Thompson River

“ Not seeing any signs of game, however, they steered out so as to clear the various little capes or woody points of land inclosing the numerous coves scattered along the indented shore, and struck a line for the great inlet at the head of the lake, which they now soon reached, and commenced rowing against the at first gentle and then rapid current, which here pours down from, the upper lakes, through the rocky and picturesque defiles, in the form of a magnificent river, rivalling in its size the midway portions of the Connecticut or Hudson. ”

“ THE RED LURE
CHAPTER I
THE WHITE GLEAM
As Johnny Thompson bent over the black waters of the river he thought he heard a stealthy movement behind him. Before he could decide whether or not his eyes had deceived him he caught the reflection of a sudden white gleam on the dark surface of the water. At the same time something told him to dive, and dive he did. With the rocket-like speed that was his, he shot straight into the water, then away beneath the surface. He rose some ten yards downstream. After one deep, silent breath, he grasped a red mangrove branch for support, then paused to listen. ”

“ The men passed on out of sight and hearing; but the words struck terror to the heart of Julia. She started up and gazed wildly around her, expecting every moment to see the myrmidons of the law approaching, to drag her away to prison. Then she looked down upon the calm river, on whose placid breast reposed the soft moonlight.
'Why should I live?' she murmured, sadly—'earth has no longer any charms for me; the past brings remorse, the present is most wretched, the future full of impending horror! Death is my only refuge; the only cure for all my sorrows. ”

“ That was the first building erected in Western Montana by white men . After 1809 his career carried him into all parts of Idaho , Oregon and Western Montana and into the Thompson River region of British Columbia ; and his red hair and beard were known to every Indian tribe of the Columbia . Another associate of Thompson in the Kootenai country was James McMillan , a clerk of the North West Company . During the winter of 1808 he crossed the Rockies on snow shoes , with dog sleds and more goods for trade , and joined MacDonald above Kootenai Falls . ”

“ At McDonnell's house, Thompson prepared the maps and notes of his survey to be sent by the next convoy to headquarters at Grand Portage. He then took leave of his hospitable friend, and set forth on his explorations up the Red river. With three French Canadians and an Indian guide, he started down the Assiniboine, hauling his baggage and provisions by dog sleds on the ice. The tedious windings of the stream and the ever increasing depth of snow made progress difficult. ”

“ When the rivers were finally clear of ice, Thompson, with his three Canadians and a native woman, made a fresh start, this time by canoe and with dried provisions to last for twelve days. They had first to battle their way against the current of Clearwater river, to the portage which brought them to Red lake. The country was everywhere soaked with water, so that at night they were forced to cut down trees and sleep on the branches. Red lake, they found, was still covered with patches of broken ice. ”

“ I mention the details of the career of David Thompson in the year 1811 because these facts are not yet familiar to the residents of our Columbia river region, because they are pertinent to our anniversary season, and because their narration serves to reveal to us the traits individual to the man. At the age of forty-one years David Thompson thus traversed every reach of this magnificent river from source to mouth, a physical achievement for a man even at the present day ”

“ The Astor hunters struck up Okanogan River to trade. Thompson pushed on up the Columbia through the Arrow Lakes at feverish pace, noticing with disgust that the Hudson’s Bay man, Howse, was camping hard on his trail, forming trading connections with Sarcees and Piegans and Kootenays. Snow comes early in the mountains. Thompson must succeed in crossing the pass before winter sets in so that the report of what he learned at Astoria can be sent down to Fort William in time for the annual meeting of July, 1812. ”

“ Fraser, as we have seen, was already busy exploring the region between M'Leod Lake and Stuart Lake, and had laid his plans to descend the great river which he thought was Gray's Columbia. Now, while Thompson spent the winter of 1806-7 between the Peace and the North Saskatchewan, trading and exploring, he doubtless learned of Fraser's explorations west of the Rockies and of the vast extent of New Caledonia; and June 1807 saw him over the mountains on the Kootenay plains, where to his infinite delight he came upon a turbulent river, whose swollen current flowed towards the Pacific. ”

“ The distance over this lake, up the narrows, or river, and across the end of the Maguntic to the mouth of that second stream we have talked of, can’t be much more than a dozen miles, and all smooth sailing. Lord, yes! if we put in like decent oarsmen, I warrant we make fetch come, so as to be there by the sun an hour high, which will give time to build a comfortable camp, and for cooking up the jolly good supper I’m thinking to have, to pay us far all these sweats and hard pulls up these confounded rapids and over these never-ending lakes. ”

“ The Klukshu River was not so thoroughly ice-bound as the Alsek, and, already swollen with the melting snows, it had broken its fetters in many places, so that it was impossible to follow the stream itself. Twice, however, the trail crossed it,—first from west to east by a jam of tree-trunks and débris, and then back again by a narrow span of ice which cracked ominously and threatened to go down-stream, even as they passed over it.
Here they met Grant Baldwin, Al King's partner,—a young man not much older than David, who was [125] travelling alone to the coast with a sled drawn by two dogs. ”

“ Those very same years Simon Fraser (and McLeod) penetrated to the waters of the river afterward named in his honor, and in the month of June of 1807 David Thompson descended the western slope of the Rocky Mountains by way of the pass at the head of the Saskatchewan River, which pass was afterward generously named in honor of a rival trader in the Hudson's Bay Company. The winters of 1807–8 and 1808–9 were both spent at the trading house built by him in July 1807, at the lower of the two lakes forming the source of the main Columbia ”

“ The methods of fur traders have been the same the world over: to frighten a rival off the ground if possible; if not, then to buy him off. It is not all surmise to suppose that when Thompson was sent to the Pacific there was in view some other purpose than merely to survey an unknown river. But exploration and the fur trade went hand in hand; and whatever the motives may have been, the {114} result was that, after more than four years of arduous toil, Thompson had given to commerce a great waterway. His exploration of the Columbia closes the period of discovery on the Pacific coast. ”

“ Smoky Hill Thompson, who was standing pretty well back in the crowd, commenced to talk, when he was interrupted by, "Louder! Come up here; get on the wagon and speak out!" And, suiting actions to words, the [Pg 202] venerable old plainsman was picked up bodily by strong men and carried to the wagon. He was an old white-headed veteran of the frontier, one of the last of the Kit Carson type. He had hunted, trapped, and fought Indians from the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri river, and from the international boundary on the north to the Arkansas river on the south. ”

“ What he will say will be true."
"Hear, in my country," thereupon began Moose-killer, in the abbreviated, broken, and sententious language peculiar to the Red Man,—"hear, in my country, beaver bring more this side the mountains; so come over, and been to Bethel-town to sell 'em. Come over mountains, down piece, the river you call Magalloway,—then strike off down to big lake, Megantic. Then follow shore long way; but stop sudden,—start back! See much blood on the leaves,—trail all along down to the water. Then go back, look again,—find where man fall, bleed much,—die,—lay there till dead quite. ”

“ Thompson was anxious to find out the origin of this interesting people, for they had not been many years on the banks of the Missouri. Their traditions, however, went back no further than the days of their great-great-grandfathers. These, they said, had dwelt to the eastward, possessing the rich flats about the upper waters of the Red river and the Mississippi. There the wild rice grew in abundance and the deer were in plenty, though the horse and the buffalo were unknown. On all these streams they had villages and cultivated the ground as at present from before the memory of man. ”

“ I can stand the jaunt. But can you determine the direction to be taken to strike it?”
“Nearly, I think. Their camp, you know, is on the neck or connecting piece of river, between two long ponds, lying about southwest of us. I rather expected to be able to get a glimpse of one of those ponds from the hilltop, but find I can’t. I presume I could, however, from the top of this pine tree.”
“Yes, but to climb it would be a long, and perhaps dangerous task, would it not?”
“No, neither. We woodsmen are often compelled to resort to such a course, to take our latitude and bearings. ”

“ Besides, that end was protected by the ridge of sand with its fringe of trees. The front of the tent was entirely open and faced northwest upon the beautiful stretch of the river where it flowed away from the bluff. Beyond, and perhaps ten miles distant, was a long range of mountains bounding the valley on the north, which Champlain had said was the Yukon Divide. The waters on its farther slope flowed into a tributary of the Yukon, while those on the nearer side reached the Pacific much more directly. ”

“ On turning back from the river-bank, they found Long Peter looking intently at a group of people a short distance to the north.
"White people—two men—two women!" he exclaimed, as they approached.
"Women?" repeated Mr. Bradford, incredulously; "this is a queer place for white women."
"So it is," said Uncle Will. "They must have come from that disabled steamer, bound for Copper River, which landed her passengers at Pyramid Harbor a fortnight ago. I met a few of her people on this trail when I came out to the coast, but didn't see this party. ”

“ They walked boldly into the river, and raising their garments as they advanced, contrived to effect a tolerably dry and decent landing. If the river had been deep enough, it would have been well calculated for a tunnel, for its bed was rocky: the rocks, which are now smooth from the rapidity of the current, will probably be worn through before a tunnel is built under them. ”

“ The Bradfords, having heard it all as they passed the cabin, imparted every scrap faithfully to Moore and King and the latter's partner Baldwin, who had recently returned, and so every one in the district soon had the latest information from the Post.
Early in June the gorge became almost impassable by reason of the rising waters. The snow in the mountains [213] was melting rapidly, and every brooklet grew into a flood. To ford the main river was no longer possible, for the heaviest man would have been swept off his feet in an instant. ”

“ These marked lines were to diverge from the upper camps along the ridges on each side of the river; sometimes running many miles apart, then turning down to the stream, where indications of beaver and otter had been discovered, so as to afford a chance for setting and tending steel-traps for those animals; then running back again on to the high hills and ridges; but finally converging in, and meeting at the lake camp. And, these preliminary steps being taken, everything would then be in readiness for setting the traps, and for entering on the hopeful business of their expedition. ”

“ Again, some years ago, at Black Cañon, on the South Fork of the Thompson, when that clear blue stream was at a low stage, there was a great landslip, which for some eighty minutes dammed back the waters into a lake. The whole country side gathered there with carts and buckets, scraping up the mud and gold from the bottom. Many thousands of dollars were taken out of the dry river bed before the dam gave way to the rising waters. ”

“ At length they came down to the gravel flats and beheld, some distance below, Bud Beagle and Phil sitting on a log and evidently awaiting their appearance. Two saddle horses stood near. They had reached the dreaded ford of the Klaheena.
"We thought you wouldn't care to wade this here river," said Bud, with a twinkle in his eye, as the four approached.
"Right, Bud," responded Uncle Will; "your thinking apparatus is in perfect order. ”

“ By the amicable arrangement thus made, Phillips and Claud Elwood were to form one of these pairs, and fix their lake-camp at the mouth of the river already named as coming in from the east; Carvil and Mark Elwood to constitute another pair, and encamp at the mouth of the great inlet entering at the same place; while Codman and the young Indian, Tomah, who, from their mutual challenges in beaver-catching, had by this time become friends, and willing to hunt from the same starting-point, were to have their camp at the mouth of the river coming in at the northwest end of the lake. ”