Jedediah Smith Memorial Cairn -- Mobridge SD USA - Cairns on Waymarking.com

This memorial cairn to Jedediah Smith who trapped explored and shared his faith among the indigenous peoples here stands along the Missouri River Mobridge, South Dakota.

The plaques on the cairn read as follows:

JEDEDIAH SMITH - MISSIONARY EXPLORER
A Methodist by faith, he carried a Bible with him wherever he went and practiced the Christian life among the rough men with whom he was thrown into daily contact. Some excerpts from his letters reveal this facet of his character. Writing to his brother he said: "as it repects my spiritual welfare, I hardly durst speak. I find myself one of the most ungrateful unthankful creatures imaginable. O, when shall I be under the care of a Christian Church. I have need of your prayers. I wish our Society to bear me up to a Throne of Grace."
Smith's worth as an explorer his resourcefulness as a leader, and his skill as a mountain man were only surpassed by his integrity and faith. Men spoke of him as a Christian gentleman. Those who knew him best said that he made religion "an active principle from the duties of which nothing could seduce him".

Jedediah Smith was 6 ft. 2 in. brave, and daring, and an example of piety for the rough men with whom he dealt and dwelt.

And on the other side of the cairn, the second plaque reads as follows:

"JEDEDIAH SMITH - TRAPPER TRADER EXPLORER

As a member of this latter combination Smith charted the way for the spread of the American empire from the Missouri River to the West Coast. While searching for new streams in which to trap beaver, he discovered the central route from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

During his career in the West, he became the first white man of record to cross the Black Hills, and he opened the South Pass, used by later immigrants. He was the first to traverse Nevada, Utah and the Sierra. He was the first American to go overland to California and the first white man to explore the Pacific hinterland from Mexico to Canada. His exploration brought him to the Great Salt Lake, itself a bitter brew but having plenty of fine streams flowing into it and beaver sign everywhere.

After selling his interest in the successful partnership, he shifted his efforts into the SW and while searching for water to succor his party, he was killed by Comanche arrows at the age of 32 at a scooped out mudhole on the Cimarron. No other mans record better typifies the hard life of the successful frontiersman of the Great West."

Cairn Location: No Cairn Purpose: Other (please describe in description) Type if different from above list: Memorial Types of rock: Local river rocks Cairn Condition:

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Date Logged Log   02/15/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it