Fondo F1787 - David Thompson fonds

David Thompson, 1770-1857, noted explorer, fur trader and mapmaker, was born in London. He joined the Hudson's Bay Company in 1784, and in 1790 studied surveying and mapmaking with the HBC's official surveyor. In 1792, he was asked to find a better route from Hudson Bay to Lake Athabasca. Unhappy with HBC support for his surveys, he joined the North West Company in 1797, and over the next two years mapped its posts and connecting waterways. In 1799, he became a trader with the NWC, and by 1806 had risen to partner. From 1806 to 1811, with the aim of extending the fur trade, he explored and surveyed the area west of the Rockies, including the Columbia River to the Pacific. He married Charlotte Small, a fur trader's daughter, and they had 13 children. He retired to eastern Canada in 1812 with his wife and family. He then completed maps of his surveys, and later in life wrote a narrative of his explorations.

For more biographical information, see David Thompson : Fur Trader, Explorer, Geographer / James Kimmond Smith. - Toronto : Oxford University Press, 1971.