Over 200 years ago David Thompson would have been within steps of this location. He was one of the most famous map makers of his time and was known to some Aboriginals as “Koo-Koo-Sint” or Stargazer for the technique he used.
In 1798, while employed with the North West Trading Company, he mapped this area and was responsible for the first trading post at the junction of the Lesser Slave & Athabasca Rivers, later to become Mirror Landing and then Smith.
He had impeccable standards in his professional and personal life. Many men of his time took Aboriginal women for their country wives and left them for their European wives when their business in the wilderness was done.
David married Charlotte Small, who was of Aboriginal descent in 1799. They had 13 children together and unlike other men of his time he stayed true to his bride. Their marriage lasted 58 years and is the longest Canadian pre-Confederation marriage known.
He did not believe in using alcohol as trade goods but was forced to take it. The horses that were used to carry the alcohol often met with unfortunate accidents that seemed not to harm them but to destroy their cargo. Pity.