Timeline Entry

July 15, 1811 Thompson reaches the mouth of the Columbia River.

On July 15th, 1811 Canadian explorer extraordinaire David Thompson and his party arrives on the shore of the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the much sought after mouth of the Columbia River. This essentially completes his vast mapping quest stretching from the Great Slave Lake in Canada, across the major rivers of the Northwest. His accomplishment served as the British counterpoint to the Corps of Discovery lead by Lewis and Clark.

Original citation: "David Thompson's map. Credit: National Geographic, May 1996."

However, it was different in several important respects. Thompson was funded by the Northwest Company. Lewis and Clark were funded by the U.S. Congress. Lewis and Clark''s success prefigured the mass migration of American settlers into the West. These settlers quickly amassed the necessary population needed for territorial governments and statehood. Thompson's success emboldened the British fur interests which would forge and control the trading economy north of the Columbia for another 30 years. But ultimately the fur trade ended and the American demographic tide prevailed over native and British interests.

Thus it is historically fitting that Thompson arrived second - after Lewis and Clark and also after the Astorians sent by John Jacob Astor, who were busily building Fort Astoria when he arrived. The Northwest Company and later the British Hudson's Bay Company bought out the American fur interests. But the American settlers won the long contest for control of the Northwest.

The HistoryLink provides some interesting detail. Also,

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council site provides good articles with images and maps. The map above is drawn from here. See our Delicious site as well.

Denish, D'Arcy. "The Great Map." Beaver, Vol. 84, Winter 2004.

Historical Images

What makes a great historical image?

When I think about historical images I'm looking for specific information. How did the city look? How did the loggers cut through the enormous trees?

I also enjoy looking for themes - Logging, Gold Rush, Homesteading. These broad economic activities defined communities and incorporate the adventures of millions of human beings, spending their life's energy to build warm homes and productive farms or move the wood from the great forests to the walls of houses and the decks of ships. Other themes include Faith, Recreation, and Education.

Here's a nice historic image which I found by Google Image Search: washington frontier homestead. It is published by the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection.

Note the structure of the house. The main frame of the house is built of logs, irregularly sized. But notice the finished lumber of the gable, the manufactured shakes of the roof, and the glass pane windows. A bordered garden surrounds the house and contains several varieties of flowers. A trellis of sorts stands at the right end of the garden, perhaps supporting bushes of some variety. The family stands in front of the house, but no obvious relations are apparent. Their demeanor is relaxed which matches the family's simple and rather somber clothing.

From the caption information we know that this was "the old homestead of Milton N. Robbins on the Duwamish River," (which flows into Seattle's Elliot Bay) "built in 1870." The caption also offers a "ca. 1880" date, meaning that the cabin is about ten years old at the time of the photo.

So we can imagine the homestead set back from the bank of the Duwamish River. It represents the labor of ten years, which makes sense given the size of the garden plants and the general prosperity of the home. Further research might uncover the exact identities of the four people in the photo, the exact location of the homestead and its size.

Thousands of pioneers built homesteads more or less like this one in western Washington from the 1840s to the early 20th century. This is an example of a prosperous, relatively large home, probably built adjacent to fertile river-bottom land. I found images of a few other homes which were smaller and more shack-like.

How different would it have been to live in this home than in the sod house in which my great grandmother was born in North Dakota around 1900? I like the information that this photo provides and the questions that it generates, pulling us into a deeper understanding of the past.