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Published: September 21st 2016
Kootenai Falls
Downstream from Libby, the Kootenai River enters a canyon and flows over Kootenai Falls, one of the largest free-flowing waterfalls in the northwest. The falls and surrounding area are considered sacred to the Kootenai Indians whose ancestors inhabited the region.We drove from Sandpoint to Whitefish today...It was a beautiful sunny day, with almost no traffic on our route. We drove north to Bonner's Ferry, and then east to Libby, north again to Eureka, and finally south to Whitefish.
We learned more about the great geographer, David Thompson, on this trip.
David Thompson was born in London, England, on April 30, 1770. His parents were Welsh, and of little means. His father died when he was two, and at the tender age of seven, he was enrolled by his mother in the historic 'Grey Coat' charity school near Westminster Abbey.
Having shown an aptitude for mathematics, his education was oriented towards preparing him for life as a midshipman in the Royal Navy. His studies included algebra, trigonometry, geography, and navigation using 'practical astronomy'. Over the years, the Hudson's Bay Company made periodic requests to the school for students to be apprenticed to the North American fur trade and one of them was the fourteen-year-old David Thompson. In May 1784, he set sail for Hudson's Bay aboard the Prince Rupert. He never saw his mother or England again.
He was a
British-Canadian fur trader,
surveyor, and
map-maker,
Former lake bottom..10,000 years ago!
Near here, David Thompson and his party ate some very rancid elk (they were starving) and nearly died....! known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer."
Over Thompson's career, he traveled some 90,000 kilometres (56,000 mi) across North America, mapping 4.9 million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles) of North America along the way. For this historic feat, Thompson has been described as the "greatest land geographer who ever lived." And I love what an amazing woman his wife Charlotte appeared to be: "At Ile-à-la-Crosse, on June 10, 1799, Thompson married Charlotte Small. She was the mixed-blood daughter of Patrick Small, a prominent North West Company partner who had worked with Peter Pond. We know little about Charlotte or their relationship. We do not know when Thompson first met Charlotte ; it may have been the previous year during his first visit. Theirs was to be a lasting union, and perhaps a partnership as well. Years later Thompson wrote 'My lovely wife is of the blood of these people, speaking their language, and well educated in the English language, which gives me a great advantage' (Nisbet, 49). Charlotte was to bear him thirteen children, accompany him on many of his travels, and return with him to Montreal at the end of his career of exploration."
We stopped a few times to look at historical markers, and to take a longer hike to Kootenai Falls. These falls were a lucky discovery on our part, thanks to my Roadside Geology book, since they weren't on the map. There are many cool rock formations there, along with a swinging bridge and a variety of small falls.
"Kootenai Falls on the Kootenai River is a scenic attraction not to be missed. The calm river suddenly gathers momentum surging first through China Rapids and then over Kootenai Falls, dropping 90 feet in less than a mile. The main falls is 30 feet high and can be viewed from a "swinging bridge" that crosses the river. During the Depression, CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) crews did a lot of work in the area constructing roads and bridges, including the first swinging bridge, across the Kootenai River.
The falls area is a sacred site to the Kootenai Indians who once called this area home. This was a place where tribal members communed with spiritual forces. In the early 1800s, David Thompson, a Canadian explorer and employee of the Northwest Company, traveled into the Kootenai river area and used the Kootenai
On the swinging bridge....
Those with vertigo might want to skip this, but the views are amazing! River as a navigational guide through the area following Native American Indian and game trails. He portaged around the falls, following cairns — piles of rocks marking the trail — built by the Kootenai Indians."
The road north from Libby was deserted and followed the shores of a lake created by the Libby dam in the 70's. It was pretty, but I am always sad to see these valleys covered in water...erasing the cultures and peoples who lived there. Many of the small towns on our route were boom towns created by mining and/or logging...and had past histories rife with outlaws, prostitutes, and bad behavior! No sign of that now....
Snow is coming tomorrow night, so we are changing our plans, and will drive the Going to the Sun Highway tomorrow, continue to Helena for a few nights, and return here to explore Glacier in the sun this weekend....
And for your amusement...we saw this in Sandpoint...
A Drive-Through convenience store???
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Carol McClain
non-member comment
Snow is coming…..
I hiked and went kayaking in Glacier with an Elder Hostel in 2007 at this time of year. It was a spectacular Fall color show. But the Highway to the Sun was closed. Hope you can get there before (or after) the snow. Will be interested as always in your comments. Hello to you and Bill. Carol McClain