Jedediah Strong Smith, fur trapper, explorer, cartographer, and businessman, was a giant in the exploration of the Western third of the United States. Tall with blue eyes and brown hair, he had a rugged scare across his face and one ear roughly sown on his scalp by needle and thread after an attack by a grizzly bear.
Unlike the typical mountain man, Jed read the Bible every day, did not swear, shaved regularly and was heroic in his efforts to save associates in dangerous situations. He kept a journal and drew maps of where he had been, very unusual behavior for a mountain man .
The West he traveled was crowded with trees and meadows, raked by craggy cliffs and softened with rolling hills stretching into land covered with sand, sagebrush, and rattle snakes. The only people there were unknown Indian tribes. Even though Smith worked well with these people, he was involved in all three of the most important Indian wars between 1822 and 1830.
What did such a man accomplish in his short thirty-two years?
By the time of his death in a Comanche attack in 1832, the thirty-two year old had drawn the first maps of the entire West, from Yellowstone south to the Great Salt Lake, west to San Diego, then north to the Columbia River. The maps were rough, but were the first to give future trappers and emigrants an idea of what to expect.
Smith was the first to record and map the travel possibilities of the South Pass. In 1824 Smith crossed and wrote of this twenty-mile slope of land in the mists of the Rocky Mountains, smooth enough to take a wagon across. At last, hope of a fresh start for desperate families.
Smith’s directions formed trails for new lands by destitute farm families and led the Mormon followers to the Great Salt Lake. The original maps were lost long ago and modern survey equipment made maps much more accurate, but the Smith maps were serviceable and the public used them.
The Panic and Depression of 1837 devastated Midwestern farmers and small town businessmen. Livelihoods of the middle class, were lost. There seemed to be no hope until Jed Smith. Now Americans saw economic opportunity on the other side of the mountains.
No one nation owned that territory called Oregon Country. It currently contains the northwestern section of the U.S. and western Canada, from the Rockies to the Pacific Ocean. The United States, Great Britain, Spain (then Mexico), and Russia all claimed it. But since no country owned it, there could be no charge for the land.
Faming with cheap, or even free, land was an opportunity not to be missed. Thousands now traveled the Oregon Trail. 1841 saw the first overland migration of thirty-one Americans, once over the South Pass, create a land route over the Sierra mountain range to California. A new trail for the pending gold rush of 1849 was begun.
In the latter 1820’s Jed Smith searched from San Diego to the Columbia River looking for a shipping route on the Pacific Coast for commercial trade, particularly the fur trade, with China. The fur business was lucrative. A pound of pelts taken to St. Louis would sell from $4 to $6. Even greater wealth was acquired when furs were sent on to New York, where a pound would sell for $10. In Europe, China, and Russia furs brought even more money.
In China, wearing fur was the only way to stay warm and the wealthy loved the luxury. The fur market there provided the possibility of unlimited profit. Why not save the trip across the continent to New York, and send the furs trapped in the West directly to Asia? It would be faster and less expense—as the ports of San Pedro and Los Angeles prove today.
As early as 1811, John J. Astor, owner of the American Fur Company, tried to start an Asian-facing trading post on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. 1811, the weather and the War of 1812 ended that effort. The appropriate departure location was again searched for in 1829, but despite his best effort, Jed Smith also failed.
By 1831 Jed Smith realized the combination of more competition from increasing numbers of trappers and the cost of trapping in Blackfoot country meant less income. He sold his share of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company to his partners, William Sublette and David Jackson and returned to his family in St. Louis.
Of his five siblings, he brought his four brothers to St. Louis. His sister was married and preferred to spend time with their parents. Smith sent the two younger brothers to private school. He found work for his two older brothers, one with his trading company. Smith’s feeling of financial responsibility to his family had carried on through his years in the West.
When he returned home to the “Gateway to the West,” he brought $30,000 (1830 currency) in pelts with him. He purchased a house and retired.
One of his brothers wanted to establish a trade company from St. Louis to San Diego by taking the Santa Fe Trail. Smith agreed to go with him as far as Santa Fe to get him started in the business.
On a particularly hot day the company scattered, searching for water. Smith rode alone to find water. There was water there, and six or seven young Comanche who surrounded him. Anxious for a fight, the braves ignored his signs for peace and killed him. His guns were purchased by a Mexican trapper who sold them to a friend of Smith in St. Louis. He told the story related by the Indians, Though searched for, Smith’s body was never found.
Why did he go through all of the difficulties and dangers? He explained in a letter to his brother,
“It is, that I may be able to help those who stand in need, that I face every danger—it is for this, that I traverse the Mountains covered with eternal Snow—it is for this that I pass over the Sandy Plains, in heat of Summer, thirsting for water, and am well pleased if I can find a shade, instead of water, where I may cool my overheated Body—it is for this that I go for days without eating, & am pretty well satisfied if I can gather a few roots, a few Snails, or, much better Satisfied if we can affo[r]d our selves a piece of Horse Flesh, or a fine Roasted Dog, and most of all, it for this, that I deprive myself of the privilege of Society & the satisfaction of the Converse of My Friends!”(Morgan, “Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West, p.312.)
Smith didn’t just introduce the West to the United States, he made it feasible for the middle class to farm there when it had seemed there was no hope for the average American farmer. “Old,” a term of honor among the mountain men, Smith opened the last third of the contiguous U.S. to migration. His moral compass kept the confidence of his men. His curiosity led him to explorations. His faith in Christian teachings kept him constant. His efforts opened this country to commercial development leading to world leadership for the United States within the century.
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Sources:
Primary Sources:
Smith, Jedediah Strong. “A Manuscript Journal of the Travels of Jedediah S. Smith Thro’ the Rocky Mountains and West of the Same together with a description of the Country and the Customs and Manners of the different Tribes of Indians thro’ which he Travelled” (sic)
The original journal & notes were destroyed by fire, but his friend, Samuel Parkman, had written two transcripts by memory:
The 1st was the basis for Maurice Sullivan’s “The Travels of Jedediah Smith (Santa Ana, CA, 1934)
The 2nd transcript went to the Missouri Historical Society, Preceded in content the Sullivan ms & is the basis for Brooks’
“The Southwestern Expedition of Jedediah Smith.”
Warner, J.S. “Reminiscences of Early CA. ” Southern California Historical Society, Publications, volume vii, 1861.
Secondary Sources:
Brooks, George R., Ed. The Southwest Expedition of Jedediah S. Smith: His Personal Account of the Journey to California, 1826-1827. Western Frontiersman Series Volume XVIII Arthur H. Clark: Glendale, CA. 1977.
De Voto, Bernard. The Year of Decision 1846. Houghton Mifflin Co.: Boston, 1942.
Harrison Dale, “The Ashley-Smith Exploration and the Discovery of a Central Routeto the Pacific, 1822-1829. Glendale: 1941.
Morgan, Dale. Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. University of Nebraska: Lincoln, 1953.
Copywrite 2014 Janet Newlan Bower
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