Shardlow - David Thompson

David Thomposon, 17701857.

Tom Shardlow

Tom Shardlow is a research biologist who has more than thirty articles published in international scientific and technical journals. His diverse writing ranges from poetry and award-winning short fiction published in literary magazines to book reviews for Quill and Quire and Canadian Geographic. His freelance work, which includes creative drawings and photographs, often appears as feature articles in magazines and newspapers. Currently, he is working on two non-fiction books, one for children, the other a popular history of biology, and he is completing a science-fiction novel. Tom Shardlow lives with his family on Vancouver Island. Comments on his books may be sent to tomshardlow@shaw.ca

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David Thompson

David THOMPSON

A TRAIL BY STARS

Copyright 2006 Tom Shardlow and XYZ Publishing.

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency is an infringement of the copyright law.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Shardlow, Tom, 1958-

David Thompson : a trail by stars

(The Quest library; 29)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-894852-18-0

ISBN-10: 1-894852-18-4

1. Thompson, David, 17701857. 2. Explorers - Northwest, Canadian - Biography. 3. Fur traders - Northwest, Canadian - Biography. 4. Cartographers - Northwest, Canadian - Biography. I. Title. II. Series: Quest library; 29.

FC3212.1 .T46S52 2006 971.03092 C2006-941801-2

C813.3 C2006-940992-7

PS9426.063Z62 2006

Legal Deposit: Fourth quarter 2006

Library and Archives Canada

Bibliothque et Archives nationales du Qubec

XYZ Publishing acknowledges the support of The Quest Library project by the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.

The publishers further acknowledge the financial support our publishing program receives from The Canada Council for the Arts, the ministre de la Culture et des Communications du Qubec, and the Socit de dveloppement des entreprises culturelles.

Chronology: Clarence Karr

Index: Darcy Dunton

Layout: discript enr.

Cover design: Zirval Design

Cover illustration: Magali Lefranois

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For my wife, Sue

Contents

David Thompson exemplified the motto Perseverance written across the top of the North West Companys coat of arms.

David Thopsons Travels

Montreal

T he old man takes only small tentative steps toward the general store. He is trying to keep his balance on the hard-trodden snow that covers the street. Hunger more than old age has left him weak, and he is faint though he has gone only a short distance. He hunches his shoulders against the cold and wraps his moth-eaten greatcoat closer round him. He stops to watch as a horse and sleigh pull by and uses their passing as an excuse to rest. But the jingle of bells and the cheerful tittering of sled runners in the snow seem only to mock him.

Montreal is in the lock of a winter more bitter than most. The river is frozen and there will be no new supplies until shipping opens after the thaw in April. The city is overcrowded this year. Paupers, feet and legs bound with rags, shuffle half-heartedly along narrow roads and look for warmth. Unlike him, these are recent immigrants. Thousands arrived from Britain in summer before the ice-up. Many are fleeing the poverty and suffering of Ireland. They are poor and ill prepared for the Canadian winter and have taken up shelter where they can. Some are packed into dingy lodging houses, but most can afford only crude accommodation found in derelict hulks frozen in the river, or in empty warehouses. These are the lucky ones. Typhus and cholera have claimed the weak and malnourished. Some died while still on the defiled ships that brought them. More, having set foot in the new land, will die on the stone streets waiting for help that never comes. The old man is fortunate to have a small apartment above a shop in one of the dark limestone buildings.