David Thompson: The Man Who Looks at Stars

After

David Thompson's journal (published by the Champlain Society) Copyright/Source

The North West Company went bankrupt in 1825, and by 1845 Thompson was so poor that he and his wife had to move in with one of their daughters. He began writing about his travels in 1845 but had to stop when he went blind in 1851. He died in 1857. Joseph Burr Tyrrell finally published Thompson's writing in 1914.

Bad Luck!
Thompson retired to Montreal in 1812 so that his children could get a proper education. But he ran into a streak of bad luck: some business ventures failed, his five-year old son and seven-year-old daughter died, and his oldest son rebelled and left home.

More Bad Luck!
In his retirement, Thompson worked on his maps, making the first reliable map of the West. Needing money, he approached a London map company. They gave his five-map masterpiece a value much less than it was worth. Then, they didn't even publish it. Instead, they used his information to correct their own maps. To make matters worse, they didn't even mention his contribution.

Still More Bad Luck!
Now desperately poor, Thompson was forced to sell his warmest coat and finally his surveying tools. Moving in with his daughter, he wrote about his experiences, hoping that they would be publishable and popular. But his remaining eyesight was failing and his manuscript remained unfinished.