Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth
Nathaniel J. Wyeth
Born January 29, 1802(1802-01-29)
Massachusetts
Died August 31, 1856(1856-08-31) (aged 54)
Occupation Explorer, inventor

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth (January 29, 1802–August 31, 1856) was an American inventor, ice harvester, and explorer and trader in the far west.

Contents

Early life

Wyeth was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Jacob and Elizabeth (Jarvis)[1] Wyeth. He married Elizabeth Jarvis Stone on Jan 29, 1824, and began his career in the 1820s by acting as foreman for a company that harvested ice from Fresh Pond in Cambridge, and thus helping Boston's "Ice King" Frederic Tudor to establish New England's ice trade with the Caribbean, Europe, and India. In the course of this business, he invented a number of tools that revolutionized the ice-harvesting business and increased its productivity enormously. He also invented above-ground ice houses, with double walls for insulation.[2] As the Dictionary of American Biography states, "[I]t was said at his death that practically every implement and device used in the ice business had been invented by Nat Wyeth."

Oregon Country

At age 30, however, Hall J. Kelley convinced him that Oregon had excellent commercial prospects. Wyeth believed that he could become wealthy in the Oregon fur industry, develop farms for growing crops (especially tobacco) and start a salmon industry that would rival New England's cod industry.

When Kelley's plans for an expedition were long delayed, Wyeth formed one of his own, and as he wrote in his expedition journal: "On the 10th of March 1832 I left Boston in a vessel with 20 men for Baltimore where I was joined by four more, and on the 27th left to Rail Road for Fredrick Md (Frederick, Maryland) from thence to Brownsville we marched on foot, and took passage from that place to Liberty Mo. on various steamboats, which place we left for the prairies on the 12th of May with 21 men, three having deserted, and on the 27th of May three more deserted." From there the expedition's route proceeded along what would later become known as the Oregon Trail, via the Black Hills, the Grand Tetons, north of the Great Salt Lake, thence to Walla Walla, Washington, down the Columbia River, and ultimately to Fort Vancouver on October 29.

On November 6, Wyeth's journal notes that "my men came forward and unanimously desired to be released from their engagement with a view of returning home as soon as possible.... I am now afloat on the great sea of life without stay or support but in good hands i.e. myself and providence". After spending the winter months at Fort Vancouver, Wyeth returned overland, reaching Liberty, Missouri by late September 1833, and then on to Boston. Although the expedition had not been a commercial success, he brought with him a collection of plants previously unknown to botany.

In 1834 he outfitted a new expedition, with grand plans for establishing fur-trading posts, a salmon fishery, a colony, and other developments. Included in the company were two noted naturalists, Professor Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859) of Harvard University, and John Kirk Townsend plus missionary Jason Lee.[3] Wyeth's party crossed the Kansas River on May 5, founded Fort Hall (July, 1834) and built Fort William on the Columbia River. Wyeth reports in his journal that on September 15, 1834, he "met the Bg [Brig] May Dacre in full sail up the River boarded her and found all well she had put into Valparaíso having been struck by Lightning and much damaged. Capt Lambert was well and brot me 20 Sandwich Islanders and 2 Coopers 2 Smiths and a Clerk." After much exploration and trapping, he was ultimately unsuccessful in competition with Dr. John McLoughlin of the Hudson's Bay Company, and in 1836 he returned to the East discouraged.

Despite its business failure, the second expedition again proved scientifically useful as Nuttall collected and identified 113 species of western plants including sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata and "mule's ear", a sunflower genus that he named Wyethia in Wyeth's honor.

Later life

Although he failed in his two ventures westward, Wyeth's business dealings in Massachusetts remained financially secure and he maintained a sizable fortune. He continued to strongly support the occupation of Oregon by American settlers, and encouraged many to go west, although he himself never crossed the Mississippi again.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Hist. of Camb., MA 1630-1877, Paige, p.705
  2. ^ Sinclair, Jill (April 2009). Fresh Pond: The History of a Cambridge Landscape. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-19591-1. 
  3. ^ "Jason Lee's Mission to Oregon". Road To Oregon. End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa06JasonLee.html. Retrieved 2007-01-31. 

General references

  • “Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth.” Dictionary of American Biography, Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group, 2001.
  • The correspondence and journals of Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, 1831-6. Eugene, Ore., University Press, 1899.
  • The Journals of Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth's Expeditions to the Oregon Country 1831-1836. Don Johnson, ed. Fairfield, Washington. Ye Galleon Press. 1984

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth — Nacimiento 29 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Wyeth (disambiguation) — Wyeth as a surname may refer to: * a member of the Wyeth family of American artists: :*father N. C. Wyeth (1882 ndash;1945)::*son Andrew Wyeth (born 1917):::*grandson Jamie Wyeth (born 1946)::*daughter Ann Wyeth McCoy (1915 2005)::*daughter… …   Wikipedia

  • Fort William (Oregon) — infobox generic | color = khaki name = Fort William sub0 = Fur Trade Outpost img1 = width1 = cap1 = hdr1 = lbl1 = Constructed: row1 = 1834 lbl2 = Built for: row2 = Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth lbl3 = Location: row3 = Sauvie Island, Oregon lbl4 =… …   Wikipedia

  • Fort Hall — Infobox generic color = khaki name = Fort Hall sub0 = Fur Trade Outpost img1 = Wpdms fort hall.png width1 = 300px lbl1 = Constructed: row1 = 1834 lbl2 = Company built: row2 = Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth lbl3 = Location: row3 = Fort Hall, Idaho lbl4 =… …   Wikipedia

  • Joseph Gale — Infobox Politician name = Joseph Gale width = 120px height = caption = small office = Executive Committee of the Provisional Government of Oregon term start = 1843 term end = 1844 predecessor = position created successor = Second Executive… …   Wikipedia

  • Oregon Trail — For other uses, see Oregon Trail (disambiguation). Oregon Trail The route of the Oregon Trail shown on a map of the western United States from Independence, Missouri (on the eastern end) to Oregon City, Oregon (on the western end) …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas J. Hubbard — Infobox Person name= Thomas J. Hubbard caption= birth date= 1806 birth place= Kinderhook, New York death date= April 24 1877 death place= Oregon occupation= gunsmith spouse= Mary SommataThomas Jefferson Hubbard (1806 April 24 1877) was an Oregon… …   Wikipedia

  • Pierre's Hole — Pierre s Hole, a shallow valley located in the drainage of the south fork of the Teton River in what is today the state of Idaho, was a strategic center of the fur trade of the northern Rocky Mountains. Explorer and mountain man John Colter, a… …   Wikipedia

  • Benjamin Bonneville — Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (April 14, 1796 ndash; June 12, 1878) was a French born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. He is noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great… …   Wikipedia

  • Benjamin Bonneville — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville Retrato de Benjamin Bonneville …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”