Caleb Greenwood (c. 1763 – c. 1850) was a

Western U.S. The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

fur trapper Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanke ...

and trail guide.

Early years

Born in Virginia, Greenwood took part in trapping expeditions organized by associates of John Jacob Astor in 1810 and by

Manuel Lisa Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa (September 8, 1772 in New Orleans Louisiana (New Spain) – August 12, 1820 in St. Louis, Missouri), was a Spanish citizen and later, became an American citizen who, while living on the western frontier, ...

in 1812–1813. In 1815 he trapped independently on the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United ...

, and later traveled up the Missouri River in the company of other trappers. In 1824 trappers led by John Henry Weber, including Greenwood and

Jim Bridger James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...

, crossed South Pass to trap on the eastern slope of the Wind River Mountains. Weber's party went to what is today

Soda Springs, Idaho Soda Springs is a city in Caribou County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 3,058 at the time of the 2010 census. The city has been the county seat of Caribou County since the county was organized in 1919. In the 1860s, Soda Springs serve ...

, and proceeded to a tributary of the Bear River to establish a winter camp. On May 23, 1825, Weber's party joined with a group led by

Jedediah Smith Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, an ...

in a confrontation with

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

trappers led by

Peter Skene Ogden Peter Skene Ogden (alternately Skeene, Skein, or Skeen; baptised 12 February 1790 – 27 September 1854) was a British-Canadian fur trader and an early explorer of what is now British Columbia and the Western United States. During his many expedi ...

. In July 1825, Greenwood joined the large group of trappers and traders at William H. Ashley's first great rendezvous on the Green River.

Family life

In the 1820s, Greenwood married Batchicka Youngcau, who was half French and half

Crow Indian The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke (), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation locate ...

according to family records. The couple had seven children: John (1827 or 1828), Britton Bailey (between 1827 and 1830), Governor Boggs (between 1834 and 1836), William Sublette (1838), James Case (1841), Angeline (dob unknown), and Sarah Mojave (1843). After 1834, he and a growing family lived for a time on a small farm in northern Missouri. After his wife's death in 1843, he again turned to the west. He died in California either in 1849 or 1850. A history of California published by Theodore Henry Hittell in 1898 reports on a conflict between Indians and white settlers, including Greenwood's family, in

Coloma, California Coloma ( Nisenan: ''Cullumah'', meaning "beautiful") is a census-designated place in El Dorado County, California, US. It is approximately northeast of Sacramento, California. Coloma is most noted for being the site where James W. Marshall found ...

. This account identifies an additional Greenwood son, David Crockett Greenwood. (Hittell, p. 890) Greenwood employed his sons on the trail, guiding Americans westward to California, often under the employ of Charles Sutter of

Sutter's Mill Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gol ...

. While shepherding dissenters of the Barlow Train in 1845, Greenwood ordered the execution of his eldest son John for the murder of a Native man. However, no execution was ever undertaken, as John fled the train and arrived in California independently of the other Greenwoods.

Sublette-Greenwood cutoff

In 1844 Greenwood, along with Isaac Hitchcock, guided the influential Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party across the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

mountain range. On reaching

Sutter's Fort Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican '' Alta California'' province.National Park Service"California National Historic Trail."/ref> The site of the fort was established in 1839 and originally called New Hel ...

he had completed one of the first overland

wagon A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

journeys to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Returning east the following year with his two sons, Greenwood pioneered a new route bypassing the

Truckee River The Truckee River is a river in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river flows northeasterly and is long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 20, 2012 Th ...

Canyon, named in honor of the chief of the Pah Utes who guided the men to this route. This subsequently became a main route of the

California Trail The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. After it was established, the first half of the California Trail f ...

, which hundreds of thousands of people followed in the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

of 1849. While guiding the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party along the

Emigrant Trail In the history of the American frontier, overland trails were built by pioneers throughout the 19th century and especially between 1829 and 1870 as an alternative to sea and railroad transport. These immigrants began to settle much of North Amer ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

, Greenwood suggested instead of following the original trail south to

Fort Bridger Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, C ...

, the party leave the main trail near the Little Sandy River and head west across the Wyoming high desert to rejoin the main trail in the Bear River valley. The new route cut and 7 days off the trip, but it was risky as nearly of the new route were without water. The trail gained popularity after it was detailed in a popular guide book published by Joseph Ware in 1849. Ware mistakenly called it the ''Sublette Cutoff'' after Solomon Sublette, who had described the trail to him. The route reached the height of its popularity during the California Gold Rush, when the need for speed outweighed risk. Greenwood may have pioneered the Gold Trail and its two main variants, the Coldstream Route and the Dog Valley-Adler Creek Route. Over the course of the Gold Rush, approximately 50% of all overland travelers followed the Greenwood paths. Historians now refer to the route as the Sublette-Greenwood Cutoff in honor of Greenwood.

Other eponyms

*Caleb Greenwood K–8 School in the Sacramento City Unified School District is named after Greenwood; it opened in 195

*

Elk, Mendocino County, California Elk (formerly Greenwood and Elk River) is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located south of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 135 feet (41 m). Elk has a population of 208. It is located on the coast at the crossr ...

, was formerly called Greenwood after two of Caleb Greenwood's sons who settled there. *Greenwood, California is on State 193 Highway in northern

El Dorado County El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento- Roseville- ...

near the towns of Cool and Georgetown. The Greenwood in Mendocino County had to be changed to Elk because the one in El Dorado was already in existence. The Mendocino County town was named after Caleb's son Britton who ranched there for a time. The El Dorado County town was named after Caleb and family who lived there. A pamphlet published by local genealogist Leonard M. Davis relates that son John Greenwood opened a trading post in Long Valley in 1848–49. The pamphlet reports that by the time the Greenwoods left in 1850, the town had replaced the name Long Valley with the Greenwood name.

References

* Kelly, Charles, ''Old Greenwood, the Story of Caleb Greenwood, Trapper, Pathfinder and Early Pioneer of the West.'' Western Printing, Salt Lake City, 1936 * Hittell, Theodore Henry. "History of California." Vols. 1-2: Pacific Press publishing house and Occidental Publishing Co., 1885/1898 - California.

External links

Historical development of the California Trail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwood, Caleb 1763 births 1850 deaths Explorers of California People of the California Gold Rush American explorers Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party