Editing Jedediah Smith (section)

==Smith joins "Ashley's Hundred"==
{{further|Mountain man}}

[[File:Missouririverecoregions.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Regions of the Missouri River Watershed]]

Coming from a family of modest means, Smith sought to make his own way.{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}}{{sfn|Morgan|1964|p=26}} He may have left his family in search of a trade or employment a year prior to their settlement in Green Township.  In 1822, Smith was living in St. Louis.{{efn |There is a dispute when Smith actually arrived in St. Louis; the earliest account is dated 1816.<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith | first=Ezra Delos | title=Jedediah S. Smith and the Settlement of Kansas | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RKEUAAAAYAAJ| series=Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society |publisher=Kansas State Historical Society |year=1912| page=254}}</ref>{{sfn|Schafer|1935|p=290}}}} The same year Smith responded to an advertisement in the Missouri Gazette placed by General William H. Ashley.{{sfn|Barbour|2011|p=23}} General Ashley and Major Andrew Henry,{{efn|Henry had formerly been associated with the [[Missouri Fur Company]].}} veterans of the [[War of 1812]], had established a partnership to engage in the [[North American fur trade|fur trade]]<ref>{{cite web|title=William Ashley Mountain Man Rendezvous System |website=Mountain Man – Indian – Canadian Fur Trade |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407184119/http://thefurtrapper.com/ |archive-date=April 7, 2016 |last1=Eddins |first1=O. Ned |publisher=O. Ned Eddins |location=Afton, Wyoming |year=2002 |url=http://thefurtrapper.com |access-date=April 4, 2016 }}</ref> and were looking for "One Hundred" "''Enterprising Young Men''" to explore and trap in the Rocky Mountains.<ref name=NPS1>{{cite web|title=Andrew Henry |website=National Park Service|url= http://www.nps.gov/bica/learn/historyculture/andrew-henry.htm|access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref> Superintendent of Indian Affairs William Clark had granted Ashley and Henry license to trade with Native Americans in the upper [[Missouri River]], and he actively encouraged them to compete with the powerful British fur trade in the [[Pacific Northwest]].{{sfn|Buckley|2008|p=158}} Smith, a 6-foot-tall, 23-year-old with a commanding presence, impressed General Ashley to hire him.{{sfn|Morgan|1964|p=26}} In late spring, Smith started up the Missouri on the [[keelboat]] ''Enterprize'', which sank three weeks into the journey. Smith and the other men waited at the site of the wreck for a replacement boat, hunting and foraging for food. Ashley brought up another boat with an additional 46 men{{sfn|Barbour|2011|p=29-30}} and upon proceeding upriver, Smith got his first glimpse of the western frontier, coming into contact with the [[Sioux]] and [[Arikara]].{{sfn|Barbour |2011|pages=31–32}} On October 1, Smith reached [[Fort Henry (North Dakota)|Fort Henry]] at the mouth of the [[Yellowstone River]],{{sfn|Morgan|1964|p=40}} which had just been built by Major Henry and the men that he had led up earlier.<ref name=NPS1 />{{efn|A letter addressed to [[Joshua Pilcher]] stated that Henry left St. Louis with "one boat and one hundred & fifty men by land and water".{{sfn|Morgan|1964|pages=28–29}}  There is no indication of how many men were with Smith on the ''Enterprize'', but the fact that Ashley brought up an additional 46 men on the replacement boat indicates it may have been 40–50. Although the advertisement placed by Ashley was asking for 100 men, around 250 were actually engaged.  The "100 men" were to be trappers and were called "[[Ashley's Hundred]]".<ref>{{cite web|title=William Ashley |website=National Park Service|url=http://www.nps.gov/bica/learn/historyculture/william-ashley.htm|access-date=October 10, 2015}}</ref>}} Smith and some other men continued up [[Missouri River]] to the mouth of the [[Musselshell River]], where they built a camp from which to trap through the winter.{{sfn|Barbour|2011 |pages=35–36}}