DAVID THOMPSON AND BEGINNINGS IN IDAHO 55
neys of exploration down the Pend Oreille river, going nearly as far as Metaline Falls, and being the first white man to survey that interesting river. He was endeavoring, without success, to find a nearer route for canoe travel to the Columbia river. From Kullyspell House also he was the first man to survey and leave a record of the route later adopted by en- gineers for use in the construction of the Northern Pacific railroad between Missoula, Montana, and Lake Pend Oreille. His last visit at this house was on June 6th, 1811, when pass- ing from the Saleesh or Flathead country to Spokane House and Kettle Falls on his remarkable journey down the Columbia river to its mouth that summer. 9
In the spring of 1810 the furs collected at Saleesh House were brought down the river to Kiullyspell House and together with those bought locally were pressed and packed for trans- port to market, and on May 9th, 1810, Mr. Thompson and Mr. McMillan set out on that long and weary journey, Finan McDonald and Jaco Finlay being left in charge of the business in the field. The route to market was circuitous and hazard- ous, the greater distances by water but with long portages by land. From Kullyspell House the loaded canoes were pushed up the swollen waters of Pack river to the crossing of the Lake Indian Road to the Kootenai, and there pack horses were in waiting. At Bonners Ferry other canoes were made ready and from there partly in canoes and partly upon horses the packs were carried up the river to the portage at Columbia Lake in what is now British Columbia. From there by the water route the transport was one hundred miles northward down the Columbia river to the mouth of Blaeberry creek, where was the western end of the trail leading across the Rocky mountains by way of the Howse Pass. After climbing over the "height of land," as they termed it, the waters of the Saskatchewan were reached and canoes and bateaux again brought into service. Then came the long journey down the river and across Lake Winnipeg and through the chain of
9 Consult "Journal of David Thompson" in Oregon Historical Quarterly, Vol .X. v
