Thomas Nuttall - Science Explorer

One of Wyeth's 1844 expedition members was the hardened frontiersman and shrewd Yankee trader, Thomas Nuttall.  Nuttall was a 48 year old Harvard professor recluse.  Nuttall, English born, was one of the leading United States naturalists.  He was also eccentric and unworldly.

Nuttall was no novice when it came to wilderness exploration.  In 1810, he took a two year trip up the Missouri River beyond the Mandan Villages.  He once wandered 100 miles across the prairie without food or water because he was so intent on collecting botanical specimens. 

Nuttall sought neither wealth nor fame and seemed indifferent to danger.  The Indians considered him a kind of Holy man and left him in peace. 

In 1834, along with another naturalist, John K. Townsend, Nuttall collected 1000s of specimens of animals, vegetable, and mineral in the Rockies and Oregon Country. 

Back East in the Harvard Botanical Garden, people saw and studied unknown species that were only found in the West - thanks to Professor Nuttall. 

Next time...Northwest Indian Fishermen
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Today in Pioneer History: "On January 9, 1887, record cold and snow decimate cattle in one of the "worst days in the worst winter in the West,” nearly an inch of snow falls every hour for 16 hours, impeding the ability of already starving cattle to find food.