Jedediah Strong Smith (1799-1831) and his fur trading party became the first group of Americans to make an overland journey to California. Smith, a 27-year-old from Bainbridge, New York ...

He was Jedediah Smith, the first American to come over land to the Inland Empire and the rest of Mexican California. For his vagabond spirit, Smith was arrested, tossed into jail, almost hanged ...

Jedediah Strong Smith was born in New York Jan. 6, 1799. His parents ran a unprofitable store that they left in 1811 for greener pastures on the frontier, first in Pennsylvania then in Northeast Ohio.

In 1827, Jedediah Strong Smith, referred to as “Mountain Man” Smith, entered the San Joaquin Valley. The New York native was a trapper and explorer. On Aug. 22, 1826, accompanied by 17 men and ...

In partnership with the Jedediah Smith Society, Kern County on Tuesday unveiled the Jedediah Strong Smith Monument at Panorama Park, a 3,200-pound granite slab that overlooks the Panorama Bluffs.