David Thompson (explorer)
David Thompson (April 30, 1770- February 10, 1857), was a Canadian surveyor and explorer. He was born in London, and died in Montreal, Canada.Thompson was the first European to explore the Columbia River from source to mouth. He was a fur trapper, and worked for the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1797, he left the Hudson’s Bay Company and joined the North West Company. The maps he made of the Columbia River basin east of the Cascade Mountains were of such high quality and detail that they continued to be used as authoritative by many people well into the mid-20th century.
He married Charlotte Small, who bore 13 children in total.
In his published journals, Thompson recorded seeing large footprints similar to Bigfoot reports. [1]