Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/34

24 The written histories of the Columbia river have given very little attention to the discovery and exploration of its source and upper reaches, while much has been said about the finding and exploration of its mouth. The records left by Capt. Robert Gray, and John Boit, of the crew of the Columbia (Rediviva) have been reproduced, with maps and notes, in the pages of the Oregon Quarterly. The writer of this introduction has also contributed certain data as to David Thompson, but until comparatively recent years little has been known of the life and career of this remarkable man, who, first of white men, crossed over the Rocky Mountains of Canada and found the river there. This account—now presented—was written by himself and sent back that same year in the form of a report to his associates of the Northwest Company, then the active rival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the fur trade of Canada. This man David Thompson, officially designated the astronomer of the company, was a practical trader for furs, a careful scientist and close observer. This document has not before been printed, as far as known to the writer, and is of peculiar interest to the scientific student and the lay reader as well. The assertion that David Thompson first crossed over the Rocky Mountains may seem a trifle strong and need qualification; but there is a difference between crossing over the mountains and through them, and a great difference in the physical barriers at different parts of the range. With this in mind, David Thompson may be contrasted with Alexander MacKenzie and his famous journey in 1792, who is entitled to all honor therefor. But it is. to be remembered that MacKenzie stemmed the current of Peace river, which flows through the main range of the Rockies, and crossed a spur of that range to the westward at a low elevation. Further south the Lewis and Clark party in 1805 crossed the main divide by a very easy pass, the Lemhi, and came to the waters of tributary streams, not the river itself. It is known that intelligent Indians and men of mixed blood had crossed the Rockies