tance up that river, and established his trading post upon its banks."
Ross has the following comment on the names of rivers:[1] "We may here mention that the Great Snake river, Louis river, South Branch, Shahaptin river and Nez Perce river are all one and the same stream under different denominations." Rees designates the Salmon as the river known as the Lewis in early times.[2]
According to this identification the post would have been located above the grand canyon of the Snake River. Thwaites seems to hold this viewpoint. He states:[3] "McKenzie's party established their post at the mouth of Reed's (now the Payette) river and named it Fort Boise.” In another volume he states:[4] "On his map Ross located McKenzie's post on the Snake river at the mouth of Reed's river (the present Boise river). Fort Boise, a Hudson's Bay post was afterward established there." It is obvious that Thwaites was confused here by these two rivers, the Payette and the Boise, each emptying into the Snake very near the site of old Fort Boise. He should have said Reed's River (the present Boise) in both places.
From the references cited above we have the following definite information concerning the location of the post in question: First: It was located in good grazing country near a river. Second: It was in the Nez Perce country. Third: It was within easy traveling distance of Spokane. Fourth: McKenzie reached it by boat.
These last three items definitely rule out the possibility of the post having been located at or near Fort Boise. This fort, located in the Shoshone country, was more than a hundred miles from the nearest Nez Perce village, and separated from it by a range of mountains. The Nez Perces visited the Fort Boise region on hunting trips or in war parties, but they did not live there.
Between December 10, 1812, and January 15, 1813, McKen-
