biography
| name: |
Smith, Jedediah (Strong)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1798–1831)
|
| biography:
| Explorer and fur trader, born in Bainbridge, New York, USA. Starting in the fur trade with General William Ashley in St Louis (1822), he took over Ashley's Rocky Mountain trade (1826) with two others. In 1826–30 he led exploratory expeditions from Great Salt Lake, Utah, across the Mohave desert into California, where he was nearly imprisoned by the Mexican governor. He then went N through the Sierras and along the Willamette R to Fort Vancouver, OR, surviving an attack by the Umpqua Indians en route. In 1831 he was killed by Comanches after entering the Santa Fe trade. Because he did not write of his trips, he did not get credit for his achievements for many years, but he was, among other firsts, the first American to enter and exit California by the E route. |
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