The Indians called him Koo-Koo-Sint, "the man who looks at stars", and he became the greatest land geographer the world has ever known. Yet, when David Thompson was a young man, his dreams of mapping the vast unknown stretches of Canada often appeared impossible to achieve.

In 1784, at the age of 14, he came to Canada as an apprentice to the Hudson's Bay Company. Intelligent and eager, he was soon given a man's share of work; when he was 17, David Thompson rode five hundred miles across the wild buffalo prairie to visit the warlike Piegan Indians and spent the winter in their teepees. But his greatest interest lay in exploring, surveying and mapping the giant stretches of raw land which were unrecorded except in men's memories.

After 13 years with the Hudson's Bay Company, David Thompson took his ambitions to the Rival North West Company, whose members included Simon Fraser, Alexander Mackenzie, William McGillivray, and other great Canadian explorers. With every assistance from the Nor-Westers, he set to work; among his great accomplishments, he explored the mighty Peace River and many smaller streams, and surveyed the 49th Parallel to fix the boundary line between the United States and Canada. Finally, he was sent out on his long-desired exploration of the Rockies to find a pass to the Columbia River and a way to the great Pacific. Delayed and harassed by hostile Indians, he reached his goal to find crushing disappointment waiting. Yet, in spite of the reverses he encountered, he achieved notable feats of exploration and mapping; his life story is a splendid record among the master-builders of Canada.

From the dust jacket