Remembering David Thompson: Kootenae House site

Situated between Invermere and the historic town of Wilmer, this idyllic spot, marked only with a cairn, overlooks the Columbia River.

Here in 1807 geographer David Thompson established a Northwest Company trading post, calling it Kootenae House after the local people, the Ktunaxa or Kootenay nation.

Over the next five years, Thompson mapped the Columbia, travelling over 32,000 km on foot and by canoe, dogsled, and horseback.

The Columbia River is the fourth largest by volume in North America. Today it is an important source of hydro electricity, and has numerous dams at various points in both Canada and the US.

The river arises in the Rocky Mountain Trench near  BC and flows into the Pacific at Astoria, Oregon.

Below is a drawing of Kootenae fur fort as it would have looked in the nineteenth century.