Stephen Harriman Long 755470 226117757 2008-07-16T22:04:51Z Elcajonfarms 2032323 /* External links */ '''Stephen Harriman Long''' ([[December 30]], [[1784]] &ndash; [[September 4]],[[1864]]) was a [[United States|U.S.]] engineer, explorer, and military officer. As an inventor, he is noted for his developments in the design of [[steam locomotive]]s. As an Army officer, he led a pioneering scientific expedition throughout a large area of the [[Great Plains]], which he famously described as the "[[Great American Desert]]". [[Longs Peak]] in [[Colorado]] is named for him. ==Biography== Long was born in [[Hopkinton, New Hampshire]], the son of Moses and Lucy (Harriman) Long. He received an A.B. from [[Dartmouth College]] in [[1809]] and an A.M. from Dartmouth in [[1812]]. In [[1814]], he was commissioned a lieutenant of engineers in the [[United States Army]]. In March [[1819]] he married Martha Hodgkins of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]]. *[[http://www.topogs.org/b_long.html]] The following month, as a brevet major in the U.S. Army, he was appointed to lead an expedition through the [[American West]], in areas acquired in the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. The specific purpose of the voyage was to the find the sources of the [[Platte River|Platte]], [[Arkansas River|Arkansas]], and [[Red River (Mississippi watershed)|Red]] rivers. In 1817, Major Long headed a military excursion up the [[Mississippi River]] to the [[Falls of St. Anthony]] near the confluence with the [[Minnesota River]]. As a result of his recommendations, the Army established [[Fort Snelling]] to guard against Indian incursions against settlers in the [[Upper Mississippi Valley]]. Later, as an officer in the Army [[U.S. Topographical Engineers]] he led several additional expeditions into the United States borderlands with Canada, including the Upper Mississippi Valley, the [[Red River of the North|Red River of the North]] and across the southern part of [[Canada]]. Following his official military expeditions, Major Long spent several years helping to survey and build the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]]. In [[1826]] he received his first patent for his work on [[railroad]] steam locomotives. Long received many more patents for locomotive design and worked with other Army engineers in planning and building the railroad. In [[1832]], along with [[William Norris (locomotive builder)|William Norris]] and several other business partners, he formed the [[American Steam Carriage Company]]. The business was dissolved in [[1834]] due to the difficulties in placing Long's locomotive designs into production. Colonel Long received a leave of absence to work on the newly incorporated [[Western & Atlantic Railroad]] in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. His yearly salary was established at $5,000, the contract was signed [[May 12]], [[1837]] and he served as the chief engineer for the W&A until [[November 3]], [[1840]].<ref>Johnston, p.19</ref> He arrived in north Georgia in late May and his surveying began in July and by November he had submitted an initial report which the construction followed almost exactly.<ref>Johnston, p.22</ref> In [[1838]] he was appointed to a position in the newly formed U.S. topographical engineers corps. He died in [[Alton, Illinois]] in [[1864]]. ==Major Long's Expeditions Up the Missouri and Platte Rivers== Major Long was the leader of the first scientific exploration up the [[Platte River]]. His party included several scientists who studied the geography and natural resources of the area. Eventually, Long became one of the most prolific explorers of the period, covering 26,000 miles in five expeditions. Like most engineers, Long was college-trained, interested in searching for order in the natural world, and willing to work with the modern technology of the time. Engineers had basically two unique points of view that set them apart from the other pioneers &mdash; geographic and technological. In July 1819, he joined Gen. [[Henry Atkinson]]'s [[Yellowstone Expedition]] bound from [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] to the [[Rockies]] on the [[steamboat]] ''Western Engineer''. This was the first steamboat to travel up the [[Missouri River]] into the [[Louisiana Purchase]] territory. By September 17, the steamboat arrived at [[Fort Lisa]], a trading fort belonging to [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]]'s [[Missouri Fur Company]]. It was about five miles south of [[Council Bluffs]]. Long's group built their winter quarters nearby and called it "Engineer Cantonment." Within a month, Long returned to the east coast, and by the following May, his orders had changed. Instead of exploring the [[Missouri River]], President [[James Monroe]] decided to have Long lead an expedition up the [[Platte River|Platte]] to the mountains and back along the border with the Spanish colonies. Exploring that border was vital, since [[John Quincy Adams]] had just concluded the treaty with [[Spain]], which drew a new U. S. border to the [[Pacific]]. On June 6, [[1820]], Long and 19 men traveled up the north bank of the Platte and met [[Pawnee]] and [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indians]]. On October 14, 1820, 400 [[Omaha (tribe)|Omaha]] assembled at a meeting with Long; Chief [[Big Elk]] made the following speech: :"Here I am, my Father; all these young people you see around here are yours; although they are poor and little, yet they are your children. All my nation loves the whites and always have loved them. Some think, my Father, that you have brought all these soldiers here to take our land from us but I do not believe it. For although I am a poor simple Indian, I know that this land will not suit your farmers. If I even thought your hearts bad enough to take this land, I would not fear it, as I know there is not wood enough on it for the use of the white." After finding and naming Longs Peak and the [[Rocky Mountains]], they journeyed down the [[South Platte River]] to the [[Arkansas River]] watershed. The expedition was then split, and Long led his group towards the [[Red River (Mississippi watershed)|Red River]]. They missed it, ran into hostile Indians and had to eventually eat their own horses to survive before they finally met the other part of the expedition at Fort Smith in [[Arkansas]]. Long and his party of scientists would learn much to tell the nation and have the opportunity to show the [[U.S. flag]]. ===Report=== In his report of the [[1820]] expedition, Long wrote that the Plains from [[Nebraska]] to [[Oklahoma]] were "unfit for cultivation and of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture." On the map he made of his explorations, he called the area a "Great Desert." Long felt the area labeled the "Great Desert" would be better suited as a buffer against the [[Spain|Spanish]], [[United Kingdom|British]], and [[Russians]], who shared the continent with the [[United States|Americans]]. He also commented that the eastern wooded portion of the country should be filled up before the republic attempted any further extension westward. He commented that sending settlers to that area was out of the question. Given the technology of the 1820s, Long was right. There was little timber for houses or fuel, minimal surface water, sandy soil, hard winters, vast herds of bison ([[American bison|buffalo]]), hostile Indians, and no easy means of communication. However, it's ironic that the native tribes had been living there for centuries and that, by the end of the 19th century, the "Great Desert" had become the nation's breadbasket. There were two key results of this expedition -- a very accurate description of Indian customs and Indian life as they existed among the Omaha, Otoes, and Pawnees and his description of the land west of the Missouri River as a "desert". ==Major Long's Expedition in 1823 to Red River of the North== Major Long's [[1823]] expedition up the [[Minnesota River]] (then known as [[St. Peter's River]]), to the headwaters of the [[Red River of the North]], down that river to [[Pembina]] and [[Fort Garry]], and thence by canoe across British Canada to [[Lake Huron]] is sometimes confused with his initial expedition to the Red River in modern-day Texas and Oklahoma. The expedition to the Red River of the North was a separate, later appointment which completed a series of explorations conceived of by [[Lewis Cass]] and implemented by [[David B. Douglass]], [[Henry Schoolcraft]], and others besides Major Long. The 1823 expedition was denoted primarily as a scientific reconnaissance and an evaluation of trade possibilities, but probably had undisclosed military objectives as well, and certainly was viewed with suspicion by British authorities in Canada. This expedition for a time was joined by the [[Italy|Italian]] adventurer [[Giacomo Beltrami]], who argued with Long and left the expedition near Fort Garry. The 1823 expedition encouraged American traders to push into the fur trade in Northern Minnesota and Dakota, and fostered the development of the [[Red River Trails]] and a colorful chapter of [[Red River ox cart|ox cart]] trade between the [[Red River Colony]] and [[Fort Garry]] via [[Pembina, North Dakota|Pembina]] and the newly developing towns of [[Mendota, Minnesota|Mendota]] and [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]]. ==References== * Johnston, James Houstoun, ''Western and Atlantic Railroad of the State of Georgia'', Atlanta, 1931 * {{White - History of the American locomotive}} * [http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0400/stories/0401_0111.html Nebraska Studies website] * Kane, Lucile M., Holmquist, June D., and Gilman, Caroly, eds., ''The Northern Expeditions of Stephen H. Long: The Journals of 1817 and 1823 and Related Documents'' (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1978). *[http://www.topogs.org/b_long.html|U.S. Topographical Engineers On-Line Biography of Stephen H. Long] ==Notes== <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count: 2; column-count: 2;"> <references/> </div> ==External links== * [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf55800408 The Journal of Captain John R. Bell: official journalist for the Stephen H. Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains](call number M0063; 1 folder) is housed in the [http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/spc.html Department of Special Collections and University Archives] at [http://library.stanford.edu/ Stanford University Libraries] {{DEFAULTSORT:Long, Stephen Harriman}} [[Category:1784 births]] [[Category:1864 deaths]] [[Category:American explorers]] [[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]] [[Category:History of Colorado]] [[Category:History of Nebraska]] [[Category:People in rail transport]] [[Category:Explorers of North America]] [[Category:History of United States expansionism]] [[Category:History of Minnesota]] [[Category:History of North Dakota]] [[it:Stephen Harriman Long]] [[pt:Stephen Harriman Long]]