Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
LONG, Stephen Harriman
LONG, Stephen Harriman. (Hopkinton, NH, Dec. 10, 1784--Alton, IL, Sept. 4, 1864). Long, for whom Colorado's Long's Peak is named, was a member of the Corps of Topographical Engineers when he led military expeditions into the upper MISSISSIPPI RIVER valley between 1817 and 1823.
Passing by Dubuque's LEAD mines on July 28, 1817, Long gave the site a prominent notation on his published map of the Mississippi Valley. He again traveled through the area in 1823 and noted 'Dubuque's Hill.'
In 1818 he received orders to organize and lead a scientific expedition west. In 1820 Long led a small party of scientists and soldiers west to the Rocky Mountains examining the land, streams, animals, plants, and minerals along the way. At the Rockies they turned south, searching for the headwaters of the Red River without success. After nearly starving in the Plains, they returned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, late in the summer.
The explorers returned with specimens of plants and animals, as well as new geographic information about the Central Plains. Their report and maps labeled the region as desert. With similar comments from Zebulon Montgomery PIKE, Long's descriptions persuaded many that the Plains was unfit for agriculture. (1)
---
Source:
"Stephen H. Long," Encyclopedia of the Great Plains," Online: http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.war.026
