Jedediah Smith

Jedediah Smith

Jedediah Smith is probably the most famous of all "Mountain Men" -- those fur-clad, grizzled individuals who were first to explore the American West in search of pelts and adventure. He was the first American after the Astorians to cross west over the Continental Divide, rediscovering South Pass, and the first American to traverse California's rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains. He was also first to open the coastal trade route from California to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.

But few realized that among his greatest exploits were Jedediah Smith's trail-blazing expeditions across the deserts of American West. In fact, Jedediah was the first American to enter California overland from the east across the forbidden Mojave Desert and the first to cross the enormous Great Basin Desert and return east, overland from California.

1. Who was Jedediah Smith?

a storekeeper
a historian
a mountain man
a soldier

2. What was a mountain man?

an office worker
an explorer and trapper
a farmer
an engineer

3. After the Astorians what did Smith do?

crossed to the West over the continental divide
crossed the Mississippi river
climbed Pikes Peak
all of the above

4. Jedediah opened a coastal trade route from California to ____ .

Utah
Nevada
Fort Vancouver
Idaho

5. Jedediah Smith was the first person to arrive in California ____ .

by sailing ship
overland
by hot air balloon
from Canada

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