Jedediah Smith

In 1827, thirty-six years before the first Danish settlers entered the Mantua valley, fur trapper and explorer Jedediah Smith traveled through the Mantua Valley. He was six feet tall and twenty-six years old and was returning from a trip to California to attend the Rocky Mountain Fur Company Rendezvous at Snake Lake (Bear Lake). Fred Gowans, Ph.D., BYU Professor and highly respected historian of the fur trade and of Jedediah Smith says the following: “Jedediah would have utilized existing Indian trails or a route that seemed logical at the time, which would indeed have led him through the prominent canyon east of Brigham City."

Here's why this aligns with historical realities:

* Existing Trails: Native American trails were the highways of the West for centuries. They followed logical paths of least resistance, often through canyons that provided access through mountain ranges, water sources, and game.

Smith most likely traversed the existing Native American highway, up Box Elder Canyon, through the Mantua Valley, over Indian Trail Pass, through Willow Valley (Cache Valley) then up Borden’s Fork Canyon ( Blacksmith’s Fork Canyon) through Curtis Creek and into the Snake Lake (Bear Lake) valley to attend the 1827 rendezvous.

Sources:

Jedediah Smith And The Opening Of The West

-By Dale E. Morgan

Rocky Mountain Rendezvous, History Of The Fur Trade Rendezvous 1825-1840

-By Fred Gowans