Tag Archives: mountain men

Early Observations on the West

Drawing of Beaver, Native Americans and Wildlife From 1700s

Though mountain men like Jedediah Smith (see last post) brought their prejudices and world-views with them, they also rejected much of civilized society’s mores and were comfortable interacting with whatever or whomever they found on their journeys. Mountain men were disposed to go along in peace with native peoples if they could, so often they had a chance to make observations that later whites could not. Smith wrote about the “Pa-utch and Sam-pach” tribes and their preparation of a strange root about the size of a parsnip. “They prepare them by laying them on heated Stones and covering them first with grass and then with earth where they remain until they are sufficiently steamed,” Smith wrote. The roots were then mashed and made into cakes.

Smith was impressed by a method of communication he observed among an Indian group he did not name. “Each family or set of families has a quantity of dry Sedge Bark and Brush piled up near the habitation and immediately on the approach of a Stranger they set fire to the pile and this being seen by their neighbor he does the same . . . so that the alarm flies over the hills in every direction with the greatest rapidity.”

When travelers like Smith merely wrote down what they observed, they provided good records of early Native American customs. When they slipped into judgment and comparisons with white culture, however, their observations become more suspect and may not tell the whole story.

One Type of Smoke Signal

Iroquois Fur Trappers

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Jedediah Smith

Who were the men who pushed westward (see last two posts) to create both the foundation for a “frontier thesis” and the reality of American exploration and expansion? Among the earliest white explorers were mountain men like Jedediah Smith, who answered an ad in the Missouri Gazette & Publ1c Advertiser in 1822:  “The subscriber wishes to engage ONE HUNDRED MEN, to ascend the river Missouri to its source, there to be employed for one, two or three years.”

Jedediah Smith

Men like Smith were recruited by fur-trapping companies and other businesses that wanted to establish trading posts in new territory. Few men kept records of their journeys, with the exception of Smith. He kept a journal as early as 1826, and his writing is rich in detail about the conditions and people he encountered. On one excursion in search of beaver, Smith wrote that he saw unusual “Black tailed hare” which were darker colored and smaller than the common hare. On another trip in 1828, Smith wrote that one part of a mountainous area was so rough and rocky that it took him four hours to travel one mile. When his party finally camped, he saw that the steep hills beside them were covered with oak and pine. He also saw a tree he had never seen before. “The largest were 1 1/2 feet in diameter and 60 feet high. The limbs were smooth and the bark snuff colored.” Smith wrote that the tree was in bloom and that Europeans in his party called it Red Laurel.

Smith’s journals were lost for many years, but have been discovered and reprinted.

Area of Smith's Explorations

Reprint of Smith's Journals

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