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

DRAFT REPORT: Rights and Title Interests in the Columbia Valley Transmission Project Area
Thompson’s 1810-1811 journal describes his trip from Boggy Hill on the Saskatchewan River to
the Athabaska Pass. 101 Once they had arrived in late January 1811 at the mouth of the Canoe
River in the Boat Encampment area, Thompson and his men constructed a cabin where they then
spent the next two months while building a canoe. In mid-April, with the new canoe now
completed, Thompson and his party set off up the Columbia, travelling south. Deep snow and the
rapids of the upper Columbia made Thompson’s trip difficult. He does not mention in his journal
seeing any Aboriginal people when he reached the Columbia River and began his ascent. Nor
does Thompson’s Narrative mention the presence of Aboriginal people anywhere in the area
between the Big Bend and the Columbia headwaters, apart from Cree and Iroquois Free Hunters
met while Thompson ascended the river. They were headed to the Canoe River, one of their
favourite locations to trap beaver. 102 In the vicinity of Canal Flat, on May 14 th , 1811, Thompson
met two Ktunaxa who had just come from the Tobacco Plains, where they had left most of the
Ktunaxa people. 103 Several days later, in the vicinity of what is now Jennings, Montana,
Thompson and his men came across a “Tent of Kootanae Indians” who informed him that “the
great camp has moved from this place [Tobacco Plains] only three days ago,” 104 but that
Thompson would find them, since he, too, was travelling to the “Saleesh” (Clark’s Fork River or
Pend d’Oreille). 105 Thompson and his men left their canoe around Jennings and proceeded
overland by horseback. Not finding anyone at the Clark’s Fork River, Thompson proceeded to
Kettle Falls on the Columbia where he built another wood canoe in order to descend the river to
its mouth. 106
Although Thompson in the first few months of 1811 passed through the entire upper Columbia
Valley, from Boat Encampment to Canal Flats, the two Ktunaxa people he met in the Canal Flats
area were the first local Aboriginal residents he reported seeing.
Thompson writes in his Narrative that, beginning in early July 1811, he proceeded down the
Columbia River to Astoria at its mouth, accompanied by seven company men, two Iroquois, and
two Sanpoil translators. 107 His mention of his company is notable, for the identity of the people
101 Belyea 1994, page117.
102 Glover 1962, pp. 328-329.
103 Glover 1962, page 329, fn. 2.
104 The Ktunaxa and freemen had left Tobacco Plains and were travelling south to the “Saleesh”
[Flathead] country (Glover 1962, page 329, fn. 2).
105 Glover 1962, page 329, fn. 2.
106 Glover 1962, pp. 329-337.
107 Glover 1962, page 339. The Sanpoil are speakers of the Okanagan-Colville (Interior Salish) language
and live along the Sanpoil River in Washington State. The Sanpoil River empties into the Columbia about 90 Km
downriver from Kettle Falls, Washington.
Bouchard & Kennedy Research Consultants Page 21
Page 24 of 200