The Jedediah Smith Society – An organization dedicated to the history of Jedediah Smith, and other explorers and mountain men of the Fur Trade Era.

Welcome to the Jedediah Smith Society!

We hope this site will serve as your doorway into the life of one of our country’s greatest explorers. Read Jedediah Strong Smith’s biography and you will come to see that he deserves his prominent place in our nation’s story. Our society exists to teach others about him: Who was Jed? What did he do, and why? What did he discover? How did he influence the growth of America? Answers to these and many other questions await you. Allow us, please, to guide your learning with maps, book recommendations, essays, photos, video links, and a host of other resources. Enjoy and learn!

Fremont Gibbs Smith Map — The Fremont-Gibbs-Smith Map

In 1953 Carl Wheat rediscovered this famous map by John C. Fremont, originally published in 1842. The map contains some additions by American geologist and ethnologist George Gibbs. Dale Morgan, a historian with an extensive knowledge of the West and Jedediah Smith, collaborated with Wheat to show that Gibbs’ emendations to the map were transcribed from Smith’s lost map. The Fremont-Gibbs-Smith map is held in the Library of Congress.