Thompson Coit Elliott

“ Yet , even before 1800 , the Kootenais , first of the trans - mountain tribes , had appeared on the eastern slopes of the Rocky mountains of Canada to barter with the traders of the Forts des Prairies upon the Saskatchewan . Rocky Mountain House , one of the prominent trading posts of the North West Company , was then located about one hundred miles southwest of the site of Edmonton . 3Now called Redgrave Canyon . Discovery of the Columbia was just above this gorge , at Blaeberry Creek up which the Indian trail ran to the summit of the Rockies , and beyond . ”

“ In the region tributary to the river dwell the Kootenais, a people originally engaged in hunting for livelihood . These Indians have witnessed the coming of the explorer and fur - trader with his pack - horse , canoe and happy - go - lucky voyageur, of the early overland traveler and the pioneer emigrant to the Columbia, of the missionary o f the Cross , o f the hewer o f the boundary line , o f the excited prospector with his pick and shovel , o f the pack - train , steam boat , locomotive and automobile . ”

“ Since a trading post was established near Bonners Fer ry , where we now stand, the final stanza of the poem is also appropriate : And here has house was builded , Here let us stand and say , Here was a man full -sized , whose fame Shall never pass away While the stars shine and rivers run , In the land of Kootenai . Closely associated with David Thompson in exploration and trade was a remarkable Scotchman , Finnan MacDonald by name . ”

“ In later years it became the much traveled road of settlers and miners and merchants from the south into the Kootenai Country . How long the first Kootanae House was maintained as a trading post is not known , but the traders of the Saskatchewan soon discovered a more direct road to and from it , by Bow River and Simpson or Vermillion Pass , to the Columbia a few miles below Lake Windermere . ”

“ But are not these written in the books of the chronicles , journals , documents and the printed pages of those early days , when Bonners Ferry was the gate way for trade and travel to and from this Kootenai land ? Graven on the monument we dedicate today are names of the sturdy white men , who first saw and used this an cient thoroughfare of the Indians ; names which rank high in the history of the Columbia . ”

“ Learning from Bercier & Methode that the Lake indians do not hunt , but only gamble & keep the men starving . I told them as the Season was fast advancing to lay up the Furrs they have , abt 4 Packs , & make the best of their way back to Kinville , & re turn to the Skeetshoo River with all the property & c . as to keep up a Post there , 18 with so few goods , is expence to no purpose . ”

“ ELLIOTT packs of furs weighed a little more than two tons , and re presented the first freight shipment from Bonners Ferry east.17 This occasion naturally directs attention to this particu lar locality in the land of the Kootenai ; prominent because the ancient crossing -place for the Indians in their travels , and the northerly end of the time - worn trail leading to the neighboring tribes to the southward . That trail has now become the busy highways for the locomotive and automobile of the white men . ”

“ If journals kept at the trading posts of the upper Sas katchewan had been more generally preserved doubtless mention would be found of the infrequent return of these itinerant trappers , and interesting items as to the countries they had visited .' Next over this trail ( later known as Howse Pass ) came the white man , and his coming marks an event of real im portance in the history of the United States and Canada . ”