Evidence on the Adequacy of First Nations Consultation - BC Hydro ...

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
October 1800. Historian Hugh Dempsey presents a good, albeit now dated summary of the issue
in his article “David Thompson Under Scrutiny.” 27 Gaps in Thompson’s journals leave the
arguments undecided. More recently, however, historian Barbara Belyea has added comment to
this debate and concluded that in later years Thompson confused alleged early trips with those he
actually took in 1807 and 1811. 28 She points to a somewhat garbled postscipt to Peter Fidler’s 31
December 1792 letter that describes how a three week expedition intended to cross the
mountains was aborted when “the Guide refused to go any farther for fear of the Cottonahaws
[Ktunaxa] killing him.” 29
What we do know, however, is that David Thompson set out to find the Ktunaxa in October
1800. The trip is described in Thompson’s journal, as well as David Thompson’s Narrative,
edited by Richard Glover in 1962. Claude Schaeffer in his 1966 article, “Le Blanc and La
Gasse” extracted the relevant passages of Thompson’s journal during his expedition west from
Rocky Mountain House and back in the fall of 1800. Since publication of that article, however,
historian Barbara Belyea edited Columbia Journals: David Thompson (1994), her selection of
passages from Thompson’s journals “which describe each stage of his exploration of the
Columbia, beginning with his first attempts to cross the divide and concluding with his ascent of
the river from Astoria to Boat Encampment.” 30 This is the superior source of information on
David Thompson’s journals, for Belyea has avoided any attempt to popularize or overly-interpret
the journals, as was common in earlier editions. 31
The journals compiled by Belyea describe how in October 1800 David Thompson accompanied
by several North West Company men and two Aboriginal guides set out from Rocky Mountain
House and headed southwest. They first met some Blood on their way to the Fort, then a couple
of parties of “Pekenow” [Peigan], described as being “jealous of the Kootaneas coming in to
Trade…”. 32 At one of the camps, two “Pekenow” [Piegan] men appeared who had stolen some
27 See, for example, Hugh Dempsey (1964). David Thompson Under Scrutiny, Alberta Historical Review
Vol. 12(1), pp. 22-28. Dempsey supports the opinion of historian Richard Glover that Thompson did not cross to the
Columbia River in October 1800, as Thompson much later claimed. See Richard Glover , editor (1962). David
Thompson’s Narrative, 1784-1812. Champlain Society: Toronto. A contrary view has been put forward by Arthur
Morton (1936). The North West Company’s Columbian Enterprise and David Thompson. The Canadian Historical
Review, Vol. XVII, pp.266-288. Morton claims that David Thompson, along with Duncan McGillivray, first
crossed the Rockies through Athabaska Pass in 1801 and travelled south to the Kootenay River.
28 Belyea 1994, page 207.
29 Belyea 1994, page 207.
30 Belyea 1994, page xx.
31 The issue of interpretation of these journals is discussed by Belyea (1994, pp. IX-XXIV) in her
Introduction to the Columbia Journals.
32 Belyea 1994, page 5.
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