What impact did Jedediah Smith have?

What impact did Jedediah Smith have?

Jedediah Smith’s accomplishments during his short nine years in the fur trade and trapping business certainly earned him an uppermost rank as explorer in this period of United States history. He led the first overland party from the east to California. He was the first to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains going east.

What was Jedediah Smith’s impact on westward expansion?

His explorations were significant in opening the American West and he was the first white man to cross what would become Utah and Nevada, the first to enter California by the overland route, to cross the High Sierras, and the first explorer to reach Oregon overland by traveling up the California coast.

How did Jedediah Smith get hurt into the West?

Smith and his party were the first Euro-Americans to explore the southern Black Hills, in present-day South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. While looking for the Crow tribe to obtain fresh horses and get westward directions, Smith was attacked by a large grizzly bear.

What did Jedediah Smith describe the missions as?

What did American mountain man Jedediah smith describe the missions as? “Large farming and grazing establishments.” How did Polk plan to gain Mexico? He plotted to get Mexico through war but he wanted to provoke them into striking first so that he could justify the war.

What was Jedediah Smith’s legacy in the west?

Jedediah Smith’s legacy of exploration throughout the American West is secure. He helped open up the far western United States to fur trapping activities. In the Bighorn area, Smith as one of the first Mountain Men, was part of the vanguard that spearheaded an era of trading activity…

How did Jedediah Smith affect the Oregon Trail?

Smith, by contrast, established the South Pass as a well-known and heavily traveled route for fur trappers. A few decades later, it became a part of the Oregon Trail and greatly reduced the obstacles faced by wagon trains heading to Oregon and California.

Where did Jedediah Smith go to find water?

With a party of 83 men, Smith left St. Louis in early 1831 and headed south along the Cimarron River, a region known to be nearly devoid of potable water. Despite his years of wilderness experience, Smith was apparently overconfident in his ability to find water and did not take adequate supplies from St. Louis.

How did Jedediah Smith get to Santa Fe?

He had succeeded, however, in opening up the coastal route from California to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. In 1831 Smith turned to the Santa Fe trade. In May of that year, however, he was surrounded and killed by Comanche people at a water hole near the Cimarron River while en route to Santa Fe.