Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/134



124 T. C. ELLIOTT

August 13th, Tuesday. 98 A very fine day. At Sy 2 A. M. set off and at 6y 2 A. M. arrived at the House. Thank God for His mercy to us on this journey. Found all safe but Joco was with the horses sent to meet us. Late in the evening he ar- rived. Our course was about northwest 3 miles. We came faster but our road was always down hill.

112 degrees 17 minutes 30 seconds. N. Lat. 47 degrees 47 minutes 2 seconds.

EDITOR'S FURTHER NOTE.

Our transcript of the journal ends with the entry of August 13th, 1811. After spending four days at Spokane House Mr. Thompson continued on overland to Ilthkoyape or Kettle Falls where he proceeded to build another canoe of cedar boards. It may be remarked that when at Spokane House in June, 1811, he had given instructions to his clerk Finan McDonald to explore the Columbia from Ilthkoyape north during the sum- mer, which Mr. McDonald did as far up as Death Rapids (Dalles des Mort), i. e., to forty or fifty miles above Revel- stoke, B. C., and then returned. Mr. Thompson was under appointment to meet about Oct. 1st the party sent across the mountains with trading goods from Fort William on Lake Superior. He therefore again embarked at Kettle Falls early in Sept. and ascended the river through the Arrow Lakes and the various rapids to the mouth of Canoe river, where he had camped the previous winter, thus completing the exploration and survey of the entire length of the Columbia river from source to mouth between April and October, 1811. The trans- mountain party were delayed in arriving and did not bring all the goods for the trade, so he started one canoe down the river and himself crossed the Athabasca Pass for the remainder, returned and hurried down the Columbia and from Kettle Falls portaged over to the Pend d'Oreille river and then trav- eled up that river a'nd our Clark Fork river to his Saleesh House among the Flathead Indians, arriving there about the 20th of November. This completed his activities during the year 1811.

98 Mr. Thompson arrives today at Spokane House, which was located nine

miles northwest of present city of Spokane and had been erected there the

previous summer, 1810, presumably by Jacques Finlay who is in charge. Mr. Thompson remains here several days to rest.