Nathaniel (Jarvis) Wyeth

Trader and explorer, born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He was active in the ice business of Frederic Tudor. A follower of Hall Kelley, he attempted to settle a commercial and agricultural colony in Oregon (1832–4). He built Fort Hall, but later sold it to the Hudson's Bay Co, and returned to the East and to selling ice to people in hot climates.

Wyeth (1911-1990), see see Nathaniel Wyeth (inventor).

Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth (January 29, 1802–August 31, 1856) was an American inventor, ice harvester, and explorer and trader in the far west.

Wyeth was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Jacob and Elizabeth (Smith) Wyeth. As the Dictionary of American Biography states, "[I]t was said at his death that practically every implement and device used in the ice business had been invented by Nat Wyeth." Wyeth believed that he could become wealthy in the Oregon fur industry, develop farms for growing crops (especially tobacco), and start a salmon industry that would rival New England's cod industry.

When Kelley's plans for an expedition were long delayed, Wyeth formed one of his own, and as he wrote in his expedition journal: "On the 10th of March 1832 I left Boston in a vessel with 20 men for Baltimore where I was joined by four more, and on the 27th left to Rail Road for Fredrick Md from thence to Brownsville we marched on foot, and took passage from that place to Liberty Mo. From there the expedition's route proceeded along what would later become known as the Oregon Trail, via the Black Hills, the Grand Tetons, north of the Great Salt Lake, thence to Walla Walla, Washington, down the Columbia River, and ultimately to Fort Vancouver on October 29.

On November 6, Wyeth's journal notes that "my men came forward and unanimously desired to be released from their engagement with a view of returning home as soon as possible.... After spending the winter months at Fort Vancouver, Wyeth returned overland, reaching Liberty, Missouri by late September 1833, and then on to Boston.

In 1834 he outfitted a new expedition, with grand plans for establishing fur-trading posts, a salmon fishery, a colony, and other developments. Wyeth's party crossed the Kansas River on May 5, founded Fort Hall (July, 1834) and built Fort William on the Columbia River. Wyeth reports in his journal that on September 15, 1834, he "met the Bg [Brig] May Dacre in full sail up the River boarded her and found all well she had put into Valparaíso having been struck by Lightning and much damaged.

Despite its business failure, the second expedition again proved scientifically useful as Nuttall collected and identified 113 species of western plants including sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata and "mule's ear", a sunflower genus that he named Wyethia in Wyeth's honor.

Although he failed in his two ventures westward, Wyeth's business dealings in Massachusetts remained financially secure and he maintained a sizable fortune.