January 6, 1799 was the birthday of Jedediah Strong Smith, one of America’s greatest trapper-explorers. He was born in Bainbridge, New York. Smith explored a huge area of the American West during his short life. “He began his western voyages in 1822, when he joined the pioneering fur trader William Ashley on a trip up the Missouri River. Unlike earlier fur traders, who depended on Native Americans to actually trap or hunt the furs, Ashley eliminated the Natives as middlemen and instead sent out independent white trappers like Smith to do the job. To escape dependence on Native Americans, though, … The post Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 6, 2026 appeared first on SurvivalBlog.com.