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Sources of the River

Tracking David Thompson Across Western North America
Jan 02, 2016
David Thompson was the first European to explore and map the full reach of the Columbia River from its source in the northern Rocky Mountains in what is now British Columbia. He ranged over the inland upper northwest, surveying and arranging trade houses for the NorthWest Company, a competitor to Hudson's Bay Company for the fur trade. His sharp eye and meticulous practices lead to such accurate latitude and longitude readings that they stand up to modern techniques. He also observed the social practices of the First Nations he encountered (sometimes as the first white man they'd seen). His work was motivated by a curiosity for the land and a desire to do a good job. The stories of his travels -- compiled from several remaining notebooks, and a "Narrative" unfinished at the time of his death -- are riveting, I can barely imagine the difficulties he and his crews faced as a matter of course. Nisbet interposes his own travels in the modern day inland NW, on a heavily dammed Columbia River.