Jedediah Smith
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Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Smith
Born	January 6, 1799 Bainbridge, New York, U.S.
Died	May 27, 1831 (aged 32) south of Ulysses, Kansas, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	Jedidiah Smith Jedidiah Strong Smith
Ethnicity	French-American Basque
Occupation	Explorer, Hunter, Trapper, Fur trader
Known for	Exploration of Rocky Mountains, American West Coast, American Southwest and crossing of Nevada

Jedediah Strong Smith (born January 6, 1799 — presumed date of death May 27, 1831) was a hunter, trapper, fur trader and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the nineteenth century. Jedediah Smith's explorations were significant in opening the American West to expansion by white settlers. According to Maurice Sullivan:

Smith was the first white man to cross the future state of Nevada, the first to traverse Utah from north to south and from west to east; the first American to enter California by the overland route, and so herald its change of masters; the first white man to scale the High Sierras, and the first to explore the Pacific hinterland from San Diego to the banks of the Columbia River.

Prospectors and settlers later poured in to the areas that "Old Jed" Smith had trail-blazed as a trapper and fur trader, during the subsequent Gold Rush.

Birth and accomplishments

The exploration of the West by Jedediah Smith

Smith was born in Jericho, New York (now known as Bainbridge) on January 6, 1799. His early New England ancestors include Thomas Bascom, constable of Northampton, Massachusetts, who came to America in 1634. Thomas Bascom was of Huguenot and French Basque ancestry.

Smith is best known for leading the party of explorers who rediscovered South Pass (to which the Crow Indians showed him the direction),^{citation needed} which shortened the time needed to get to the west slope of the Rocky Mountains from St. Louis, Missouri. He was the first explorer to reach Oregon overland by traveling up the California coast.¹ Smith was often recognized by significant facial scarring due to a grizzly bear attack along the Cheyenne River. Members of his party witnessed Smith fighting the bear, which ripped open his side with its claws and took his head in its mouth. The bear suddenly retreated and the men ran to help Smith. The trappers fetched water, bound up his broken ribs, cleaned his wounds and loosely sewed up the cuts on his head and ear.

Smith was also a devout Christian from a Methodist background. His Bible and his rifle were said to be his closest companions. In his lifetime, Smith traveled more extensively in unknown territory than any other single mountain man.

Trips to the West Coast

Smith made two expeditions to California in 1826 and 1827, which landed him in trouble with the authorities. Like the Zebulon Pike expedition two decades earlier, the Mexican authorities saw Smith's party as a harbinger of troubles to come. Unlike Pike's expedition, which was commissioned by the United States Army, the Smith party was involved in a private commercial activity, but their excursion deep into Mexican territory was unauthorized, despite carrying United States passports for five members of the party.

Painted Rock with Soda Lake in background. The landscape the Smith party saw. USGS-Photo.

In its first trip, the Smith party followed the Colorado River deep into the west in search of new beaver hunting grounds, and ended up in a harsh landscape. To gather supplies for its return trip the group sought out California. After an arduous pass through the mountains into the Mojave Desert the party was attacked by a group of Mohaves, and lost several men. Finding shelter with a friendly Mojave village, the men recuperated and met two Tongva men, who offered to guide them to San Gabriel Mission from where they had earlier fled. The guides led them through the desert via a path that avoided Death Valley and which more or less follows the route of today's Interstate 15. From Soda Lake they followed the intermittent Mojave River into the San Bernardino Mountains, which they crossed, emerging at the point where today the Community of Etiwanda is, and into a vastly different landscape. Here at last was the paradisal California that sailors and newspapers talked about on the East Coast. Rather than head to the nearby mission ranch, they quickly made their way west (following the path of the future Route 66), arriving at the Mission on November 27, 1826.

At the Mission they were received warmly by the English-speaking President of the Missions, José Bernardo Sánchez, who managed to hide any misgivings he might have had. (Several of the Smith party remembered Sánchez fondly in their journals.) Sánchez advised Smith to communicate with Jefe Político (governor) José María Echeandía, who was at San Diego, about his party's status in the country. On December 8 Echeandía ordered Smith to San Diego, apparently under arrest (there was one symbolic soldier accompanying the party of mission priests and a British sea merchant escorting Smith). The rest of the party remained at the Mission. Badly needing supplies, they quickly found work to do around the Mission under the supervision of Joseph "José" Chapman, a former impressed sailor in crew of Hippolyte de Bouchard, who had become a naturalized citizen of Mexico. In San Diego Smith was interviewed several times by Echeandía, who never became convinced that Smith was only looking for food and shelter. Smith asked for permission to travel north to the Columbia River, where known paths could quickly take his party back to United States territory. Smith even handed over his journals in an attempt to prove his intentions. However Echeandía delayed a quick resolution, forwarding the issue for the authorities in Sonora to review, much to Smith's displeasure. After being hounding by Smith for a month, Echeandía released Smith and his men on the promise that they leave California by the path they entered and never return. Nevertheless, once released the party made their way to the San Joaquín Valley, which they explored. A small group was left behind in the Valley to hunt through the winter, while the rest of the group crossed the Sierras to make their way back to their company rendezvous at Bear River through today's Nevada.

Despite Echeandía's warning, Smith returned to California the next year following the southern route he now knew well. He was well received again in San Gabriel. The party moved north to meet with the group in the San Joaquin Valley. Unlike in San Gabriel, they were cooly received by the priests at Mission San José, who already had received warning of Smith's renewed presence in the area. Smith, along with his party, was once again arrested by Echeandía who was now in Monterey attending business, and despite the breach of trust, was once again released on the promise not to return. Smith's party made its way north to hunt in and explore the Oregon Country and to use the Columbia River to return to their headquarters. His second run-in with the authorities convinced him never to return to California, and he devoted his next years to building up his fur company.²

In Oregon Country, Smith's party fell into conflict with the Umpqua people near the Umpqua River. Fifteen of Smith's nineteen men were killed. Smith managed to reach the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) post at Fort Vancouver, where he received aid. HBC governor George Simpson happened to be at Fort Vancouver at the time, and he both sympathized with Smith and chastised him for treating the Indians harshly. Simpson sent Alexander McLeod south to rescue the remnants of Smith's party and their goods. McLeod returned to Fort Vancouver with 700 beaver skins and 39 horses, all in bad condition. John McLoughlin, in charge of Fort Vancouver, paid Smith $2,600 for the goods.³

Death

Later in his career, Smith became involved in the fur trade in Santa Fe. Smith was leading a trading party on the Santa Fe Trail in May, 1831 when he left the group to scout for water.¹ He never returned to the group. The remainder of the party proceeded on to Santa Fe hoping Smith would meet them there, but he never arrived. A short time later members of the trading party discovered a Mexican merchant at the Santa Fe market offering several of Smith's personal belongings for sale. When questioned about the items, the merchant indicated that he had acquired them from a band of Comanche hunters.¹ The Comanches told the merchant they had taken the items from a white man they had killed near the Cimarron River, south of todays Ulysses, Kansas^{citation needed}. Smith's body was never found.

A further account in Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the Mountain Men by Winfred Blevins, cites details of Smith's encounter with the Comanches in a box canyon. By their account, four braves trapped Smith in the canyon. Seeing he was in trouble he turned to face them with his rifle leveled over the saddle. As one brave moved to flank him, Smith fired his weapon, killing one of the Comanches. At that point he was overwhelmed and killed. It is said that offers at retribution were rebuffed by his brother, knowing that Jedediah would have forbidden it.

Honors and namesakes

Smith's exploration of northwestern California is commemorated in the names of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and the Smith River.

Most of the western slope of Wyoming's famous Teton Range is named the Jedediah Smith Wilderness after him. And the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail runs between Folsom and Sacramento, California, through the former gold-dredging fields that are now the American River Parkway.

In the Frontiersman Camping Fellowship of Royal Rangers, New Mexico is designated the Jedidiah Smith Chapter.

References in popular culture

• He was featured in the 2005 TV mini-series Into the West (portrayed by Josh Brolin) and the 2006 movie Night At The Museum (portrayed by Owen Wilson).

Notes

References

This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008)

• Blevins, Winfred. Give Your Heart to the Hawks: A Tribute to the Mountain Men. New York, Forge, [1973] 2005. ISBN 978-0765-31435-2
• Morgan, Dale L. Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the American West. Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press, 1964. ISBN 0803251386
• Maurice S. Sullivan, The Travels of Jedediah Smith. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1992, 13.
• Maurice S. Sullivan, "Jedediah Smith, Trader and Trail Breaker", in New York Press of the Pioneers, 1936.
• Smith, Alson J. Men Against the Mountains: Jedediah Smith and the South West Expedition of 1826-1829. New York, John Day Co., 1965.

External links

• Jedediah Smith Society