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Oklahoma Western Biographies #23
Jedediah Smith: No Ordinary Mountain Man (The Oklahoma Western Biographies Book 23)
Mountain man and fur trader Jedediah Smith casts a heroic shadow. He was the first Anglo-American to travel overland to California via the Southwest, and he roamed through more of the West than anyone else of his era. His adventures quickly became the stuff of legend. Using new information and sifting fact from folklore, Barton H. Barbour now offers a fresh look at this dynamic figure. Barbour tells how a youthful Smith was influenced by notable men who were his family’s neighbors, including a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. When he was twenty-three, hard times leavened with wanderlust set him on the road west. Barbour delves into Smith’s journals to a greater extent than previous scholars and teases out compelling insights into the trader’s itineraries and personality. Use of an important letter Smith wrote late in life deepens the author’s perspective on the legendary trapper. Through Smith’s own voice, this larger-than-life hero is shown to be a man concerned with business obligations and his comrades’ welfare, and even a person who yearned for his childhood. Barbour also takes a hard look at Smith’s views of American Indians, Mexicans in California, and Hudson’s Bay Company competitors and evaluates his dealings with these groups in the fur trade. Dozens of monuments commemorate Smith today. This readable book is another, giving modern readers new insight into the character and remarkable achievements of one of the West’s most complex characters.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 15, 2009
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126 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 7, 2025
I'm having many mixed feelings about this book! I'm giving it five stars; I'm easy on star-giving around here and I had no special reason for wanting to take any stars away. It was a great effort on the part of the author and I believe he did his best to present the facts according to the research materials available as of 2009 when it was published.
One thing that's bothering me is the author's insistence that Jedediah Smith wasn't a Bible-toting missionary mountain man as he says some other authors have characterized Smith. Yet in the text of this book he does tell us that Jedediah was raised Christian, avoided strong liquor, and did not swear profusely as other mountain men did. So something of his Christian upbringing remained in his character throughout his entire life even if the truth was that he wasn't out there trying to convert natives to Christianity. He was a Protestant.
Unfortunately I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of Jedediah being a Christian, but trapping in Indian territory, killing beavers to near-extinction for money, and leading quite a few other men to their deaths at the hands of hostile natives.
Speaking of hostile natives, Jedediah apparently always tried to befriend natives when he came across them, but if they became hostile and unfriendly he sometimes felt he had to kill them. Perhaps that is understandable but (as I understand it) he wasn't supposed to be trapping beavers in that area anyway! So after reading all this I'm wondering at the way he's been made into a hero. Is this justified? Was he a hero? Was he? I am not convinced. However his life does exemplify the truth about the mountain man era in California (my state) and his journals left us a reliable record of what he did and what he thought about things that happened.
Two items surprised me about Jedediah's life. The first is that he was a business man, not just a mountain man. All this trapping and killing of wildlife brought him a lot of income through fur sales and he ended up a fairly wealthy retired trapper at the age of about 30. The other thing I wasn't aware of before I read this book is that Jedediah died very young, at the age of 32. He was killed by hostile Comanches in Kansas.
This book fills in for me a period of California history I needed to read about. While the Franciscans were thriving in their chain of adobe missions near the California coast, Jedediah and men like him wandered through the rest of California plundering the wildlife for profit and distressing one tribe of natives after another.
I live near the Jedediah Smith State Park and Smith River in Northern California. For years I wanted to know more about the man, the legend... but I'm not so very happy with what I found out.
One thing that's bothering me is the author's insistence that Jedediah Smith wasn't a Bible-toting missionary mountain man as he says some other authors have characterized Smith. Yet in the text of this book he does tell us that Jedediah was raised Christian, avoided strong liquor, and did not swear profusely as other mountain men did. So something of his Christian upbringing remained in his character throughout his entire life even if the truth was that he wasn't out there trying to convert natives to Christianity. He was a Protestant.
Unfortunately I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of Jedediah being a Christian, but trapping in Indian territory, killing beavers to near-extinction for money, and leading quite a few other men to their deaths at the hands of hostile natives.
Speaking of hostile natives, Jedediah apparently always tried to befriend natives when he came across them, but if they became hostile and unfriendly he sometimes felt he had to kill them. Perhaps that is understandable but (as I understand it) he wasn't supposed to be trapping beavers in that area anyway! So after reading all this I'm wondering at the way he's been made into a hero. Is this justified? Was he a hero? Was he? I am not convinced. However his life does exemplify the truth about the mountain man era in California (my state) and his journals left us a reliable record of what he did and what he thought about things that happened.
Two items surprised me about Jedediah's life. The first is that he was a business man, not just a mountain man. All this trapping and killing of wildlife brought him a lot of income through fur sales and he ended up a fairly wealthy retired trapper at the age of about 30. The other thing I wasn't aware of before I read this book is that Jedediah died very young, at the age of 32. He was killed by hostile Comanches in Kansas.
This book fills in for me a period of California history I needed to read about. While the Franciscans were thriving in their chain of adobe missions near the California coast, Jedediah and men like him wandered through the rest of California plundering the wildlife for profit and distressing one tribe of natives after another.
I live near the Jedediah Smith State Park and Smith River in Northern California. For years I wanted to know more about the man, the legend... but I'm not so very happy with what I found out.
July 7, 2017
How could I have ever missed having no previous knowledge of Jedidiah Smith? Many books, articles and other media, have portrayed his life's myth. With this book I'm happy to make his acquaintance. It's a condensation of his life as a pioneer adventurer and western explorer. He was a resourceful man, highly literate and intelligent, the first American to lead a "brigade" into the Southwest. Peril and deprivation mark all his treks. Though only in his mid-20s and somewhat devout (he disdained use of profanity), he maintained cool-headed leadership among crews of rough-talking mountain men. Most of the Jedidiah legend emerges upbeat despite a couple of rather large downers: two crews were massacred by Indians. And then there's his ultimate death at the hands of Comanches at age 32.
March 3, 2024
Decent/OK book about Jedediah Smith, but with a few issues here and there. (For me personally, about 2.5 star, but 3.5 for general readership.)
First, the good. I knew the basics of Smith's adult life, but did not know he was connected in childhood to Johnny Appleseed. May have been a factor in his adult wanderlust. I also knew he had journals, so had to have at least basic literacy, but he apparently, allowing for spelling variations still common at that time, had a fairly high level.
Related? The general piety of Smith, but one that was not his overall driver. He was not a teetotaler, but avoided "spirituous drink" if he could. Ditto on not cussing like a typical mountain man.
Not bad on detailing Smith's last full trip, through California after leaving the Bay Area. (I've been to the Redwoods, including hiking along Smith River. And, I've been in the Trinity Alps. Yes, he had some bugbears of land to cross.)
Good also on some debunking. He was NOT a "missionary mountain man." For one thing, as Barbour notes, while he knew the basics of the generic inter-tribal sign language, you couldn't use that to communicate theology. And there's no evidence he packed a bible everywhere he went. But, apparently, this is a legendary "thing," as Barbour notes, per the number of monuments to Smith the missionary. Note: My sis named her son Jedediah, after Smith, and gave me the book when I was visiting over Christmas. Maybe she had already heard the legend, and was a bit disappointed it wasn't so.
Good also on noting Smith packed American Yankee stereotypes toward Spanish Catholics and to some degree toward Indians as well. (The Hudson's Bay folks, AFAIK, didn't have such stereotypes impact dealings with their voyageurs, and never had real dealings on the ground with Mexico.) That said, Barbour could have gone deeper. On his final, fatal trip, after all, Smith got an official US passport to trade in Santa Fe. Maybe he thought he didn't have time, on his first trip to California. He could have had William Sublette or whomever, in getting rendezvous supplies in St. Louis, to take a request letter with them. But he didn't
Now, the iffy. People with little familiarity with mountain men might find the writing sluggish, first.
Second, this was originally a university monograph. No index.
Third, there are a few geographic errors. First, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers join together to form the famed California Delta, then into Suisan Bay; they don't flow separately into the Bay. Second, the Sacramento does NOT NOT NOT arise from the Sierra Nevada. It itself arises from the Trinity Alps and Klamath Mts and its long east-side feeder, the Pit, arises from Klamath foothills and other quasi-Cascade Mountains near the California Lava Beds area. See Wiki map. And, on the Wiki entry on the Pit, it specifically notes it passes through the Cascades to get to their junction at Shasta Lake.
So, on that one, I really don't know what did stymie Smith from going east, rather than out to the coast through the Trinity Alps then north. And, Barbour is just wrong on this. So, did Smith's journals claim this was the Sierra, his "Mount Saint Joseph," that was blocking him? Why? Why didn't Barbour take a deeper critical look? And, why is he just wrong himself?
That dropped this book to three stars.
First, the good. I knew the basics of Smith's adult life, but did not know he was connected in childhood to Johnny Appleseed. May have been a factor in his adult wanderlust. I also knew he had journals, so had to have at least basic literacy, but he apparently, allowing for spelling variations still common at that time, had a fairly high level.
Related? The general piety of Smith, but one that was not his overall driver. He was not a teetotaler, but avoided "spirituous drink" if he could. Ditto on not cussing like a typical mountain man.
Not bad on detailing Smith's last full trip, through California after leaving the Bay Area. (I've been to the Redwoods, including hiking along Smith River. And, I've been in the Trinity Alps. Yes, he had some bugbears of land to cross.)
Good also on some debunking. He was NOT a "missionary mountain man." For one thing, as Barbour notes, while he knew the basics of the generic inter-tribal sign language, you couldn't use that to communicate theology. And there's no evidence he packed a bible everywhere he went. But, apparently, this is a legendary "thing," as Barbour notes, per the number of monuments to Smith the missionary. Note: My sis named her son Jedediah, after Smith, and gave me the book when I was visiting over Christmas. Maybe she had already heard the legend, and was a bit disappointed it wasn't so.
Good also on noting Smith packed American Yankee stereotypes toward Spanish Catholics and to some degree toward Indians as well. (The Hudson's Bay folks, AFAIK, didn't have such stereotypes impact dealings with their voyageurs, and never had real dealings on the ground with Mexico.) That said, Barbour could have gone deeper. On his final, fatal trip, after all, Smith got an official US passport to trade in Santa Fe. Maybe he thought he didn't have time, on his first trip to California. He could have had William Sublette or whomever, in getting rendezvous supplies in St. Louis, to take a request letter with them. But he didn't
Now, the iffy. People with little familiarity with mountain men might find the writing sluggish, first.
Second, this was originally a university monograph. No index.
Third, there are a few geographic errors. First, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers join together to form the famed California Delta, then into Suisan Bay; they don't flow separately into the Bay. Second, the Sacramento does NOT NOT NOT arise from the Sierra Nevada. It itself arises from the Trinity Alps and Klamath Mts and its long east-side feeder, the Pit, arises from Klamath foothills and other quasi-Cascade Mountains near the California Lava Beds area. See Wiki map. And, on the Wiki entry on the Pit, it specifically notes it passes through the Cascades to get to their junction at Shasta Lake.
So, on that one, I really don't know what did stymie Smith from going east, rather than out to the coast through the Trinity Alps then north. And, Barbour is just wrong on this. So, did Smith's journals claim this was the Sierra, his "Mount Saint Joseph," that was blocking him? Why? Why didn't Barbour take a deeper critical look? And, why is he just wrong himself?
That dropped this book to three stars.
September 30, 2022
I just couldn't force myself to listen to the last couple of hours of this book. I felt it was playing on an endless loop. Just about the same information over and over again. I am sure a historian who really wants to know and possibly document or write about this man's extensive travel will persevere. I don't mean to take away from the research the author did for this book because it was probably extensive, but there just wasn't very much in the records and journals of the man himself, and a large part of the book records the accounts of the company he worked for more than an account of Jedediah Smith himself. Jedediah was an admirable character in many ways he was known to be very religious, not that that in itself makes any man an admirable character. Like the men of his time, he was a believer in manifest destiny, but was not extremely harsh in his treatment of Native Americans (of course I missed the last 2 hours.) It is surprising that he wasn't killed sooner as he traveled through Indian Territory most of his life. He was eventually killed by the Comanche which is revealed in the first paragraph of the book, so I don't consider this a spoiler.
April 21, 2020
Such a rich and incredibly interesting subject - covered like a modern news media outlet. So much time is spent trying to disprove the legend of Smith and entertain questions that are essentially irrelevant. Disappointed.
June 20, 2023
I’ve heard his name and read multiple mentions of him in several books, so I’ve been interested in finding a book solely focused on Jedediah Smith. This book was great, well researched and easy to read.
July 5, 2025
The east coast of America was fertile and easily settled. The western half of our nation presented formidible barriers to settlement. Jedediah Smith figured out how to get rich - and become famous - in this hostile environment.
May 5, 2019
Interesting man and incredible story. Just didn't really do it for me.
June 6, 2020
It had monotonous parts as it was a pretty detailed account but definitely recommended. Good book. Should be a book required for all USA high schoolers.
May 17, 2012
The last time I encountered Jedediah Smith between book covers was in Oregon-California Trails by Charles George Davis.Even though that book is chock full of wonderful stories and details, it’s kind of a monster of a work, a labyrinth of disorganized detail and bad writing. And, of course, its focus is not on Smith alone.
Baron H. Barbour’s Jedediah Smith No Ordinary Mountain Man is an entirely different animal. Clearly written and well-documented, it pays homage to a man whose role in American history has been neglected, distorted, mythologized, and mistreated in every other way you can think of. But while Barbour admires Smith, he doesn’t idolize or romanticize him. And therein, I think, lies the strength of this terrifically readable biography.
The introduction doesn’t just frame the historical narrative.It pulls you into it immediately by recounting what little is known of his killing in 1831 at age 32. From there, Barbour goes on in a more conventional fashion to outline the historical and family context of Smith’s era and to set the backdrop for his journey west. However, knowing all the time where the adventure is going gives a dramatic tension to the tale that heightens the read nicely.
As to Smith himself, as reader, you find yourself living with an abstemious man of Christian (if narrowly protestant, anti-Catholic) principles who is a quick thinker, a natural leader, and an entrepreneur with a powerful ego and great ambition. He is also astoundingly perseverant and brave. Just the one incident where he literally has half his face chewed off by a grizzly bear, then directs his shaken companions in the task of sewing up own his wounds (no drugs, of course) is enough to give him mountain man creds for life.
But that’s not the half of it. Driven by equal parts lust to explore and lust for lucre in the fur trade, Smith insists on seeking out situations wherein his life is threatened by bad weather, no water, hostile natives, and hostile governments. What gets him through is a combination of guts and wile, which are also (probably) what finally get him killed. The Mexicans imprison him twice, let him go twice. He breaks his contracts with them both times. The Hudson Bay Company--chief rivals in his hunt for furry wealth--helps and supports him, and he bad mouths them to all and sundry. He tries to get along with the Indians, but doesn’t hesitate to murder them, or at least condone their murder, when it suits him. In the process, he covers more territory, makes his imprint on more places from St. Louis to the Pacific, from San Diego to Oregon, and all points in between than I suppose anyone except maybe John Fremont. (I leave out Lewis and Clark because they only went once and did it together, and with government support.) And even Fremont didn’t try to drive 300 horses from the Bay Area to Northern Oregon.
Given his ambition and planned writing projects when he died, there’s a good chance Smith would have outstripped even that politician-soldier-nomad in the end.
So thanks to Mr. Barbour for an enlightening and exciting volume, to Dave for turning me on to it, and for some art director for having the sense to use the superb C.M. Russell detail for the cover. A perfect package from one end to the other.
Baron H. Barbour’s Jedediah Smith No Ordinary Mountain Man is an entirely different animal. Clearly written and well-documented, it pays homage to a man whose role in American history has been neglected, distorted, mythologized, and mistreated in every other way you can think of. But while Barbour admires Smith, he doesn’t idolize or romanticize him. And therein, I think, lies the strength of this terrifically readable biography.
The introduction doesn’t just frame the historical narrative.It pulls you into it immediately by recounting what little is known of his killing in 1831 at age 32. From there, Barbour goes on in a more conventional fashion to outline the historical and family context of Smith’s era and to set the backdrop for his journey west. However, knowing all the time where the adventure is going gives a dramatic tension to the tale that heightens the read nicely.
As to Smith himself, as reader, you find yourself living with an abstemious man of Christian (if narrowly protestant, anti-Catholic) principles who is a quick thinker, a natural leader, and an entrepreneur with a powerful ego and great ambition. He is also astoundingly perseverant and brave. Just the one incident where he literally has half his face chewed off by a grizzly bear, then directs his shaken companions in the task of sewing up own his wounds (no drugs, of course) is enough to give him mountain man creds for life.
But that’s not the half of it. Driven by equal parts lust to explore and lust for lucre in the fur trade, Smith insists on seeking out situations wherein his life is threatened by bad weather, no water, hostile natives, and hostile governments. What gets him through is a combination of guts and wile, which are also (probably) what finally get him killed. The Mexicans imprison him twice, let him go twice. He breaks his contracts with them both times. The Hudson Bay Company--chief rivals in his hunt for furry wealth--helps and supports him, and he bad mouths them to all and sundry. He tries to get along with the Indians, but doesn’t hesitate to murder them, or at least condone their murder, when it suits him. In the process, he covers more territory, makes his imprint on more places from St. Louis to the Pacific, from San Diego to Oregon, and all points in between than I suppose anyone except maybe John Fremont. (I leave out Lewis and Clark because they only went once and did it together, and with government support.) And even Fremont didn’t try to drive 300 horses from the Bay Area to Northern Oregon.
Given his ambition and planned writing projects when he died, there’s a good chance Smith would have outstripped even that politician-soldier-nomad in the end.
So thanks to Mr. Barbour for an enlightening and exciting volume, to Dave for turning me on to it, and for some art director for having the sense to use the superb C.M. Russell detail for the cover. A perfect package from one end to the other.
June 8, 2015
True history, you have to spend some money on this book it is an anemically priced book but excellent. If you like Westerns and like the true life characters you have to read this one. Not a story as much as a history book about a man who paved the way for the West we know.
January 19, 2015
I was assigned this book in a history class in college. I didn't have to make myself read it and I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It contains so much more than just a biography of Jedediah Smith.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews