David Thompson Was Early Visitor
This article appeared in the Missoulian Centennial issue.
David Thompson Was Early Visitor to City Site
David Thompson was one of the earliest white men to see the site of what is now Missoula.
As a boy after his birth in 1770 he was an orphan. He became a pathfinder, fur trader, explorer and scientist.
While in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Co., he began commerce in the Pacific Northwest. He built the first roofed house in Montana – the original Salish House.
In the winter of 1812 he made several short exploration trips from Salish House. Cochrane, in his “Canadian Men of Action,” reports that on one of these: “From Saleesh House, he rode east along Clark’s Fork to a hill top within the limits of the present city of Missoula, and from thence he was able to trace the route of Lewis and Clark through the Bitter Root Mountains to the banks of the Snake River.”
J. B. Tyrrell, in “David Thompson’s Narrative,” amplifies the details of this excursion somewhat and adds, “. . . he rode up the bank of Flathead River to Jocko Creek, up that creek, and over a defile to the summit of what is now known as Missoula, Mont., near the banks of Hell Gate River, which he called ‘Courter’s Branch.’ Here he spent several hours making a sketch of the surrounding country, and tracing out the route by which Lewis and Clark had traveled through it, after which he returned as quickly as possible to the Saleesh camp.”