Jedediah Smith

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Jedediah Smith bigraphy, stories - American explorer

Jedediah Smith : biography

January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831

Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was a hunter, trapper, fur trader, trailblazer, author, cartographer and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the American West Coast and the Southwest during the 19th century.American National Biography (1999) ;Morgan (1953, 1964), Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 7 ;Dale (1941, 1991), The explorations of William H. Ashley and Jedediah Smith – 1822–1829, p. 175 – Note: Dale claims Smith was born on June 24, 1798. Nearly forgotten by historians almost a century after his death, Smith has been rediscovered as an American hero who was the first white man to travel overland from the Salt Lake frontier, the Colorado River, the Mojave Desert, and finally into California. Smith was the first United States citizen to explore and eastwardly cross the Sierra Nevada and the treacherous Great Basin. Smith also was the first American to travel up the California coast to reach the Oregon Country. Not only was he the first to do this, but he and Robert Stuart discovered the South Pass.Robert Stuart crossed from the west through the South Pass in October, 1812. This was done in order to escape hostile Crow Indians. However, no significant mention or report was made of this discovery to the public in St. Louis. Effective knowledge of the South Pass was not gained by Stuart’s discovery. The pass itself was 20 miles in width; Morgan (1964), Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, pp. 388-389. This path became the main route used by pioneers to travel to the Oregon Country. Surviving three massacres and one bear mauling, Jedediah Smith’s explorations and documented discoveries were highly significant in opening the American West to expansion by white settlers and cattlemen.American National Biography (1999);American National Biography (1999) ;Morgan (1953, 1964), Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p. 7; Dale (1941, 1991), The explorations of William H. Ashley and Jedediah Smith – 1822–1829, p. 175; According to Maurice S. 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 Sierra, and the first to explore the Pacific hinterland from San Diego to the banks of the Columbia River."

Second trip to California, 1827–1828

Despite Echeandía’s warning, Smith returned to California the next year with eighteen men and two women following the Colorado River and Mojave Desert route he now knew well. At the Colorado River, the party was attacked by the Mojave, killing ten men and taking the two women.Morgan, p. 240 Jedediah and the eight surviving men, one badly wounded from the fighting, made a desperate stand on the banks of the Colorado, having made a make shift breast work out of trees.Morgan, pp. 240, 241 Surrounded by hundreds of hostile Mojave Indians, Jedediah and his men made lances by attaching butcher knifes to light poles.Morgan, p. 241 As the Indians began to approach, Jedediah ordered his men to fire on the Indians within range. Two Mohaves were shot and killed while one Mojave was wounded. The remaining Mojaves ran off and Jedediah and his men were saved from being massacred. Jedediah and his men continued on into California arriving at the San Bernardino Valley.Morgan, p. 243

Smith and the other survivors were again well received in San Gabriel. The party moved north to meet with the group that had been left in the San Joaquin Valley. Unlike in San Gabriel, they were coolly received by the priests at Mission San José, who had already received warning of Smith’s renewed presence in the area. Echeandía, who was at the time in Monterey attending business, once again arrested Smith, this time along with his men. Yet despite the breach of trust, the governor once again released Smith on the same promise to leave the province immediately and not to return, and as before, Smith and his party remained in California hunting in Sacramento Valley for several months, before heading north along the Pacific Coast to use the Columbia River to return to their headquarters. Jedediah became the first explorer to reach the Oregon Country overland by traveling up the California coast. However, his second run-in with the authorities, in addition to the extreme hardships his parties experienced in both trips, convinced him never to return to California, and he devoted his next years to building up his fur company.