Thompson, David (1770-1857), was a Canadian explorer, cartographer, and fur trader. He was the first white person to travel the Columbia River from its source to its mouth. He explored extensive areas of Canada, including the Saskatchewan River system and the Western plains, and surveyed the northernmost source of the Mississippi River. From 1816 to 1826, he was a surveyor on the boundary between the United States and Canada. He made an important early map of northwestern North America. His description of his explorations was published in 1916 as David Thompson’s Narrative of His Explorations in Western America, 1784-1812.
Thompson was born on April 30, 1770, in Westminster, England. He was apprenticed to the Hudson’s Bay Company when he was 14 years old. He worked for the North West Company from 1797 to 1812. Thompson died on Feb. 10, 1857.
