Legends of the Old West - MOUNTAIN MEN Ep. 1 | “Jedediah Smith: Ashley’s Hundred”

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

In 1822, Jedediah Smith answers an advertisement to join a new fur trading company led by William Ashley and Andrew Henry. Smith and the rest of the company head into the wilds of the Upper Missouri River country and find themselves tested by the weather, the terrain, the animals, and the Native American warriors who want to stop encroachment on their territory.   Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.   On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.   For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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to register in Canada. On February 13, 1822, an ad appeared on the second page of the Missouri Gazette newspaper. In bold letters it called, To enterprising young men, the subscriber wishes to engage 100 men to ascend the River Missouri to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years. The man who placed the ad was William Ashley. He told the young men who answered that the trip up the Missouri River would be difficult and the work they would do as fur trappers would be dangerous, but they could expect to earn $200 for each year they were employed. The men who answered the ad became known as Ashley's Hundred. 140 years later, historian

Robert Glass Cleland would famously call them a reckless breed of men in the title of his 1963 book about early American fur trappers. As the reckless breed of men set off west to trap, hunt, and explore some of the 530 million acres that the United States had purchased from France less than 20 years earlier, They could not have known that their names, their adventures, and their legends would become a permanent part of the American story. Among the men who answered the ad and became a part of the Ashley Henry Fur Company were Jedidiah Smith, Jim Bridger, William Sublette, Thomas Fitzpatrick, and Hugh Glass. The stories of the mountain men, including those in Ashley's Hundred, played a crucial

role in shaping America's perception of the West as a land of untamed wilderness, boundless opportunity and rugged individualism. Those tales, often characterized by harrowing adventures, survival against all odds, and profound interactions with Native American cultures captured the imagination of the American public and policy makers alike. They portrayed the West as a vast, uncharted territory ripe for exploration, exploitation, and settlement. And the men who tamed that territory would be seen as fearless heroes who bravely faced

every challenge the wilderness could throw at them. Through their exploits, those men became the embodiment of the American frontier spirit. Their journeys and the narratives that followed underscored the potential for economic gain on the western frontier and contributed to the expansionist policies like Manifest Destiny. Moreover, the maps and knowledge those early explorers provided laid the groundwork for future expeditions, the development of the Oregon Trail, and the eventual westward expansion of the United States. In essence, the legacy of Ashley's Hundred and the Mountain Men fueled the national ethos

of exploration and conquest, deeply influencing America's perception and subsequent settlement of the West. From Black Barrel Media, this is an American Frontier series on Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're beginning regular stories of the earliest days of I'm your host Chris Wimmer and this season we're beginning regular stories of

the earliest days of American expansion across the continent. In this series we'll focus on the lives and legends of mountain men Jedidiah Smith, Hugh Glass, and Jeremiah Johnson. This is episode one Jedidiah Smith, Ashley's Hundred. Ashley's 100. When William Ashley placed his ad in Missouri newspapers in 1822, the American West was a mysterious wilderness that promised wealth and adventure. Fourteen years earlier, in 1808, a German immigrant named John Jacob Astor had started the American Fur Company to trap and trade for furs around the Great Lakes and in the Pacific Northwest.

Astor's company was immensely successful, and he became America's first multimillionaire. His wealth in the early 1800s was the equivalent to the wealth of Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon today. Astor's success was driven by European demand for beaver pelt hats. The demand was rooted in European fashion trends, where beaver fur was highly valued for its durability and its ability to be felted into a smooth, waterproof fabric that was suitable for making high-quality hats. Beaver pelt hats became staples of European attire for both warmth and social status. Initially, the fur trade was centered in the

northeastern parts of America, with French, British, and Dutch traders engaging with various indigenous peoples who trapped and traded the furs. But as beaver populations in the East became depleted due to over-trapping, and as European demand continued to grow, traders and trappers began pushing farther west in search of new sources of beaver pelts. While the fur trade around the Great Lakes and in the Pacific Northwest was monopolized by the American Fur Company,

the vast interior of the North American continent, controlled by the United States after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, was largely unexploited. The acquisition of Louisiana doubled the size of the United States and opened the floodgates to the untapped resources of the West. The expanse of land, from France for a mere 15 million dollars was a mystery waiting to be explored. It promised new opportunities and William Ashley was not one to let such opportunities pass him by. Ashley, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a man of considerable ambition, was quick to recognize the potential for profit that lay beyond the Mississippi River. Before the war, Ashley had

made a sizable fortune mining saltpeter and manufacturing gunpowder. He wanted to turn his position and wealth into political power, but to do so, he needed to turn his small fortune into a large fortune. Ashley and his partner, Andrew Henry, founded the Ashley-Henry Fur Company, later to be renamed the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Unlike John Jacob Astor, William Ashley envisioned a new model for the fur trade. Instead of relying on Native American tribes and established traders, Ashley wanted to employ his own men to trap the Furs.

He would cut out the middlemen and increase his profits. No one had tried his business model, and Ashley expected it to be difficult work under dangerous conditions. When he placed his ad in the Missouri Gazette, he didn't know if the men who answered would be up to the challenge. The establishment of the Ashley-Henry Fur Company marked a pivotal moment in the westward expansion of the United States. Americans would then, in pursuit of furs, explore deeper into the heart of the continent

than anyone from the East. Ashley's new business model not only altered the dynamics of the fur trade, but also laid foundational elements for the patterns of exploration, settlement, and exploitation that would characterize the following decades of American history. Among the many who answered Ashley's call was a young man from Ohio named Jedidiah Smith. Smith, who was 23 years old,

was driven by a thirst for adventure and the lure of the unknown. He was cut from a different cloth from the common trapper. He could read and write. He was deeply religious, and he was a natural leader. Smith saw Ashley's expedition as more than a job. It was a calling. The West was not merely a place to make his fortune, it was an enormous, sprawling open book in which

he could inscribe his name. Jedidiah Smith was born on January 6, 1799 in the small village of Jericho, New York, which is now called Bainbridge, New York. His early years were typical of American rural life in the first years of the 1800s, but would play a foundational role in shaping the man who would become one of the greatest trailblazers of the American West. Jedidiah was the first born child to Jedidiah Sr. and Sally Smith, part of a generation who witnessed the American Revolution and the rapid expansion of the United States in the years that followed. Both came from Puritan stock, with Jedidiah's earliest immigrant ancestors arriving in Massachusetts

in 1634, just 14 years after the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth. Jedidiah's father was a devout Christian, and his strict moral code and insistence that his children be able to read the Bible significantly shaped Jedidiah's upbringing. The young Smith's life took a transformative turn in 1810 when his family moved from rural New York to Erie County, Pennsylvania. It was Jedidiah's first move to what was then the Western frontier, and it was there that his fascination with the wilderness began to take root. Despite the hardships associated with frontier life, which included skirmishes with members of the Iroquois Confederacy, particularly the Seneca Tribe, Jedidiah's childhood in Pennsylvania was

idyllic. His parents' insistence on literacy and learning ensured that Jedediah and his large family of brothers and sisters received formal schooling. His education, though not extensive, was substantial for the time. He learned basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, and he developed an affinity for the natural sciences that was driven by his fascination with the wilderness. The War of 1812 further influenced the young Jedediah. Jed was a child during the conflict, but the war heightened his awareness of the broader world. In 1813, 13-year-old Smith found himself aboard a freighter on Lake Erie. He was employed as a clerk, and he learned the basics of business as he interacted with

men who had ventured from the far reaches of the West to trade furs for John Jacob Astor. As Jedidiah listened to their stories, his eyes were open to the possibilities that lay in the wilderness. Each tale of adventure and trade, whispered by the rough wanderers, planted seeds of ambition. During the war, Jedidiah witnessed the complex dynamics between American settlers, the British, and various Native American tribes playing out all around him. After the war, there was a renewed push for westward expansion, driven by a belief in the country's manifest destiny to span the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

By 1817, the Smith family followed the movement west, this time to Ohio, a region that was the frontier of American expansion at the time. In the years immediately following the War of 1812, Ohio represented the edge of the known United States, beyond which lay vast territories filled with promise and peril. It was there that Jedidiah's passion for the West began to crystallize. In Ohio, Jedidiah's life was marked by labor and learning. He worked on the family farm, but spent much of his free time hunting and trapping. The excursions into the wilderness honed his survival skills and deepened his understanding

of the natural world. Jed's older brother Ralph was married to the daughter of a doctor who became something of a mentor to Jedidiah. The gift of a leather-bound book about the journey of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Pacific Ocean was particularly influential. Jedidiah had always gravitated toward the wilderness, but the stories of the earliest fur traders and the account of the Lewis and Clark expedition focused Jedidiah's sights on the West. He wanted to go beyond the wilderness around him and deep into unexplored lands.

As impacted as he was by thoughts of exploration and manifest destiny, Jedidiah was equally influenced by the Second Great Awakening, the religious revival that swept through America during his formative years. The revival emphasized individual faith, piety, and a personal connection with the divine, which deeply resonated with Jedidiah's personal beliefs. His faith would later be a cornerstone of his character, often noted by his contemporaries in their descriptions of him as a man of great moral integrity and kindness. As Jedidiah grew into a young adult, his combined experiences, the rigors and demands of frontier farming, his education, his religious upbringing,

and the inspiring stories of adventures, molded him into a person uniquely prepared for and attracted to a life of exploration. At age 23, that combination prompted him to answer a newspaper ad seeking enterprising young men and set the stage for his legendary exploits in the American West. Jedidiah Smith's formidable ambition was now complemented by his equally impressive stature. Standing six feet tall, he towered over most men of the time, when the average height was closer to five foot eight. Jedidiah had ventured far from home,

driven by his ambition and drawn by the dynamic atmosphere of St. Louis, Missouri. The bustling hub was alive with adventurers and traders, and it served as a gateway to the vast and largely uncharted territories of the West. In St. Louis, Smith answered William Ashley's call for 100 enterprising young men. General Ashley and his partner Major Andrew Henry were seasoned veterans of the War of 1812, and their business endeavor was supported by Smith's hero, William Clark. Clark was the former governor of Missouri territory and was now the superintendent of Indian Affairs. With Jedidiah Smith's commanding presence

and evident determination, he easily won General Ashley's approval and joined the expedition. By the late spring of 1822, he was headed up the Missouri River aboard a keelboat, the Enterprise. And the river itself was the first dangerous obstacle in the life of a young trapper. The river was rife with hazards like submerged logs, sandbars, and sudden, turbulent waters that could easily imperil the heavy boats that traders and explorers used on their voyages upriver. On May 8, 1822, three weeks after they set out from St. Louis, Jedidiah heard the boat's forward lookout shout a warning. Several trees and torn roots from the banks of the river

were flowing down the swift current and headed straight for the Enterprise. In a frantic attempt to evade, the shipmaster veered toward the bank, but a fierce gust of wind slammed the ship's mast into the overhanging cottonwood trees. The violent twist from the impact swung the keelboat broadside against the current. The wooden debris smashed into the Enterprise. The boat capsized and sank beneath the roiling waters in seconds. Jedidiah Smith and the other men aboard were stranded, a situation that tested their survival skills as the crew waited for rescue.

Jedidiah's ability to hunt and forage helped sustain the men, and it foreshadowed the trials awaiting them in pursuit of furs throughout the wilderness of the West. Soon enough, William Ashley arrived with a replacement boat and an additional 46 men to rescue Smith and the rest of the stranded crew. The party continued its push up the Missouri River, past present-day Iowa and Nebraska. Smith watched the gentle hills and towering riverbanks give way to unbroken prairie as far as the eye could see. Along the way, he had spied the occasional buffalo. But now, unimpeded views of the prairie revealed

massive herds. Smith recorded that the individual animals had never made much of an impression on him. But the herds numbering upwards of 10,000 looked like they could eat all the vegetation in the country in a single week. Soon Smith had his first significant encounters with Native American tribes that relied on the buffalo herds. He was impressed by the Lakota tipis and the way they treated their horses. He wrote that the Lakota were, "...above the common stature of most Indians, with the intelligent countenances of the generally good-looking men, whose appearance in the moral scale would

indicate they rank above the mass of Indians." Smith watched with interest as William Ashley passed the pipe with a Lakota and presented them with gifts of blankets, tobacco, coffee, and sugar. Ashley warned Jedidiah that sharing the pipe with a Lakota would make their traditional enemies the Arikara wary of white men. So when Ashley selected Smith, along with a small party, to leave the boats and travel overland into Iriqa'ra territory to trade for horses, Smith was understandably cautious. Even after they convinced the Iriqa'ra to meet with them and then trade them ponies

after promising to build a trading post near the village on the next journey, they moved with caution as they left Iriqa'ara land and traveled north through Mandan and Blackfeet country in present-day North Dakota. In October, nearly five months after Jedidiah left St. Louis, he and the group reached Fort Henry. Fort Henry was a new outpost, recently established by Andrew Henry, William Ashley's partner. The fort stood at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, near the present-day border of North Dakota and Montana.

Smith quickly became one of the primary hunters for the expedition, and he was sent further up the Missouri to a camp at the mouth of the Musselshell River. As he hunted to feed the men of the camp, the winter of 1822 passed uneventfully. But the spring of 1823 brought Jedidiah's first major trial. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But at Realm, we also sell some pretty cool merch, and organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify.

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Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. In the spring of 1823, when the icy rivers thawed, the others in the party headed for the mouth of the Judith River, which runs through central Montana to trap beaver. Jedidiah Smith was sent back to Fort Henry and then to St. Louis with a message for William Ashley. During the first year of the expedition, Ashley spent most of his time moving up and down the Missouri River, organizing supplies for his men and other aspects of the business.

Meanwhile, the trappers ventured out into the wilds of the Powder River, the Tong River, and the Bighorn River in search of beaver. As they had success with their trapping, one particular supply became critical. They needed horses to transport the bundles of furs to the major waterways. To acquire horses, William Ashley would need to trade with the Iriquira, the enemies of the Lakota. Jedidiah headed down the Missouri in a dugout canoe until he intercepted Ashley somewhere in present-day South Dakota.

Ashley was heading upriver with a new group of 100 men whom he dubbed Fallstaff's Battalion. Jedidiah informed his boss of the urgent need for more horses. Of all the messages Smith could have delivered, that was the most worrisome. As William Ashley had traveled north with his new battalion, he had learned of a deadly attack by the Iriqara. A war party from the Iriqara tribe, who were also known as the Iriqaree, which was commonly shortened to Ree by the Trappers, had savagely attacked a group from a rival outfit, the Missouri Fur Company. The Missouri Fur Company was an early competitor of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company,

and the owner of the Missouri Company was one of the richest men in America, like Astor. The Missouri Company traders were laden with furs they had acquired from the Lakota, and the attack cast a shadow over every trade and every movement on the Missouri River that spring. The son of an Iroquois chief, Grey Eyes, had been killed, and the son's death set the stage for retribution and increased tensions along the river. In June of 1823, the atmosphere was thick with impending threat as Ashley's new battalion, along with Jedidiah Smith, approached Arikara territory. Jedidiah remembered seeing Arikara

villages on his first trip, but now the riverbanks showed warlike preparations. The Iriqirah had fortified their villages with breastworks of driftwood that were complete with gun ports. As the battalion's keelboats approached, Smith watched women and children hurriedly fill water bladders on the shore, a sign that the Iriqirah believed a siege was coming. Worried that their presence would be taken as an implicit threat, Ashley made a strategic decision. He wanted a meeting with the Iriqqara under a white flag of truce. With Jed Smith and a few others, Ashley rode to the shore to meet with the Iriqqara leaders.

Chief Little Soldier and Chief Grey Eyes were present. Grey Eyes still mourned his son, and the meeting was tense. Ashley presented gifts of tobacco and sugar and avoided mentioning the clash with the members of the Missouri Fur Company several weeks earlier. Instead, he emphasized his peaceful intentions and his wish to trade.

The chiefs accepted the gifts, but otherwise gave no indication if they were willing to trade for horses. Grey Eyes only agreed to consider Ashley's proposal, and he promised an answer at dawn. True to his word, Grey Eyes returned at sunrise, leading a modest number of horses down to the river, a gesture of goodwill, but far short of the 50 horses Ashley had requested. Nevertheless, Ashley took it as a good sign for negotiations. But things quickly soured when another chief demanded rifles in

exchange for more horses. Ashley, sensing the fragile piece was fracturing, chose to retreat to the safety of his boats, leaving Smith and a contingent of riflemen to guard the newly acquired horses. After sunset, the situation grew worse. The Iriquira, feeling deceived or desperate, quietly prepared for battle. Hidden in the willows, warriors watched as the white men fortified their position on the river. The initial Erykara Salvo was devastating, catching Ashley's men off guard and pinning them on the open beach. Recognizing that their position was indefensible, Ashley ordered a retreat.

Jedidiah Smith provided steady covering fire as the other men desperately scrambled back to the boats. The fight at the river turned chaotic, with men running in every direction and falling in mid-stride. As the trappers took cover, Smith moved from position to position, firing and reloading as he ran. He had protected several of the younger men, like Jim Bridger, and older returnees, like Hugh Glass. Smith fired at the Eriquera as his comrades fled to the safety of the boats, and he was the last man to leave the shore. He plunged into the icy waters of the Missouri River and swam for his life.

His comrades hauled him into a boat, and the group retreated downriver, away from the Eriquera. The harrowing escape marked a bitter end to Ashley's ambitions upriver. The losses were grievous, and the expedition's goals lay in tatters along the blood-stained banks of the Missouri. Of the 40 men on the shore, 12 died in the battle. Smith's actions that day became the foundation of his fame as one of the prominent mountain

men. One of the group later said, When his party was in danger, Mr. Smith was the foremost to meet it, and the last to fly. For those who remember the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Revenant, the Native American attack on the trappers at the beginning of the film is a loose depiction of the Iricara attack on the party of Jedidiah Smith and William Ashley. After the fight, the battalion regrouped at an island several miles downriver, and William Ashley said he would take one of the keel boats with the wounded back to St. Louis. The other would wait at the mouth of the Cheyenne River in Lakota territory. Ashley then said he needed two volunteers to carry news of the fight overland to Fort Henry on the Yellowstone River.

Fort Henry was approximately 860 miles away, through wilderness that was dominated by the Iroquois. The first man to raise his hand was Jedidiah Smith. Sleeping three or four hours a night and hunting while on the move, Jedidiah Smith and the other man made the trek in less than three weeks. When Smith delivered the news of the attack to Andrew Henry, Henry replied that four of his men had been killed by Blackfeet warriors and another band of Blackfeet had nearly wiped out the rival Missouri fur company. Everywhere along the frontier, tensions between mountain men and Native Americans were on

the rise. With enemies both upstream and down, Henry decided to split his remaining men. He took 20 with Smith downriver to aid Ashley and left the rest to guard the fort. While Smith and Henry were navigating the rapids as they raced down the Missouri, William Ashley turned to the Army for help. The commanding officer at Fort Atkinson, north of present-day Omaha, Nebraska, was Colonel Henry Leavenworth. William Ashley convinced Colonel Leavenworth that the escalating conflicts between Native

tribes and fur trappers was a growing threat to regional stability and trade. In August of 1823, Leavenworth mobilized a substantial force, 250 soldiers from the U.S. Army, 80 men from the Ashley Henry Fur Company, 60 men from the Missouri Fur Company, and a formidable force of around 700 Lakota warriors. The inclusion of the Lakota was strategic for both sides. The Lakota had the chance to crush their old enemy, the Iriquira, and the White Explorers had the chance to secure a powerful ally. The combined force embarked on what was envisioned as a swift expedition to subdue the Iriquera

and reassert control over the region. But the campaign was fraught with challenges from the outset. Navigational difficulties, supply issues, and the complexities of coordinating such a diverse coalition hindered progress. Traditional military tactics were unsuited to the landscape and the style of warfare practiced by the Iriqirah, leading to a series of ineffective skirmishes and maneuvers that failed to bring the conflict to a decisive end. As the stalemate deepened, the need for a resolution became urgent. As the stalemate deepened, the need for a resolution became urgent. The prolonged campaign was draining resources and morale. Under the circumstances, negotiation emerged as the only option to end the conflict. The two sides agreed to a reluctant but necessary peace treaty.

The treaty temporarily stabilized the situation, but it underscored the limitations of the military in trying to fight native tribes on their own ground, and it was an early experience in the complexities of frontier diplomacy. In recognition of his leadership capabilities and his role in the expedition, Jedidiah Smith was appointed commander of one of the two squads of Ashley Henry men. Smith, now commonly referred to as Captain Smith, emerged from the campaign with enhanced stature, illustrated by both his tactical skills and his ability to lead men under challenging conditions. The promotion marked a turning point in Smith's career. He had been a trapper, a scout, and a superior hunter,

but in the future, he would take on significant leadership responsibilities in the fur trading business. His new role meant greater involvement in the strategic planning and execution of operations in the West. The conflict, which was now called the Iriquera War, had claimed the lives of 12 trappers from Ashley's Fur Company, seven U.S. soldiers who died in the treacherous currents of the Missouri River, and 12 Arikara warriors, including Chief Grey Eyes. It was the first time the United States Army confronted Plains Indians in armed conflict, a prelude to a recurring saga of warfare on the American frontier. With the conflict over, Jedidiah Smith, William Ashley, and Andrew Henry returned their attention

to the business of trapping Beaver. The Iriqa Ra War had cost the fur company valuable time and money, but if there was a silver lining, it was that the rising hostilities between trappers and native tribes meant that all of their rival fur companies had decided not to trap in the Rocky Mountains. By the fall of 1823, all of the prime beaver trapping spots were open to the Ashley Henry Fur Company. Andrew Henry split his trappers into two groups, taking Jim Bridger and Hugh Glass in his own group and putting Smith in charge of the other. The trapping grounds were wide open for the taking and there was no time to lose.

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a membership to save on Uber and Uber Eats. With deals this good, everyone wants to be a student. Join for just $4.99 a month. Savings may vary, eligibility and member terms apply. The famous Expedition of Ashley's Hundred launched from Fort Kiowa, a crude trading post on the banks of the Missouri River in modern-day South Dakota. It was located near the present-day town of Chamberlain, about 130 miles from Sioux Falls and about 200 miles from Deadwood. The expedition would become famous largely because of Hugh Glass' story,

but his story splits from Jedidiah Smith's story at Fort Kiowa. Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger, and others followed Andrew Henry north up the Missouri River. Glass was attacked by a bear near the Grand River, a tributary of the Missouri. He survived his devastating injuries and dragged himself nearly 200 miles back down to Fort Kiowa, similar to the events in the movie The Revenant. While that was happening, Jedidiah Smith spent the second half of 1823 leading his group of trappers west from Fort Kiowa, following the White River toward the area that would be known as the Badlands of Dakota Territory.

Their first challenge was the White River itself. Ignoring warnings from their French-Canadian guide about the water's dangerous alkalinity, the men drank large gulps of the deceptively inviting stream. In short order, every man who drank the alkaline water suffered severe stomach cramps as they continued to cross the desolate Dakota highlands. It was a harsh lesson in the midst of an unforgiving landscape,

but it was only the beginning of their trials. The journey continued into the arid high plains where dehydration pushed them to the brink of hallucination. As they wandered through dense thickets of prickly pear, the expedition's resolve was strained to the breaking point. Their guide disappeared over the horizon, leaving them to navigate the treacherous terrain alone.

Members of the party began to scatter in a desperate search for drinkable water. One of the mountain men, Jim Climen, gave up trying to lead his packhorse and allowed the animal to lead him. It turned out it was the smartest thing Jim could have done. The horse led him to a life-saving oasis. Jim fired a shot in the air, signaling the presence of water, and it became a beacon that drew the scattered men back together. The reunion at the waterhole was marked by relief and recovery as men and horses replenished

themselves. But then they noticed their leader, Jedidiah Smith, was still missing. When he finally arrived, it was after nightfall. Smith was leading additional horses and carrying news of two members of the trapping party who were in dire straits. Leaving the horses, Smith ventured back into the darkness and returned with the two surviving trappers, solidifying his reputation among the men. Re-invigorated, the group pushed farther west, where they encountered Lakota camps along the Cheyenne River. The trappers traded for more horses, which allowed them to both ride and lighten the burden on their pack animals. They had a brief period of abundance, where there was plenty of food and water, and it reminded them of how bountiful the land could be. But as they ventured deeper into the

Badlands, their fortunes dwindled once again. The landscape transformed dramatically, with towering rock formations and barren gullies replacing the verdant plains. The Badlands, with their stark, treeless vistas and eerie silence, were as foreboding as the legends that preceded them. The group faced another critical water shortage until a fortuitous thunderstorm provided temporary relief. Emerging from the Badlands, the trappers were greeted by the sight of the Black Hills rising in the distance. Leaving the desolation of the Badlands, they found themselves in a region abundant with

wildlife. The journey through the Black Hills featured lush forests and sparkling creeks and rivers. It contrasted sharply with the barren lands they had just left. It was there, in the relative safety of the hills, that Jedidiah Smith faced one of his most harrowing challenges. Smith was leading the way through a narrow gorge when a massive grizzly bear suddenly charged from the underbrush. Smith's horse reared and threw him to the ground. Before his men could react, the bear was on top of him, breaking his ribs with its heavy weight. While the

others reached for their rifles, the bear clamped its jaws around Smith's head, tearing skin from bone. The trappers opened fire, and their rifle shots echoed off the canyon walls. Some of them wounded the bear, but didn't kill it. Luckily for the trappers, it disappeared into the wilderness, leaving behind a bloody and chaotic scene. Smith was severely injured and lying in a pool of his own blood, but his resolve remained unbroken. Through clenched teeth, he instructed some of his men to find a spot near the water to establish a campsite. He ordered others to fetch a needle and thread for the gory task of stitching his wounds. Under the flickering light of a lantern, Jim Climman, with his hands trembling, began closing the ragged tears in Smith's skin. One of Smith's ears was nearly severed, and Clyman reattached

it and patched it up as best he could. Fighting against the immense pain, Smith managed to climb onto his horse. Supported by his men, he rode more than a mile to the campsite they had prepared. There, a few of the men helped him into the tent and onto his bedroll. Ten days later, Smith was able to mount his horse and continue the journey with the rest of the crew. As they traveled west, the landscapes shifted once more, offering new challenges and opportunities. The high desert of northern Wyoming was rugged and rough terrain, but it slowly gave way to the trees, rivers, and grasses around the Bighorn Mountains. Smith's group crossed the Bighorns and made their way down to the base of the Wind River Mountains, where they had their first

encounter with members of the Crow Nation. The travelers were taken to the base of the Wind River Mountains, where they had their first encounter with members of the Crow nation. The travelers were taken to the Crow village, where they stayed for the winter of 1823-1824. By February of 1824, Jedidiah Smith was anxious to continue his journey. He and his men tried the mountain passes, but they were blocked by snow. Back at the Crow camp, an elder gave them historic advice. With the help of a translator, the elder drew a crude map in the sand that traced a path down along the base of the Wind River Mountains to the Sweetwater River, then west through a wide, shallow gap in the mountains,

and then to the Green River on the other side. Smith and his men started the journey and found the gap in the mountains, and then to the Green River on the other side. Smith and his men started the journey and found the gap in the mountains, just as the elder had said. What lay before Smith and his men was a 20-mile-wide corridor that promised a milder passage through the Rockies. The natural gateway would soon be known as South Pass. A trading party for John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, a subsidiary of his multi-million dollar empire American Fur Company, had crossed through South Pass from west to east 12 years earlier. But a report about the route sent to then-President James Madison had been filed away during the War of 1812 and subsequently ignored.

Madison had been filed away during the War of 1812 and subsequently ignored. Jedidiah Smith and his party were the first recorded white men to travel through South Pass from east to west. In the 200 years that followed, thousands of pioneers, immigrants, and tourists would travel through the pass on foot, on horseback, on wagons, or on Wyoming Highway 28. All of them followed in the footsteps of Jedidiah Smith. And as impressive as his adventures would be over the first half of his career, they almost paled in comparison to the adventures of the second half. Next time on Legends of the Old West, Jedidiah Smith blazes trails to California and then

up the Pacific Coast to Oregon and Washington. He survives battles against Native Americans and the anger of the Mexican government. He crosses more territory of what is now the American West than any other white man alive, and yet he decides to make the fateful trip that will be his last. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. Members of our Black Barrel Plus program don't have to wait week to week to receive new episodes. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials, and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website

blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships are just five dollars per month. This series was researched and written by Matthew Kearns. Original music by Rob Valier. I'm your host and producer Chris Wimmer. Thanks for listening.