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Show Jedediah Strong Smith Released through courtesy of the Utah Historical Landmarks Association As-sociation 806 Newhouse Building, Salt Lake City, Utah. By Edgar M. Ledyard, President Jedediah Strong Smith entered the employ of Ashley and Henrv in ISSi. He was born in western New York in 1798 and received a iaiily good education. During all me years ol his short life he displays dis-plays an exemplary character which set him apart from the., common run of people engaged in thcfur ua-Je. It is said that he carried ; and read the Bible on his expdi-daions; expdi-daions; it is very certain that he was an excellent shot and a man cf vigilance. Tne Asnley and Henry expedition of lt23 Siopped among the Arikara Indians to obtain horses, which were exchanged for arms and ammunition. am-munition. The party unwisely became be-came divided and tne Indians taking tak-ing advantage of this, fell upon thi-m, killing and wounding a number num-ber and putting the remainder to flight. Some of Ashley's men refused re-fused to go on unless they were supported with reinforcements and two volunteers were needed to cross the hostile country to Henry's camp, two hundred miles away. Smith and William Waldo, a Canadian Cana-dian trapper, volunteered for the pin pose of obtaining assistance. After many hairbreadth escapes they reached the base of supplies and returned with others to the Ashley party. Smith's early training train-ing was, therefore, such that he was fitted to organize and direct exploration work. In 1826 a new firm of fur traders came into existence that of Smith, Jackson and Sublette which purchased pur-chased the trapping interests of William Ashley of the Ashley Com pany. Ashley wished to retire. He settled in St. Louis where ne became prominent in civic and political po-litical affairs. The plaijs for operation of this new company were formed at the rendezvous near Salt Lake City in 1820. Jackson and SiiDlette were to continue trapping to the north-oast north-oast of Great Salt Lake as far as the Yellowstone, also in the territory terri-tory of the Snake. Smith was to head an exploring expedition for ihe puipose of finding a new route to the Pacific, from whence furs could be transported to China and marketed in Canton. Jackson and Sublette were successful suc-cessful and occupied without mu.:h competition the small but productive produc-tive area of the Great Basin. They overcame the opposition of tha Hudson's Bay men through their long years of experience and skill in the wilderness. The fierce competition which led to later rivalries ri-valries had not begun. Ihe country south and west o: Great Salt Lake to which SmitA proposed to go was most uninviting uninvit-ing and inhabited by lower classes of Indians. The Buenaventura river, a mythical stream, was oe-lieved oe-lieved to flow from the desert to the Pacific. Somewhere in the long leaches between Great Salt Lake and the Pacific Ocean there were presumed to be untrapped streams with countless furbearing animals. At this time there were only two trails to the Pacific coast known to white men; Lewis and Clark and the Astorians had followed one farther far-ther north while the Spanish explorers ex-plorers blazed one far to the south m Mexico. i Smith and his party of fifteen men left Great Salt Lake about tin 22nd of August, 1826 to traverse a .oute entirely unknown to them. After leaving Great Salt Lake, they passed what Smith calls "Little "Lit-tle Utah Lake" and proceeded up Ashtley's river. On Ashley's river he found a nation of Indians which called itself "Sampatch." Those Indians were friendly and caused Smith and his party no trouble. After passing over the mountains he reached a river, named by him "Adams" in compliment to the then President of the United States. Smith's account is somewhat sketchy but if he followed Escal-antc Escal-antc s route somewhat, as many writers agree, his "Adams" river is the Virgin river of today. If Smith followed the Virgin down to the Muddy he must have traversed trav-ersed what is now Clark county, Nevada. 'Ihe Smith party crossed the Colorado Col-orado near the mouth of the Virgin Vir-gin river and passed down t-iie .utiur itr lour uays according to his account. After obtaining information in-formation from the Indians oi tne country to the west, Smith again crossed the Coloradao in the vicinity vi-cinity of Needles and entered Cali-lornia, Cali-lornia, being the first American citizen, so lar as known, to reach tne state by an overland route. Alter leaving the deserr- and crossing cross-ing tiie San Bernardino Mountains, oinith reached the mission of San Gabriel on Novem'oer 27th. Herj ne was kindly received by the friars at the monastery and treated with great considei ation. The civil authorities of California, Cali-fornia, however, received him differently dif-ferently than tiiose at the mission. He was regarded with suspicion by the Government of California and purchased supplies only through the assistance of some American officials of ships who were trading at San Diego. Smith was allowed to proceed up the coast toward the Russian settlements and after some exploration work along streams in California, he decided to proceed to Great Salt Lake by crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In ilus attempt his men suffered severe se-vere hardships and five of his noises perished. He was cim-pellen cim-pellen to return to the valleys with his patty but immediately organized organ-ized an expedition to make a quick dasli across the mountains and the equally dangerous desert beyond with only two men and a small pack trains of seven horses and two mules. According to Smith he started on the 20th of May, lb'.'', and crossed the Sierras in eight dis, losing only two horses and i"-' inu'e. After twenty days' tra?l h: struck the -outiiwi.st co.-ncr co.-ncr of Great Salt Luke, w.th only one horse and one mule remaining, the rest having bee-i eaten after ;i ey gave out. One cf Smith's companions on this trip was Silas Cowl, a blacksmith: the name of ether Ivro is unknown. 'Hie ; oaf on had beer, profitable jr his puitners an i Smith brougnt a small supply of fins from California. Cali-fornia. He again set out lor California in the middle of July, 1827, with nineteen men, including Silas Go-tei. Go-tei. to relieve his party camped on the Stanislaus. By forced marches through a country infestid witii hostile Indians he reached friendljf " San Gabriel Mi.ion again but not until ten of his men had been killed and nearly all of Ins supplies stolen. When he reached his-parly his-parly on the Stanislaus he was as destitute as they. Smith was later identified with exploration work in the northwest and among his other experiences was that of visiting Dr. John McLaughlin Mc-Laughlin one night in August, 1828. Smith was brought to the fort by Indians and, according to his account, he thought he was the only survivor of some eighteen men diiecied by him. McLaughlin sent out a party to recover part of Smith's property which was done net only as a Christian duty but as a lesson to the Indians that i hey could not harm the whites with impunity." In 1830, with James Brldgr as a guide, Smith led a party of trappers trap-pers into the region of the hostile-Blackfeot. hostile-Blackfeot. While crossing the Big Horn river he lost thirty horses y and one hundred and fifty traps. He found the Blackfeet so hostile--and powerful that the party was ' turned back. Smith and his party sold their business to the Rocky Mcuntain Fur Cmpany but returned return-ed to St. Louis with their cache, said to have been the greatest in the history of the American fur trade. Smith's death was as tragic as his career was adventurous. In May, 1831, he left Independence with eighty-five men and twenty-three twenty-three wagons. In the party were his old partners, Sublette and Jackson, Jack-son, his two brothers and a young man by the name of Warner. The party reached the Arkansas river without difficulty but between this stream and the Cimarron lay a barren waste; the year was one of great aridity. Smith and his . old trapper friend, Fitzpatrick, pushed on to a known water hole only to find it dry. Smith sent Fitzpatrick back to the train and pushed on to the bed of hte Cimarron Cim-arron to find water for the expe-diion. expe-diion. He never returned and the expedition passed on to Santa Fe. Soon after their arrival there, Peter Pe-ter Smith saw his brother's rifle and pistols in the nands of a Mexican, Mex-ican, who reported that he had purchased these from a band of C.omanches. Further . inquiry el- , icited the information that the l Comanches saw Smith lead his I ' horse down the banks of the Cim- ! arron to a pool, that they rushed j upon him, shooting him through J the shoulder. He returned their j fire and killed their chief, after ) which they killed him. Whether j this statement was true or fabrt- J cated may never be known. Thro his untimely death at the age of thirty-three, the west lost valuable valu-able records, for Smith had announced an-nounced his intention of publishing publish-ing an account of his travels and adventures. His early training, adventurous spirit and powers of observation fitted him perfectly for such an undertaking. |