Historical Marker · No. 660
Point on the Jedediah Smith Trail
Edison, Kern County · California
Smith was not exploring when he passed here about 1 February 1827. Ordered out of Mexican California by the road he came in on, he turned north up the valley instead, moving on a report of plenty of beaver. Governor Echeandía could not credit trapping as a trade and kept calling the party fishermen. It was an errand, and the country was only what lay across it. The monument is a granite boulder in an orange grove; the bronze has been missing since at least 2008 and the mounting scar is still on the face.
Where it stands
35.33214, -118.80659 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Rio de San Felipe — 6.0 mi
- Outermost Point in the South San Joaquin Valley — 8.6 mi
- Kern River Slough Station — 10 mi
- Caliente — 11 mi