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Sources of the River

Tracking David Thompson Across Western North America
May 10, 2017whollybro rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Most of the book is taken from David Thompson's own accounts of his explorations from the Hudson Bay westward, across the Rockies and into the Kootenays and south along the Columbia River to it's mouth on the Pacific Ocean. Thompson tells of the fur trade that was the impetus for his exploration, his companions the voyageurs that made his travels possible, his encounters and cooperation with the peoples he met on his journeys and of the land that so fascinated him. Thompson's is likely the earliest account of this region, my native region, and I thought about this as I drove a very short stretch of the David Thompson Highway this afternoon. This book is fascinating and difficult to put down and the author's own retracing of Thompson's travels fixes the places of Thompson's time with those of our own recognition.