David Thompson (The Canadians Series)

David Thompson arrived in North America in 1784. He was a penniless boy who came to make his fortune with the Hudson's Bay Company. His natural curiosity and love of the outdoors took him deep into Canada's uncharted wilderness in search of fur trade routes and adventure. Along the way he braved harsh elements and faced great danger to help build fur trading posts from the Saskatchewan River to the Pacific coast. Thompson's life changed forever when he learned mathematics, astronomy and field surveying. From that time on, surveying and mapmaking became his life's work. In his journals he recorded the temperature and wind direction, and the latitude and longitude of every river or lake he travelled, every post or depot he visited. In his 28 years exploring western North America, David Thompson surveyed, plotted and mapped almost 5 million square kilometres of terrain. Yet he remained in obscurity for many years after his death before being recognized as "the greatest land geographer who ever lived." Book jacket.Smith, James K. is the author of 'David Thompson (The Canadians Series)' with ISBN 9781550414936 and ISBN 1550414933.