The Splendid Wayfaring (1920) concerns the travels of Jed Smith and the Ashley-Henry Fur Traders moving on westward waterways for profit and the promise of a new life."Curious, capable, fearless and self contained, Smith was never the man to wait for events. He went forth eagerly to meet them. Such ever are the splendid wayfarers of this world."
"The leaders, with the single exception of Jedediah Smith, were doubtless in their own estimation merely traders and trappers, out for the precious beaver pelts with which to buy what no man ever purchased at a price - happiness; and the rank and file, receiving from $150 to $300 per year, were lured by the witchery of danger and the free life of the wilderness."
