General Stephen H. Long was truly a renaissance man. He was a civil engineer, a soldier, an explorer, a surveyor, and an inventor. He made advances in the development of steam locomotives with his new designs. He taught mathematics at West Point. And although his career as an explorer was relatively short-lived, he covered over 26,000 miles in five expeditions.
President Monroe’s Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, promoted westward expeditions to protect the frontier and expand the fur trade. In 1819, Long joined an expedition that explored from St. Louis up the Missouri River to the Yellowstone, in what is today North Dakota. The expedition was tasked with building forts to protect the frontier and serve as fur trading posts.
The expedition was groundbreaking in more ways than one. It was the first government-funded expedition to include professional scientists and engineers. Long was assigned to oversee the surveying and mapping of territory west of the Missouri River. He even designed a boat for the mission.
That boat, named the Western Engineer, navigated the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri Rivers. It became the first steamboat to journey up the Missouri River into the Louisiana Purchase Territory.
On this date in 1820, Long was preparing to lead another expedition. He assembled a mixed group of scientists, engineers, two artists, and a small number of soldiers for protection. The group finally set out in June, crossing the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains in what is now Colorado.
It wasn’t an easy journey. The Plains were wide open. They endured severe thunderstorms with no trees for cover. But they also saw incredible sights—like a massive herd of bison that Long estimated at over 10,000 strong.
As the expedition returned to civilization, Long and his team went to Philadelphia to write up their findings. They published Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains.
It was in that report that Long famously called the Great Plains “The Great American Desert.” He wrote that the soil was sterile, there wasn’t enough rain, and the land couldn’t be farmed. Though Long provided valuable service in surveying and mapping the Great Plains, his report discouraged westward migration for decades.
Dakota Datebook by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- American History Central. “Stephen Harriman Long: Explorer of the Midwest and Great Plains.” https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/stephen-harriman-long/ Accessed 4/8/2025.
- National Archives. “The Northern Expeditions of Stephen H. Long.” http://archives.gov/nhprc/projects/catalog/stephen-long-northern-expeditions Accessed 4/8/2025.
