.Tuesday. A blustering Morng, but fine day. Caught 20 Mulletsfrom the small Net at the Door & 4 from the other. The Nets of4Y;; in. Mesh are much too large & catch nothing. In the eveningset 3 Nets at the mouths of the Channels of the River, as the Ind-ians say there are plenty there. Traded 3 Horses, which now makes7 for the Company. Pointed Hearts to their own Country.September 20.Wednesday. A very fine day. Visited our Nets. The small onehere caught 3 small Trout & 8 Mullets. Those at the River Chan-nels 1 good Trout, 1 small, & 2 Mullets. Took all the latter up &set them near at hand about us. The Flat Heads broke up theircamp & parted, pitched away to the Southd.September 21.Thursday.ll A very fine day, caught 24 small Fish from the 2small Nets. Working at the small Net, roofed the Magazine &brought Grass for to work in the Mud that the roofing is to be madetight with-took a walk around the Peninsula on which we are,which took me 4 hours. In the evening Jaco12 & Family arrived.Set the Large Nets at the Isles.September 22.Friday. A very fine day, caught 15 small Fish in the small Nets,but nothing in the others, we find them useless in this Lake. MenMaking Mud [MS. illegible] for the Roof of the Magazine, &Mousseau & me working at the ets. Mr. McDonald hung theDoor & put the windows of the Magazine in &c. Much Thunder &Lightning.September 23.Saturday. A stormy Night, fine day, Mudding the covering &c.,working at Nets. 15 strange Indians arrived from the westd., therare quite poor in every thing seemingly, they each made us a smallpresent of dried Tront or Salmon. 13 small fish from the Nets.Obsd. Os LL, 820 4' 8Y;;. Error l' 30/l-Latde 480 12' 14/1 N. Decn7' 44" long. 116.1311 Tbe word magazine refers to tbe warellouse. Sbeepberders Point Is only a small partof the wooded peninsula at tbe NE. end of Fen d'Oreille Lake. Tl,e Isles are Warren Islandand others In the Lake opposite the town of Hope.12 Jaco Finlay (Jacques RapMel Finla~') who built Spokane House in 1810; a balf-hreed wbo with bis family had been resIding among the Saleesb and otber Indians as n FreeTrapper for at least two years prior to tIlls time. See Vol. 8 of tbls quarterly for furthermention of him.] 3 Tbis latitude agrees almost to " second witb tI,at on the U. S. Geological Surveymap of tile Priest Lake Quadrangle. The longitude Is some fifteen minutes too far west asshown by said map.102 T. C. ElliottSeptember 24.S1,mday. A rainy Morng. till 10 a. m. 2 Green Wood Indians ar-rived, they made me a present of a Bear skin, 1 Beaver do & 5 Ratswith 2 parcels of dried Fish & 2 Mares, for which I shall pay them.A Lad brought 1 Beaver in Meat, Beaulieu 1 Duck, 7 Mullets.September 25.Monday. A fine day, finished mudding the Roof & got all theGoods &c. in the Warehouse, Thank Heaven. The lower Indianswent away, gave each a bit of Tob. & an Awl, showed them how tostretch the different Skins & they promise to be here by the timethe Snow whitens the Ground. Rainy Afternoon & Eveng.September 26.Tuesday. A blowy Day with cloudy cold weather in the eveningRain which lasted all Night. Men cutting, hauling & squaring woodfor the upper floor of the vVarehouse. Got ready to set off theMorrow to examine the Country below us.[Here is a hiatus in the transcript to include the days of Mr.Thompson's absence on his exploration of the Pend d'Oreille River.]October 6Friday. A cloudy misty Morng. At 7 a. m. set off. Co. ~ m.,then open out on the lake.14 .Co. to a large Point, the one this sideof the Rivulet is abt. E. 5 m., but then to the other Point S. 70 E.3 m., then to the House Point about S. 40 E. 6 m., having roundedthe Bay to the gravel point, we baited at 10.35 a. m., from hencethe Co. to the Point we left is abt. West 10 m. Obsd. Merid. Altde.of 0 LL 720 320 Good. At 0 p. m. set off & at 3 p. m. arrivedsafe, thank God we found all well. Mr. McDonald had traded abt.2 packs of good Furrs in my absence, mostly from the PointedHearts, of whom there are abt. 44 men, several women & childrenhere, they have abt. 110 horses, & have traded 3 of them 'with us.Rainy Evening. Latde 480 16' 55" NYOctober 7.Sahtrday. A rainy night & cold blustering Morng. Wind S. W.The men had cut & hauled all the wood for the House16 & thisMorng. began to dig the Holes for the Posts &c. which will be allup to-day I hope. Very rainy cold blowy Afternoon. Set up allthe Posts &c. & Needles.October 8.Sunday. A cloudy blowy Day. Snowed last night & the Hills areladen with it almost down to the level of the Plains & Lake. Earlymost of the Pointed Hearts went away, they had all along wished14 San<l Point, Idaho, the two "points" mentioned being on the north shore of the lakebetween Sand Point and Pack river.15 Observation taken at noon when near the mouth of Pack river and almost absolutelycorrect according to U. S. Geological Survey maps.16 The dwelllllg honse.David Thompson's Journeys in Idaho 103to exhibit a Dance &c., but the Weather was very unfavorable. Bynoon all the Pointed Hearts were gone.-but very unfavorableweather all day. 23 Fish.October 9.Monday. Almost continual smart Rain all night & all day, withdifficulty got the House 4 Logs high & dried & reset the Nets, 2 do.,preparing for my Journey notwithstanding the very bad weather.October 10.Tuesday. A rainy night & morning till 100 a. m., when it ceased.to light drizzling Rain. Looking after the horses for the Voyages,but could not find them till 20 p. m. & one of the best still missing.However, got a Guide engaged & brought here, but am on acct. ofthe Horses obliged to defer my Voyage till the Morrow.October 11.WednesdayY A fine night & fine day. Early looked for the strayedHorse but could not find him. Sent for another, which being broughtwe got ready & at 100 a. m. set off. Came to the Indian Tents.Co. by the Compass S. 81 E. 2 m. Sent the young man across forhis Father, who is to be our Guide. Our Co. will be S. 66 E. at 0p. m. set off & by 2 p. m. we were on the top of the River Hills, hav-ing crossed 2 Brooks, from hence we see the House Point Clearly.ISSet the Compass & find the straight Co. to be S. 62 W. abt. 6 m.Our Co. up the River S. 70 E. 5 m. I think. In the S. 66 E. 5 m.course 3 m. gone a Brook of 10 yds across, 40 m. gonel9 a Brook of6 yds across Crows calling we sent the young man to see what itwas, who returned at 40 p. m. with a good Cord of fat Chevruil,which he took from the Wolves. At 4~ p. m. put up on thetop of the Hills with snow for water, as the Grass for the Horsesis distant. The Mountains are about 2 to 3 m. distant & loadedwith snow. We see from the camp with a Birds Eye View theRoad of the Morrow S. 80 E. 5 m. thro' seemingly thick woods.The road we have come to-day is mostly thro' very fine woods,especially Cedar, many of 4 to 5 fm. round & tall in proportion,but the latter part over high rocky Hills, in many places dangerousfor loaded Horses, on the whole this part may be Co. S. 70 E. 5 m.The river appears deep, with a steady Current.17 Mr. Thompson now starts off to travel o"er a route that had not been traversed bywhite men, as far as we know. He has an appointment to meet the trader who was conlinit'with the rest of the trading goods and he also wishes to establish a trading post among theFlatheads.18 Looking back from rock)' ridge at foot of Antelope Mountain ju t east of railroadstation of Clark Fork, Idaho. Tbe camp for tbe night was on the hills at Cabinet rapids sixmiles further southeast. The IDdlaD trail kept to the Dorth of the river Instead of where therailroad now runs.19 Tlle word "gone" Is used b)' )1r. Tbompson to indicate that wh D they had traveledthree miles they crossed a brook and when 4'h mIles ille)' beard the noise of the crows andsent an Indian to in,restigate. This is his wa)' of expressing himself in all his journnls.

David Thompson's Journey's in Idaho

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David Thompson's Journey's in Idaho

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