The brigade is now plying the waters of the Pend Oreille river. This waterway is named for the pendant earrings that the local tribes wore. The French place names in Montana, Idaho and Washington (our current location) are a testament to the diverse heritage of this place and the brave French-Canadians and Metis voyageurs that brought the fur trade to the west coast. David Thompson called the Clark Fork and Pend Oreille the "Salish River", after the people he encountered in this area.
I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Jack Nisbet and have him sign a copy of 'Sources of the River,' his definitive text on Thompson's life and travels. Nisbet is an incredible storyteller, and kept us all enchanted through a two-hour talk. the highlight of the evening was a trip to see a replica of Thompson's original cedar strip canoe and a traditional Kalispel "sturgeon-nosed" canoe. The craftsmanship is outstanding on both of the boats!
Last night at Albeni Falls, we met a woman who shared her extensive historic bead collection with us. She showed us one string of beads, passed down through 4 generations, that had been originally traded by Lewis and Clark! Tonight we are staying on traditional Kalispel lands, and the community is preparing a salmon feast for us! The river is unseasonably high, and the conditions (cold and wet) are very similar to those encountered by Thompson 200 years ago. The river flows north now and we will avoid crossing back into Canada with a 60 km portage, rejoining the Pend Oreille just before it drains into the Columbia.
I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Jack Nisbet and have him sign a copy of 'Sources of the River,' his definitive text on Thompson's life and travels. Nisbet is an incredible storyteller, and kept us all enchanted through a two-hour talk. the highlight of the evening was a trip to see a replica of Thompson's original cedar strip canoe and a traditional Kalispel "sturgeon-nosed" canoe. The craftsmanship is outstanding on both of the boats!
Last night at Albeni Falls, we met a woman who shared her extensive historic bead collection with us. She showed us one string of beads, passed down through 4 generations, that had been originally traded by Lewis and Clark! Tonight we are staying on traditional Kalispel lands, and the community is preparing a salmon feast for us! The river is unseasonably high, and the conditions (cold and wet) are very similar to those encountered by Thompson 200 years ago. The river flows north now and we will avoid crossing back into Canada with a 60 km portage, rejoining the Pend Oreille just before it drains into the Columbia.
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