[Illustration: THIS MAP WILL HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND (left half)] [Illustration: DAVID THOMPSON'S JOURNEYS (right half)] CANADIAN MEN OF ACTION--NUMBER II. The Series edited by W. Stewart Wallace, Librarian of the University of Toronto. DAVID THOMPSON DAVID THOMPSON THE EXPLORER BY CHARLES NORRIS COCHRANE Associate Professor of Ancient History, University College, Toronto TORONTO THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED 1924 Copyright, Canada, 1924 BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA LIMITED Printed in Canada PREFATORY NOTE I wish to acknowledge the great debt which I owe to Mr. J. B. Tyrrell for the use of material contained in his edition of Thompson's _Narrative_. It was Mr. Tyrrell who first rescued the name of Thompson from the undeserved oblivion into which it had sunk. Those who are familiar with his introduction and notes, will recognize how largely I have borrowed from them in preparing this short life. C. N. C. June 1924. CONTENTS I APPRENTICED TO THE COMPANY 1770-1786 II HE FINDS HIS MÉTIER 1786-1791 III TRADER, SURVEYOR, EXPLORER 1791-1797 IV WITH THE NORTH-WESTERS 1797-1798 V EIGHT YEARS OF TRADING 1798-1806 VI ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE 1806-1810 VII THE RACE TO THE SEA 1810-1812 VIII LAST YEARS 1812-1857 DAVID THOMPSON CHAPTER I APPRENTICED TO THE COMPANY On the 30th of December, 1783, the Governors of the Grey Coat School at Westminster, England, received from the secretary of the Hudson's Bay Company a request for four boys, trained in navigation, to be apprenticed to the Company for service at their posts in America. At that time, there were in the school but two boys so qualified--Samuel John McPherson and David Thompson. The one was so terrified by the prospect of perils and hardships unknown, that within a week he ran away from the school and was heard of no more. The other accepted the destiny for which he had been marked out, and became one of the greatest land surveyors that the British race has ever produced.