In September 1859, Palliser traveled into the Kootenay River valley to find a suitable path for a trade route and possibly a railroad. Instead of crossing the Rockies, as Thompson did, Palliser set out from Fort Colville, a Hudson's Bay Company trading post near Kettle Falls on the Columbia River. He then proceeded up the Pend Oreille River (noted as 'Pendoreilles') and crossed into the Kootenay River valley, which in his records was either the Kootanie or Flat Bow River. Kootenay Lake was called Flat Bow Lake. Palliser was told by Ktunaxa tribal members that a trail already existed along the Kootenay River, terminating at Columbia Lake, but was in decrepit condition (having been out of use for many years) and entirely impracticable for horses. They re-blazed the trail for many miles and returned to Kootenay Lake by mid-October of the same year. The expedition's findings were later to become important transportation routes through the Rockies to the Kootenays area, and the trail that they followed later became the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway.