58 T. C. ELLIOTT
skilled in surveying. One Philip Turner was one of those, and during the winter of 1789-90 it happened that David Thompson, nineteen years of age and eager to learn, and Mr. Turner, a kind man and willing to teach, wintered together at Cumberland House near the Saskatchewan river, and it was then that David Thompson became skilled in the use of the sextant and chronometer and the fine art of astronomical observations. And from that time in particular began his habit of noting in his daily journals the scientific location of the prominent stopping places and trading posts, and courses of the streams.
The "gentlemen" of the Hudson's Bay Company in charge of affairs in North America were as a rule forceful and saga- cious and tactful men, but of necessity life at trading posts was monotonous and solitary and tended to make some men morose and overbearing, particularly because of the use of liquor in the trade. David Thompson had an abhorrence for liquor in every form and also was a devout man in his daily life and ambitious to do his work thoroughly, and when it happened that the chief factor at York, who was a surly man and gen- erally disliked, sent orders to do no more surveying, he decided to make a change, 11 and so we find in his journal on May 23rd, 1797, this entry : "This day left the service of the Hudsons' Bay Company, and entered that of the Company of Merchants from Canada. May God Almighty prosper me." He walked seventy-five miles across country to a trading post of the rival company, and from there was sent to headquarters at Grand Portage on Lake Superior, where he was welcomed and set to work and soon after received into active partnership.
Life now became to David Thompson a continual joy in the sense of freedom to do the kind of work he loved to do well. His was the task of locating scientifically the various trading posts of the North West Company, and the energy with which he entered into the hardships and toil of such a task is an inspiration to contemplate. He was now in active
11 His term of service was about to expire.
