Jedediah Smith, making the first recorded overland trip from California, followed the Oregon Coast northward and on July 13, 1828 camped with seventeen trappers on the north bank of Smith River Channel five-eighths of a mile northeast of this point. The following morning, while Smith and two companions went forward to find a river crossing, the Indians came into camp and massacred all but one man. Smith and the survivors escaped to Fort Vancouver, whereupon John McLaughlin sent an expedition to the Umpqua, recovering some of Smith's furs and equipment. Jedediah Smith had three ambitions: to serve his God, to provide for his family, and to become a great American explorer. In all three things he succeeded.