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Jedediah
Strong Smith
 "I
wanted to be the first to view a country on which the eyes of a white man
had never gazed and to follow the course of rivers that run through a new
land."
No
Mountain Man held more potential for enriching the world’s understanding
of the American West than did Jedediah Smith.
His contribution, which was enormous, was still only a fraction of
the full potential of what he might have revealed had not an encounter
with Comanche warriors ended his life early.
For Jedediah Smith trapping was a means to fulfill his main
interest which was exploration. During
his eight years in the mountains, no contemporary traveled across more
unknown western wilderness than he did.
He kept meticulous records and journals, and drew maps, which
clarified the geography and history of the country through which he
passed.
Jedediah Smith was an outstanding individual, within a group of
outstanding men. However Smith
did not fit the stereotype of the typical mountain man. He never drank,
never used tobacco, never boasted and was rarely humorous. Another rare
quality was his strident faith. Smith was very religious and often prayed
and meditated. Smith’s
abilities easily gained the confidence of those around him, and he quickly
rose to leadership of a brigade of mountain men, a group of self-reliant
men who were seldom commanded, but
would willing follow those in whom they had confidence.
Born
in 1799 in Bainbridge, New York, the wandering spirit was planted in
Jedediah as he and his family moved several times in an effort to stay on
the edge of the frontier boundary before he grew up.
By the year 1822, Jedediah found himself in St. Louis just as William
Ashley and Andrew Henry were
putting together their first expedition to the Upper Missouri River.
Jedediah signed on with the expedition as a hunter. Following
Ashley’s disastrous attempt to get by the Arikara villages in 1823,
Jedediah was tasked as a captain, to lead one of two brigades by
horseback, overland into the upper Yellowstone region.
In this year, 1823, Jedediah was attacked by a grizzly bear, nearly losing
his scalp and an ear. This is
the same year that Hugh
Glass encountered his grizzly
bear while traveling with the brigade led by Andrew Henry.
A year later, in 1824, Jedediah led another of Ashley's brigades
deep into the central Rockies where he rediscovered the forgotten South
Pass, which was later to become key to the settlement of Oregon and
California. In 1825, William Ashley would take Jedediah as a partner in
his fur company, as Andrew Henry had retired, nevermore to return to the
mountains. It was at this time
that Ashley discovered that the real wealth in the Rockies was in
supplying trade goods, necessities and foo-foo-raw to the annual mountain
rendezvous. In a complicated
transaction in 1826, he sold out his share of the partnership to a new set
of partners, Jedediah Smith, David Jackson and William Sublette.
Ashley would continue to provide the partners with the supplies
they needed in the mountains, and would pack out their annual harvest of
furs and skins.
Leaving the July, 1826 Rendezvous in Cache
Valley, Jedediah Smith was to take a brigade into the unknown southwest
to explore its potential for beaver. In
a grueling march, Smith and fifteen men would travel down along the
Wasatch Range, follow the Virgin River down to the Seetes-kee-der
(Colorado River) to the Mojave Indian villages.
From there he traveled westward through the Mojave desert, thence
across the San Bernardino Mountains. On
November 26, 1826 he led his emaciated party down to the San Gabriel
Mission where they were received with hospitality by the Franciscan Padre.
The Mexican Governor, José María Echeandía, however, viewed them
with suspicion as either invaders or spies.
The concept of trapping beaver as a vocation was so foreign to the
Governor that he persisted in calling Smith and his men “pescadores”
or fisherman. The Governor was
unable to believe that Smith and his men had unintentionally crossed 1,000
miles of the desert buffer separating Mexican California from the United
States. There followed two
frustrating months for Smith and his men as the Governor waffled on
whether to imprison the Americans, expel them, hold them pending
instructions from Mexico City, send Smith to Mexico City, or even to
decide to make a decision. With
the assistance of a friendly American sea captain, the Governor was
persuaded to allow Smith and his men to leave California by the same route
they entered. To Smith this
meant the populated portion of California, and once across the San
Bernardino Mountains, he proceeded northward along the west flank of the
Sierra Nevada Mountains, trapping and seeking the Rio Buenaventura River,
which Smith expected to be able to follow back to the 1827
Rendezvous. By late May
the men had accumulated a considerable quantity of beaver, however, no
route across the mountains was discovered.
With rendezvous less than two months away, it was imperative that
Smith find a way to cross the mountains.
Smith decided to leave most of his men in camp on the Stanislaus
River, while he, Robert Evans and Silas Goble would take word back to his
partners at rendezvous. After
forcing a passage across the snow bound mountains, Smith and his men
crossed the barren basin and range country.
Smith described a land of “High rocky hills afford the only
relief to the desolate waste… The intervals between are sand barren
Plains.” Tormented by thirst
and heat, the horses giving out, exhausted by their struggles through the
loose sand, even the confident Smith lost hope of surviving.
On June 27th the men glimpsed the Great Salt Lake to the
northeast, and by July 3, 1827 had arrived at the place of rendezvous on
the south shore of Bear Lake. Smith
and his men had been given up as lost, and his arrival in camp caused a
considerable commotion. To see
a map showing the path traveled by Jedediah Smith from July 1826 to June
1827 click here, but be patient, this
takes a while to load.
In
less than ten days, Jedediah was on the trail back to California.
He had told his men on the Stanislaus River to wait for him no
longer than September 20, giving him only nine weeks to get back.
With 18 men he set off on July 13, 1827.
Certain that his men and horses would not survive the basin and
range crossing, he led them on the longer route which he had taken in
1826, guiding his party down the Colorado River to the villages of the
Mojave Indians. The Mojave
Indians were not friendly this time, having recently had a violent
encounter with trappers out of Mexican Santa Fe which had gone badly for
the natives. At a time when Smith and his men were vulnerable ferrying horses and equipment
across the river, several hundred Indians attacked.
Ten men were immediately killed.
The remaining nine survivors had only five guns and their knives to
fight off several hundred Indians. Smith
and his men prepared for a last ditch stand in a grove of cottonwood
trees. As the Indians closed
in, Smith had his two best marksmen fire at extreme range.
The first shots killed two and wounded a third.
At this the Indians withdrew in panic and Smith and his survivors
were able to escape into the Mojave Desert.
The outlook was still grim, with one badly wounded man, no horses, little
food, and not even a container for water.
Smith decided to again test the hospitality of the Mexican
Californians in the San Bernardino Valley.
There, he was able to obtain horses and supplies.
Moving to the north he rejoined the camp on the Stanislaus River on
September 18, only two days before his promised return.
Needing additional horses and supplies to move the entire party, Smith was
once more forced to test the hospitality of the Californians.
Once again Smith found himself under the power of Governor Echeandía,
where he was subjected to three months of bureaucratic and legal torment.
More than ever, the Governor was convinced that Smith must be a
spy. Finally, towards the end
of December, Smith was able to break loose from the Mexican bureaucracy
and turn his path northwards up the Central Valley.
Not finding a pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Smith and his men
continued north traveling along the coast of northern California and into
the Klamath Mountains. Traveling
became increasingly difficult with jagged mountains and sheer cliffs.
The ocean provided no relief as the forested slopes fell steeply to
the waters edge. By mid-July,
Smith’s party had reached the Umpqua River and were camping on its
banks. Kuitsh Indians came to
trade. They seemed to be
friendly, however, previous encounters with these Indians were less than
congenial and Smith was wary. On
July 14, while Smith and one men were scouting a river crossing, about a
hundred Indians came into camp, ostensibly to trade, but with the
intension of attacking. Only
one man was able to escape the massacre at the camp, the remaining fifteen men were axed to death.
Once again, alone and destitute, Smith and his surviving men
decided to seek aid from the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver.
By August 8th, all of the survivors of the massacre on
the Umpqua River had arrived in Fort Vancouver.
Although the Hudson’s Bay Company was fighting an economic war on behalf
of Britain against the Americans with the goal of control of the Columbia
basin, John McLoughlin, Chief Factor at Fort Vancouver treated the
survivors with respect and generosity.
McLoughlin sent a brigade to accompany Smith and his survivors back
to the massacre site. There
they were able to recover 26 horses, most of the furs, various items of
equipment, and most importantly the journals and records of Jedediah Smith
and his clerk, Harrison Rogers. Eleven
bodies were buried, the remaining four were never found.
On returning to Fort Vancouver, the Hudson’s Bay Company
purchased Smith’s horses and furs and extended the hospitality of the
fort through the winter months.
Leaving Fort Vancouver in the spring of 1829, Smith made his way back to
the Rocky Mountains where he rejoined David Jackson at Flathead Lake.
From there the two partners turned to the south, meeting Sublette
at rendezvous at Pierre’s Hole. With
two disastrous years behind him, Smith had not yet contributed to the
success of company of Smith, Jackson and Sublette.
For the fall/spring hunts of 1829-1830 Smith would lead a strong
brigade into Blackfoot country. Harassment
by the Blackfeet drove the trappers out, but not before they had amassed a
large quantity of beaver. In
St. Louis the value of this catch exceeded $84,000.
A map showing the track of Jedediah
Smith from the Rendezvous of 1827 to the Rendezvous of 1829 is shown here,
but be patient this takes a while to load.
At this time the company of Smith, Jackson and Sublette was dissolved,
selling out to Tom Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette, Jim Bridger, Henry Fraeb
and Jean Baptiste Gervais, who named themselves the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company. Smith, Jackson and
Sublette dissolved for a combination of business and personal reasons.
Beaver were becoming increasingly scarce, and competition with
other fur companies, particularly John Jacob Astor’s American Fur
Company, was becoming fierce. Jedediah’s
mother had died in 1830 and he was feeling his neglect of his parents.
He provided a large sum from his share of the profits as a pension
for his father. He purchased a
house and farm in St. Louis. His
intentions were to publish a book and maps, laying before the public his
vast store of geographical knowledge.
But first he had one gap to fill in, the country between St. Louis
and Mexican Santa Fe.
In the spring of 1831, a pack train to Santa Fe was organized by Smith,
Jackson and Sublette. Of that
fateful trip Dale Morgan writes:
"South
of the Arkansas lay a plain, forty or fifty miles wide, which had to be
crossed to the Cimarron – a river as inconstant as the Mojave.
This plain, “the water scrape”, was not only dry but flat,
utterly featureless, and the more bewildering for the maze of buffalo
trails which furrowed its surface. No
discernible trace marked the course of the wagon road across this desert
and Jedediah’s party struck it at an especially bad time, when the
country was parched by drought.
They
had been three scorching days without water, and the teams were on the
point of perishing when, on May 27, a last desperate effort was made to
find water. Men were sent out
in various directions, and Jedediah in company with Fitzpatrick headed
south, to a deep hollow which should have provided water, but the hole was
dry. Instructing Fitzpatrick
to dig for water, Jedediah pushed on south toward some broken ground,
perhaps three miles off.
None
of his friends ever saw Jedediah again.
What became of him was learned only after the search was given up
and the party went on to Santa Fe. Mexicans
who traded among the Comanche rode into the city carrying his pistols and
rifle, and from their understanding of what the Comanche said come the
details of Jedediah Smith’s death.
Apparently
a Comanche hunting party, numbering fifteen or twenty men, lying in wait
for buffalo at one of the water holes along the Cimarron, saw Jedediah
approach and kept themselves concealed until he was too close to escape.
Jedediah had seen too much of the West, and knew too well the
reputation of this most savage of all the Shoshonean tribes not to be able
to appraise his chances. A
brave front was his only hope, and he rode directly up to the red men.
A brief colloquy followed, but neither could understand the other,
and they paid no attention to his signs of peace.
The
Comanche began to spread out. Watchfully
Jedediah tried to keep them from getting behind him.
His horse danced nervously, and was suddenly startled into
wheeling. Instantly the
Comanche fired at Jedediah’s exposed back, a musket ball entering his
body near the left shoulder. Gasping
at the impact, Jedediah turned his horse and leveled his rifle at the
chief, killing him with the single shot he had time to fire.
Before he could draw his pistols, the rest rushed on him with their
lances, thrusting and stabbing.
Thus ended the life of Jedediah Smith at age 32.
For more information regarding Jedediah Smith see also:
A
Life Wild and Perilous: Mountain Men and the Paths to the Pacific,
by Robert M Utley, published 1997 Henry Holt and Company. 392 pages.
Jedediah
Smith and the Opening of the West,
by Dale Morgan, published 1953, Bobbs-Merrill Co.
Dale,
Harrison Clifford (Editor): The Ashley-Smith Explorations and
the Discovery of a Central Route to the Pacific 1822-1829, with the
original journals of William Ashley, Jedediah Smith and Harrison
Rogers. 1941, Published by the Arthur H. Clark Company, Glendale
California. This book is listed with primary sources because it
contains transcriptions of the original journals of William Ashley,
Jedediah Smith and Harrison Rogers, Smiths clerk on his second expedition
to California.
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