Educational Activities
1. Who were some other famous mountain men Jed Smith would have known?
2. Do you think Jed's family understood why he left them and went west? Did he have a clear understanding of his purpose?
3. How was Jed different from most of his companions in the fur trade?
4. What was meant by the saying that God was careful to stay east of the Missouri?
5. Why do you think Jed wrote so many letters home? Did most of the mountain men do that? Why, or why not?
6. Why was the fur trade such a booming business? What caused it to decline?
7. Why do you think Jed chose to write letters to people like Clark and other important government figures?
8. Choose one of the people who tell about Jed's life in the poem. Research that person and write about his life and how he would have known Jed.
|
