Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1930-09-18

! bell, give the location as near to what
Thompson calls the "Kootenai Road
and which was the main trail from that
river to the Flathead country.
But as if to make assurance doubly
| sure, we have been fortunate in Sc
curing the most convincing evidence of
all, viz: First, an old map issued by
! the Hudson's Bay company in or
about the year 1862, giving the exact
location of all these posts existing at
the time of the Union, and down to
the year 1862.
The story of the finding of this piece
of evidence is interesting. In the pala-
tial store of the Hudsons Bay COM
pany, Vancouver, B. c., there has been
gathered together wonderful histori-
cal collection consisting of charts,
weapons, firearms, models of old trad
! ing posts, and sailing vessels. But to
us, the best of all, was the splendid
display of maps, two of them stand
ing out conspicuously in beautiful
frames. One is large relief map in
colors in size eight feet by eight feet
and scaled to one inch equal to IS miles.
This map is headed Showing the
trade routes of the Hudson's Bay COM
pany from 1868 to 1870 Another map
the same size and also drawn to the
! same scale bears the superscription
Historical and chronological map of
Hudson's Bay forts and posts from 1910
TO 1870 On both of these maps the
Kootenai river is plainly shown, from
its source to where its waters merge
with the waters of the Columbia. What
rivited our attention, however, was
the fact that just at the big Loop"
near Jennings, the place referred to
by Jacob Meyers and John Campbell,
and also mentioned by Ross Cox, there
is marked among dozens of others, a
post with the words "Old Kootansi
Fort indicating that the house erected
by Finan Mcdonald had been taken
over by the company at the Union in
1921
Sir Charles Piers, Bart, under whose
supervision the exhibit has been placed
and who has been instrumental in
gathering the collection together, very
kindly devoted two hours of his valu-
able time to explaining the various
items in this unique collection, and in
answer to one query as to the reasons
so1 marking a post as having been sit
uated at the point indicated on the
map, his reply was that the records of
the company were the authority and
to confirm his statement, he called
our attention to another map, with
the caption Sir George Simpsons
Journeys across the Rocky Mountains.
This map primarily intended to show
the course of the three journeys made
by this gifted explorer and also the
location of all the company's posts ex-
isting at that time. Our attention was
also drawn to a chart hanging near
this map and which was compiled
many years ago. Principal Hudson's
Bay Forts and Posts, west of Rocky
Mountains from 1900 to l870,' and
odd Fort Kootenai' is mentioned
among the others.
So deeply interested were we in this
map, that we had the temerity to re-
quest permission to have copy made.
1t was asking great deal, as the map
is Of great historical value, and it
meant it's removal from the collections
for some time. However, when it was
explained that the copy would be
placed in Lincoln county library, for
the use Of the inhabitants of Kootenai
Valley, Sir Charles very kindly grant
ed our request, had the map sent to
photographer, and the resultant copy
is now in the care OF Miss Ratekin,
county librarian. The securing of this
confirmatory evidence seemed to us
to be the completion of our quest, and
substantiated the position we had
taken up.
However, before closing our MARIA
tive, we made a visit to Mr. Edgar S.
Robinson, principal librarian of Van
couver public library To this gentle
men, we are deeply indebted for his
hearty cooperation and help. With a
well informed mind, and with deep
admiration for David Thompson, he has
spared no pains to assist us in arriv-
ing at a definite conclusion.
When we submitted our notes to