Jedediah Strong Smith was an American explorer who became the first man to lead a party of Americans over land into California. Setting out from near the Great Salt Lake in August, 1826, Smith and his party traveled the entire length of the Great Basin, crossed the Mojave Desert, and entered southern California. On November 26, 1826, the group camped at Mud Springs, and the following day they reached Mission San Gabriel. Smith was the first to cross the Sierra Nevada Range, the first to travel the length and breadth of the Great Basin, and the first to reach the Columbia River by land from San Diego. He explored more of the American West than any man of his generation and was remembered as a man of high moral principles, a respected leader, and a great American.