Biography of jedediah
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Once again, Echeandía was convinced to release him when two Americans, John B.R. Cooper and William Edward Petty Hartnell, spoke up on Smith’s behalf. During the rendezvous, Ashley arranged to sell his share of the company to Smith, David Jackson, and William Sublette. These were men such as Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Jim Bridger, and Kit Carson.
Jed realized this was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up: it would not only fulfill his desire to explore but also produce a good income he could share with his struggling family in Ohio. Experienced in frontier skills, this 6-foot, 3-inch, powerfully built twenty-three-year-old was just the person Ashley needed. Greatly outnumbered, nine trappers were quickly clubbed or stabbed to death by the angry Mojave.
Both expeditions were successful, and the documentation and stories contributed to the Westward Expansion of the United States.
Frémont’s Third Expedition (1845)
In 1845, President James K. Polk sent Frémont on a third westward expedition. Jed again had to confront this indecisive government official. After much futile discourse over a three-month period, masters of several vessels in port, along with an American resident living in Monterey, devised a plan that released the governor of all responsibility. A bond was issued that guaranteed the good conduct and expedient departure of Jed and his men from Mexican territory.
However, after moving 300 miles upriver, the boat sank.
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.”
~ Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Strong Smith was a mountain man, explorer, and trailblazer who explored the Rocky Mountains, the American West, and the Southwest during the early 19th century.
Arikara Warrior by Karl Bodmer.
Smith was born on January 6, 1799, in Bainbridge, New York, but was raised in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Ashley sent Smith and at least one other man to Fort Henry to tell Andrew Henry what had happened and ask for reinforcements. His parents were Jedediah Smith and Sally Strong. The gap would serve as the passage through the Rockies for the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.
That spring Jed and his men trapped streams no white man had seen and made a huge catch of furs.
They told Jed’s party that to the southwest there was a gap in the mountains that would allow them to cross easily. Smith is remembered for being a brave, religious man, who lost his life in 1831 when he was likely killed by a group of Comanche Indians.
The Life of Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Smith was born in present-day Bainbridge, New York on January 6, 1799.
Since many there had given up the party for dead, the sudden appearance of the Jed and his sole companion must have caused a great celebration.
During the next year Jed worked from the Bighorn Basin along the Wind River in Wyoming to the Musselshell River in Montana. Fifteen of Smith’s 19 men were killed. On the other side of the ridge, however, was the San Bernardino Valley.
Henry Fraeb and John Baptiste Gervais were also investors in the company.
Return to St. Louis
After the Rendezvous, Smith returned to St. Louis. In mid-March 1824, his company crossed South Pass in present-day Wyoming and descended into the Green River area and prepared for the spring hunt.
The following spring of 1826, Smith was sent ahead of the westbound pack train to arrange for the rendezvous, held that year in Cache Valley.
The United States and Britain had agreed in 1818 that they would both occupy Oregon. At some point, they located the Crow, who told them about a passage — the “South Pass” — through the Rocky Mountains that would safely take him across the Continental Divide, which ran between the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains.
Spring 1824 — The South Pass and the Oregon Trail
In February 1824, Smith and his men went through the South Pass and made their way to the Green River in present-day Utah.
In the spring of 1823 Smith was sent down river to find Ashley's main group, at which time he proved his worth as a leader.