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A journey of 90 000 kilometres begins with a single step: The extraordinary life of David Thompson, North America's greatest geographer

Sara Wilson, Parks Canada David Thompson (1770 - 1857) was the original trailblazer. He walked the path before us. Thompson was a brave explorer, an exacting astronomer, a cultural historian, and a precise surveyor and mapmaker. David Thompson is arguably the greatest land geographer of all time and yet he and his great contributions have been largely overlooked. His amazing expeditions during the North American fur trade took him from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific Ocean and numerous points between. During his life, Thompson travelled 90 000 km by canoe and on foot to survey and map, with astounding accuracy, 3.9 million km ² of the continent. Over Thompson's 28 years in the fur trade he took meticulous notes. His 84 field journals document all matter of topics from the lives of the Aboriginal Peoples he encountered, the fur traders, to the landscape and wildlife he observed. These journals have proved an invaluable resource for historians, especially for the descriptions of the culture of the First Nations Peoples. David Thompson was born in Westminster, England in 1770. His father died when he was two years old. At the age of seven, he was sent to attend the Grey Coat School in London, a charity school for boys. During the next seven years David excelled in mathematics and navigation. Although he did not know it at the time, the skills he learned at the school built a crucial foundation for his future career as a land surveyor. In 1784, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) was seeking young apprentices to cross the Atlantic Ocean to North America and work in the fur trade. At the age of fourteen, David Thompson boarded the ship Prince Rupert and arrived in Churchill Factory on Hudson Bay to begin his clerk apprenticeship. He would never again return to England. In addition to his clerical duties David learned to hunt, walk on snowshoes and other important skills for surviving in the unfamiliar and untamed wilderness. He was fortunate to have been given the job of writing out part of a manuscript by Samuel Hearne, the post's chief, who was writing a book about his recent journey to the Arctic Ocean. This project undoubtedly peaked young David's interest in exploring the land before him. After a year Thompson was sent to York Factory on the shore of Hudson Bay in present-day Manitoba. He travelled the North Saskatchewan River to Manchester House (Saskatchewan), the Bow River and back to Manchester House. This gave David his first taste of travelling in the wilderness of the New World. He also spent the winter of 1787 with the Pikani (Peigan) First Nations Peoples and befriended an elder named Saukamappee who imparted much of the oral history of their people and other aboriginal groups in the area. David would sit near the fire during the long winter evenings to listen to Saukamappee speak. Thompson also learned to speak Cree, the language of the Pikani. David always showed Aboriginal Peoples great respect during his lifetime and certainly his Cree mentor, Saukamappee, had a role in shaping Thompson's perspective. December 23, 1788 was a day that David Thompson would never forget. It would be the day that changed his life forever. While returning from a hunting trip David fell down a steep embankment on the river, 1.5 km from Manchester House, severely breaking his leg. The injury was very serious and due to complications David was not expected to survive. His ankle was terribly swollen for 6 months and it would be 3 months after that before he could take his first steps with the help of wooden crutches. The HBC sent Thompson to Cumberland House in Saskatchewan to recover after his accident and in October of 1789 David met Philip Turnor. Turnor was the Hudson Bay Company's official surveyor and he had arrived to train new apprentices for an upcoming trade expedition to the Athabasca country. Thompson's life suddenly took a fortuitous turn. Still on crutches and unable to perform physical duties for the HBC, Turnor agreed to allow Thompson to join his surveying apprenticeship classes. Turnor taught David the science of astronomy, surveying, map making and how to use nautical almanacs. As before, Thompson was an excellent student and it become evident to Turnor that Thompson had talent and drive. The HBC offered Thompson a contract to create new trade routes for trading with the Aboriginal Peoples in the lands to the west. He would also establish new trading posts, conduct land surveys and create maps. Finally David would have the adventure he longed for. Instead of receiving the standard issue of clothing given to all new employees, David requested expensive surveying instruments. The HBC obliged and David was outfitted with a Brass Sextant, compass, watch, nautical almanacs and notebooks to record his calculations. In 1790, David departed on the first of many trading expeditions. The HBC tasked him to find a direct trade route through the Athabasca country, a gateway area to the west rich in furs. He set off and over six years, twenty-four seasons, many portages, and even more mosquitoes Thompson found the route via the Churchill River and mapped what is now northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. By 1797, Thompson had discovered new trade routes and created very accurate maps of the areas he travelled. The HBC however was not as interested in the accuracy of David's maps. They believed his dedication to mapping and surveying was taking valuable time away from establishing new trade routes and posts before their rival, the North West Company (NWC). Feeling his work was undervalued Thompson decided to leave the company when his contract expired and join the competition in August of 1797. Thompson's first job for the NWC was to locate the exact positions of all the company's trading posts and create maps outlining their locations to comply with the Jay Treaty. The treaty, signed in 1794, established the new border between Canada and the United States and required that all British posts operating in the new U.S. territory be closed. David worked on this project for the next year. Between 1798 and 1812 David Thompson travelled by canoe, snowshoe, dog sled, horseback and on foot more kilometres than any other North American geographer. He explored and mapped the area west of Hudson Bay and Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains down the Columbia River where he reached the Pacific Ocean. Thompson established several posts for the North West Company in modern-day Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Montana and Idaho. During his famous "Columbia Expedition" David was the first European man to travel and map the entire Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Many traders and new Canadians would travel this route, pioneered by Thompson, over the next seventy-four years before the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the west in 1885. Thompson interacted and traded with several Aboriginal groups during this time including the Mandane, Kootenay and Cree. The First Nation Peoples called David Koo-Koo-Sint, roughly meaning "star gazer". A meticulous astronomer, Thompson was constantly using his sextant to make longitude and latitude calculations. In order to do this he observed the sun and stars earning him his nickname. Thompson was very religious and saw the negative impact that the trade of alcohol brought to the First Nation Peoples. He was a rarity among fur traders, as he did not engage in the practice of trading whiskey for furs, a custom that had become the norm. Overall he was respected among the Native peoples and he became known as a trustworthy trader. His strong religious faith also gave him the strength to persevere in the harsh conditions he endured as an explorer. Thompson suffered injuries, near drownings, brutal illness, periods of starvation, and severe weather. Through all of these situations he maintained his hope, a feat for any person facing such a myriad of hardships. In 1799, David married Charlotte Small, the mixed-blood daughter of Patrick Small, a partner in the North West Company. David and Charlotte had thirteen children and the family often accompanied Thompson on his arduous surveying journeys. In 1812, Thompson retired from the fur trade after 28 years of exploring, trading, establishing posts, surveying and mapmaking. He moved his family to Terrebonne (north of Montreal) and 2 years later he completed his most famous map of the northwestern part of the continent. This map is remarkably accurate to modern maps, incredible considering the basic instruments he was using to make complicated geographic calculations and then completing many math calculations on paper. Between 1815 and 1827 Thompson did survey work for the Boundary Commission from southeastern Quebec through Ontario. He then worked on his maps and an atlas of the areas in western Canada where he travelled during the fur trade until 1843. David went on to complete a variety of surveying projects, some for the government, including surveying the boundary of Upper and Lower Canada and the area for a proposed canal route from Georgian Bay to the Ottawa River. Unfortunately David Thompson's last years were a struggle just as his early years in London had been. He invested in various unsuccessful land and business ventures, and his savings whittled away. Unable to support themselves, David and Charlotte were forced to move in with their daughter and son-in-law. Toward the end of his life, David had to resort to selling his clothing to buy bread and pawning his surveying instruments including his sextant, likely one of his most treasured possessions. Starting in 1843 Thompson devoted his time to writing about his adventures in the Canadian wilderness based upon his field notebooks and journals. By 1850 Thompson's vision was failing. There are two theories about why he lost his vision. Some historians believe it was due to the long hours he spent studying charts by candlelight or the many years spent looking into the sun to determine latitude and longitude. It was likely a combination of these. The loss of his sight made working on his autobiography extremely difficult. In 1857, Thompson died destitute and virtually forgotten at the age of 86 near Montreal. His wife Charlotte died three months later. It would take many years before David Thompson received any recognition. Thanks to Joseph Tyrell with the help of the Champlain Society, they published some of Thompson's narratives in 1916. David Thompson is a true pioneer. He travelled and mapped an amazing 3.9 million km ² . He faced and overcame numerous obstacles during his expeditions and throughout his life. His adventurous spirit, enthusiasm for the land and peoples of North America as well as his dedication to cartography have all contributed to his legacy as one of the world's greatest geographers. Thompson's contributions to the development of North America are indisputable and he is, at long last, getting the recognition he deserves. The year 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of Thompson crossing the Rocky Mountains and the 150th anniversary of his death. Bicentennial events are scheduled over the next five years across Canada and the United States. For more information on David Thompson visit
For further information on Thompson Bicentennials visit

Thompson Timeline

1770
David is born April 30th in Westminster, England. 1777
Attends the Grey Coat Charity School in London and learns math and navigation skills. 1784-91
Thompson travels to North America and becomes an apprentice for the Hudson's Bay Company in the fur trade. 1788-89
David breaks his leg and during his recovery learns land surveying and astronomy. 1792-97
Thompson sets off on several expeditions to trade furs with Aboriginal Peoples and survey the land in Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 1797-98
David leaves the Hudson's Bay Company for the North West Company and continues his trading and surveying. 1799
Thompson marries a part Cree and part British woman, Charlotte Small. They are married for 58 years and have 13 children. 1800-1810
David sets up trading posts and surveys much of modern day Alberta, British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington. 1811
Thompson completes his famous 'Columbia Expedition' where he travels from the mouth of the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. 1812
After 28 years in the fur trade David retires and moves to Terrebonne with his family. 1814
Thompson completes his famous map of northwestern North America based on his surveying data. 1815-27
David moves to Eastern Ontario and does survey work for the Boundary Commission in Ontario and Quebec. 1827-1843
Thompson surveys the Upper/Lower Canada boundary and a government proposed canal route. He completes an atlas covering the nearly 4 million square kilometres that he travelled and surveyed during the fur trade. 1843-50
David works on compiling his field journals into a book and suffers from failing vision. 1857
David Thompson dies on February 10th, his wife Charlotte dies on May 4th, they are buried in Montreal at Mount Royal Cemetery. 2007-11
Bicentennial events begin to commemorate the great achievements of David Thompson. June 1, 2007

Bibliography

Books Belyea, Barbara (ed.), Thompson, David; Columbia Journals . Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1994. Jenish, D'Arcy. Epic Wanderer: David Thompson & the Mapping of the Canadian West . Toronto: University of Nebraska Press, Double Day Canada, 2004. Nisbet, Jack. The Mapmaker's Eye - David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau . Pullman: Washington State Press, 2005. Pole, Graeme. David Thompson: The Epic Expeditions of a Great Canadian Explorer (part of the "Amazing Stories" series). Canmore: Altitude Publishing, 2003. Shardlow, Tom. Mapping the Wilderness: The Story of David Thompson . Toronto: Napoleon Press, 2006. Smith, James K. David Thompson (part of "The Canadians" series). Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2003 ---. David Thompson: Fur Trader, Explorer, Geographer (part of a series entitled "Canadian Lives"). Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1971 Tyrrell, J.B. (ed.) David Thompson, Narrative . Toronto: Champlain Society, 1916. WebsitesAmerican Journeys, Eyewitness accounts of early American Exploration and Settlement: A Digital Library and Learning Center. 2003. Wisconsin Historical Society. 7 Mar. 2007
http://www.americanjourneys.org/aj-138/summary/index.aspDictionary of Canadian Biography Online . 2 May 2005. Library and Archives Canada. 21 Feb. 2007
http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=38340Eddins, O.N. David Thompson Canadian Fur Trader And Mapmaker . 21 May 2007. The Fur Trapper. 22 May, 2007
http://www.thefurtrapper.com/david_thompson.htmGottfred, A. and J. The Life of David Thompson . 21 Feb. 2002. The Northwest Journal. 14 Mar. 2007
http://www.northwestjournal.ca/V1.htmGottfred, J. How David Thompson Navigated . 21 Feb. 2002. The Northwest Journal. 14 Mar. 2007
http://www.northwestjournal.ca/dtnav.htmlHistory Link.org The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History . 23 Jan. 2003. The State of Washington. 8 Mar. 2007
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=5096Pathfinders and Passageways: The Exploration of Canada . 22 Mar. 2004. Library and Archives Canada. 1 Mar. 2007
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/explorers/h24-1650-e.htmlPassageways : True Tales of Adventure for Young Explorers . 19 Mar. 2004. Library and Archives Canada. 6 Mar. 2007
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/2/3/h3-1640-e.htmlRocky Mountain House National Historic Site of Canada . 25 Jan. 2005. Parks Canada. 6 Feb. 2007
http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/ab/rockymountain/natcul/natcul06_E.aspThe 2008 David Thompson Brigade, A Bicentennial Commemoration . No date available. The 2008 David Thompson Brigade Society. 9 Mar. 2007
http://www.2008thompsonbrigade.comThe Canadian Encyclopedia. 2007. Histor!ca . 13 Feb. 2007
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007969The North American David Thompson Bicentennials . 2006. The North American David Thompson Bicentennial Partnership. 13 Feb. 2007
http://www.davidthompson200.ca *MLA documentation format used