DescriptionIn April 1808, David Thompson left Kootenay House in British Columbia, a North West Company trading post he had established the year before, and traveled south along the Kootenai River. He arrived at a “beautiful meadow” that he called Tobacco Meadows because of stories he had heard about the Kootenais growing tobacco here. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet traveled through this area in 1845 and referred to the plain as Prairie du Tabac. It is assumed that the plains and river are so named because of the cultivation of this native tobacco by the Kootenais, who ceremonially smoked before hunting. David Thompson called the river Fine Meadow River. However, early settlers referred to it as Grave Creek, recalling the drowning of a miner in the 1860s. The Tobacco River begins at the confluence of Fortine and Grave creeks and empties into Lake Koocanusa.Personal NamesThompson, DavidOther Name(s)Tobacco MeadowsPrairie du TabacFine Meadow RiverGrave CreekContributing InstitutionMontana Historical Society Library and ArchivesGeolocation[1]
