For many years I have had a deep interest in western history, particularly which related to the mountain man era. My heroes have been those hardy men with a restless foot and the need to discover what lies over the hill, the last hill, that is. Lewis and Clark, William Sublette, James Bridger, Jim Clyman and of course, that great leader of men, Jedediah Strong Smith come to mind

About twenty five years ago, I became intensely interested in building the American long rifle and in shooting them. This pursuit, of course, led me into researching the rifles and the history behind their manufacture. Recreating them became an experience like entering a time machine and being transported back into the period of our country's exploration. Hunting with these rifles gave new definition to understanding the feelings experienced by these men who trapped, explored, and basically conquered our vast land.

At the same time I commenced hunting the great wilderness of our Rockies, areas where no road reaches, where one can spend a week completely divorced from other human beings. It was here that I began to feel a kinship with those who had trekked the western regions almost two centuries before me. I truly experienced some of their emotions concerning the land, game, and in short, survival.

This insight, placed alongside my natural interest in western history, prompted me to want to express their story. Researching the times uncovered Jedediah Smith as a hidden jewel. It was apparent that here was the leading force during much of the beaver trade era, but no author has really put flesh on the bones of this great man. Perhaps it is because he was a devout Christian, and extremely clean of personal habits. It is possible that he has scared off the writers. Yet he was the leader of such men as Sublette, Bridger, Clyman, and the wild crew that trapped the beaver, explored the country, and generally opened the west for us who came on later. Called Captain Smith by his peers at the age of twenty three, "old Jed" commanded their respect.

His leadership was unquestioned. His intense desire to explore was only matched, certainly not surpassed, by his mentors of the previous generation, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. That he returned to St. Louis a rich man, only to take one more trip down the Santa Fe Trail was typical of Smith the explorer. His bones lie somewhere between the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers in present southwestern Kansas, his grave the sands that covered his butchered remains, unmarked for speculative generations to come. This aura of mystery has lent glamour to the tale of Smith.

I have attempted to tell his story through the eyes of a mythical character, Clark Herrington of North Carolina. Smith is his hero and companion. Clark brings to this chronicle his own agenda. It is a story of revenge, ravaging the soul of this mountain boy, but brought under the tempering influence of Jedediah Strong Smith.

In Jedediah, And A Tale of Revenge I have tried to be utterly true to the facts as related to the great explorer's life. I am deeply indebted to Dale Morgan's splendid biography, Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. This great work is the last word on Smith's story, drawing heavily from available sources. It has given me inspiration and kept my eye on the facts as Mr. Morgan has given them. I have simply tried to put flesh on the bones.

I am also indebted to the works of various authors who wrote on the mountain man era. Following is a partial list of these works:

This Big Horn ram, is like the sheep that Jedediah, Clark, and Enos ate to keep alive during the terrible blizzard conditions in their first passage over the great southern pass of the Shining Mountains. As the book relates, the party dug in along the Sweetwater River in present day Wyoming. This picture was taken just a few miles from the scene of their terrible ordeal.

I have read Bernard De Voto as background for my understanding of the exploration of the west. Numerous other volumes have added to my knowledge, but of course, I am greatly in debt to the famous Journals of Lewis and Clark, which so powerfully affected the future of my hero, Jedediah Smith. A copy of this famous work was given to young Jed by an uncle. Nothing so influenced his life except the Holy Bible, to which principles he was committed.

And so I commend this story to the reader. May it bring enjoyment and perhaps an understanding of the life of one of our greatest explorers and mountain men, Jedediah Strong Smith.

John C. Herrington