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tive Mr. Thompson states (p. 556) that their party left Kettle Falls for Athabasca Portage or Pass on the 22nd of April, 1812, in six canoes, carrying in all one hundred and twenty-two packs of furs weighing ninety pounds to the pack, in addition to three hundred pounds of provisions and five men in each canoe. This then is the record

of the original shipment of merchantable product direct from the Spokane country to the markets of the civilized world. These furs reached London by way of Montreal. Mr. McTavish accompanied the party as far as the Athabasca Pass and perhaps further.

This contribution completes the series entitled David Thompson's Journeys in the Spokane Country. In August, 1812, a large party of men of the Pacific Fur Company (John Jacob Astor) arrived from the mouth of the Columbia River and began the erection of a rival trading post about one-quarter mile from Spokane House. Of that enterprise we have several published accounts, but these journal entries of David Thompson furnish the original record of travel and trade in the Spokane country.

T. C. ELLIOTT.

JOURNAL OF DAVID THOMPSON, MARCH 25-29, 1812

March 25

Wednesday. A cloudy cold stormy day, from the west d. In Morng. froze & a little snow. Sent off Michel on a journey to the Columbia Falls1 & with him Coté & Deleau. to search for birch rind & bring what they find, if good to the Falls. An Indian to go with Methode to visit the Cedar said to be abt 25 m. hence, but altho' spoke to yesterday at noon, cannot be got to find his horses yet. Sent Tobacco by an old Shawpatin2 & 2 others to the Tribe in general to cross the Mountains to the Saleesh Indians.

March 26

Thursday. 6 a. m. 16-W-tly. 112, Cloudy. 2 P. M. 30-N.W.ly 2 Cloudy. Men sent for horses did not arrive till 414 p. m., too late to set off. At noon sent 2 lads to examine the Cedar said to be at a small lake on our road.

March 27

Calm. At 1112 Eastly wind 14.

Friday. 6 a. m. 26- Moderate snow 2 In. deep. a. m. ceased. the rest of the day mild fine weather. at 812 a. m. set off with 4 hourses, 3 for Baggage and Provisions. At 3 p. m. came to the campt. at the parting of the Roads in the

1 Where Long Lake dam now is; but perhaps Kettle Falls.
Nez Perce Indian.

Probably Newman Lake, near the road he traveled on March 23rd.
Near the Antoine Plante place, where he camped the night of March 23rd.

Great Plain, baited 1 1-3 hours. found part of a Chevruil, that a man had hung up, which had been run down by the wolves. 1921⁄2 S. M., say 151⁄2 G. M., set off at 4-20, held on to 51⁄2 p. m. & put up at a rill. one of our horses knocked up. here the lads came to us, they saw only a few useless small Cedars. we have therefore lost our time & must now turn to the Columbia.

March 28

Saturday. A cloudy windy Morng. Set the pt. of the Skeetshoo River, at the sortie of the Lake, as we think, N. 72 E 10 m. Here a pt. stretches to the Northd., the hills to the eastd. bend round to the S. Ed. & it is said the end of the Lake is somewhere abt. E. S.

9

Ed. of us. The Skeetshoo River runs nearly parallel with the road, formg. from hence an L. of abt. 20° to the Sortie from the Lake, abt. S. 35 E. 12 m. from us is a Fall." MM. Co. to the Campt S. 80 W. 2 m. At campt turn N.W. up the Banks, then hold on a little, see the Hills of the at the Ho. of Trout Brook, they bear due S. 87 W. 16 m. by walking. These Hills run abt. N.N.W. by the Compass to the Saleesch River. The Horse Plains formd a deep Bay to the right, beyond which, abt. 15 m., a ridge of Hills near perpend. to the first stretch, & these are soon hid from the view by those from the Plain we left, which are now abt. 3 m. dist. & wind along shutting in the Horse Plains on the right at an L of W.N.W. many isolated Knowls &c. Cranes, Frogs, & Rooks to-day, the latter 6 days ago. Willows budding, Grass turning a lively green; in the afternoon the men arrived & directly sent them off, they slept about 1/4 m. below the Forks of the Trout Brook 10 with the Skeetshoo River, camped with them.

11

March 29

Sunday. A sharp morng., ther. 18°. Early set off 6:38 a. m. went to the top of the Bank,11 here I set the Co. to the Ho. S. 55 E. 12 m. The Skeetshoo River passg. the Ho. runs to the north to the meetg. of the Trout Brook, then bends round to the westd. & So.d. to due South, & round the Pt. no Hills to be seen to the southd. & eastd. but bold woody land; from the north end of the Pt. I set the Co. up the Hills over the bottom & to the bend of the Defile we take on the top of do. is N. 36 W. then turns. to the W.N.Wd. Co. from

This camp close to the Washington-Idaho boundary line. The next morning he goes a little distance toward Post Falls before starting back.

His name for the Spokane River but really for the Coeur de Alene Lake and tribe.
Post Falls.

Spokane House. He is now on the ridge between the Spokane River and Peone Prairie.
The Pend d'Oreille River.

10 The Little Spokane River.

"The camp was about 4 mile below the mouth of Little Spokane River and he climbed the hill north of the camp for these observations.

So. end of Pt. to north do N. 53 W. 5 m., then N. 36 W. 12 to Rill,12 where we baited at the foot of the Hills at 9:48 a. m. Men on foot walked well, here the River goes off abt. due So. 5 m., at which Pt. the Falls 13 is said to be. At 10.55 a. m. set off, at 1 1-3 p. m. at the partg. Roads for roots &c., Co. has been N. 36 W. 3 m., all rising hill, Co. N. 80 or 70 W. 3 m. to the wet Plain. Co. to the Pt. of Hill from the right N. 80 W. 1 m. Met Michel & La Course, from whom I had a Goose, abt. the size of a large stock Duck, the whole species is of this size. Turn N. 30 W. 1 m. to the Brook,14 beneath a Bank. 2 p. m. here we baited. The Brook comes from the Marsh & Hills to the left and runs S.E.d, then winds round to the Wtd., at 3.5 p. m. set off, at 4-3/4 crossed the bold Brook, at 5 p. m. recrossed the do., kept along it sometimes within view to 5.45 p. m., when we camped at a small rill, our Co. has been N. 30 W. 81⁄2 G. M. to the Brook, this comes from the Hills N.Ed., held on by 3 small Ponds of Water all still frozen, snow in places, Co. N. 30 W 3/5 m., recrossed the Brook, held on N. 30 W. 1-3/4 m. to a Rile at which we camped. An Ilthkoyape Indian came along with us, he shared of our fare.

12 At Tumtum.

13 Long Lake Dam.

14 Chimakaine Creek, which they crossed and recrossed a little later.

18 Note No. 6 at page 287 of this quarterly should have read Twin Lakes insteda of Spirit Lake.

HISTORY OF IRRIGATION IN THE STATE OF

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WASHINGTON *

[Continued from page 276, Volume IX.]

THE STATE EPOCH OF CANAL BUILDING

Private enterprises, however, did not idly await the Government's aid, but went on in leaps and bounds. The largest project is that known as the Sunnyside Canal, already mentioned since the survey thereof, and properly belongs to the preceding period. The first survey was begun in 1885 by J. D. McIntyre as chief engineer and completed by 1889. This survey provided for the intake two miles above where the Naches flows into the Yakima, the ditch to run west of the Ahtanum basin, cross the Ahtanum five miles west of its confluence with the Yakima River, follow along the steep hillside south of Ahtanum Creek to Union Gap, then across the Yakima River by pipe line, to the easterly side of the river, at which point the elevation obtained above the Yakima River and above the Sunnyside line is 179 feet thence along the foot of Rattlesnake Range in a southerly direction to a point about north of Prosser, a total distance of ninety-eight miles of canal. The cost estimated is $500,000, and storage reservoirs may be built at $100,000 which would double the capacity of the canal. In order to irrigate successfully the whole tract of 200,000 acres it was also advised that a lower canal be built. The Yakima Canal and Land Company was organized December 4, 1889, with a capital of $1,000,000. Walter N. Granger was made its first president. He gives us the following interesting incident: "At the instance of friends, in 1889, I came from Montana to look over the irrigation project presented by that portion of the lower Yakima Valley locally called Sunnyside section. So one June morning, accompanied by a guide, I left North Yakima. We soon passed the Gap, Park Bottom and out into the valley. A few miles farther down we ascended Snipes Mountain and traveled along its summit the better to view the country on either side. . . . As I gazed on the scene I then and there resolved that a city should some day be built. My mind was then made up regarding the feasibility of the canal project, and the next day we rode to the nearest telegraphic station, where I wired for my crew of engineers." (History of Klickitat, Yakima and

Continuation of a thesis submitted by Miss Rose M. Boening, of Yakima, as part of her work for the Master's degree in History in the University of Washington.

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Kittitas Counties, p. 222.) The company obtained an option from the Northern Pacific Company for the purchase of all railroad lands in the Sunnyside region. When the enterprise seemed so promising, the Northern Pacific made advances to the irrigation company for consolidation, with the result that the Northern Pacific took two-thirds of the stock and the new company was known as the Northern Pacific, Yakima and Kittitas Irrigation Company. It proposed to build seven reservoirs in the mountains and to build one canal in Kittitas County and two in Yakima. William Hamilton Hall, a famous engineer from California, was procured to verify the work of McIntyre, on which he reported favorably.

Work was begun in the early part of 1891 on the lower Sunnyside ditch, the one which has its intake just below Union Gap, "where the river pinches itself between two high hills - Nature seems to have designed it as a place for an intake of a great canal." They took over the Kennewick ditch, which had just increased its capital stock from $10,000 to $15,000. This they proposed to enlarge and extend so as to carry "one thousand cubic feet of water per second of time and serve 68,000 acres of land."

Work was continued, and on March 26, 1892, was held a great celebration, for twenty-five miles had been completed. The Yakima Herald says, "The announcement of the date of the ceremony was very brief, but sufficient to attract a large throng of people, who early in the morning could be seen wending their way down the river road by every means of conveyance that could possibly be secured.

Paul Schultze, president of the company, arrived in his special car from Tacoma. Many prominent men were there to witness the ceremony and inspect the great work, which is but the beginning of the most important system of irrigating canals in America. The intake of the canal where the dams and headgates are located is seven miles from and within sight of the two Buttes, the historic battleground. There a platform had been built, and at 10 o'clock Hon. R. K. Nichols, as master of ceremonies, called the assembled people to order. . Hon. Edward Whitson, Hon. J. B. Reavis, Hon. Gardner C. Hubbard (of Washington, D. C.) and Paul Schultze made speeches appropriate to the occasion. Miss Dora Allen broke a bottle of champagne over the headgates as the water swirled into the new canal and the band played lively airs." The first water was taken by new settlers from the main canal in April, 1892. The financial depression of 1892 caused the work to be suspended, but even ere the panic had passed work began again, and by 1893 Superintendent Granger's June day resolution had been fulfilled.

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