author
Stephen H. (Stephen Harriman) Long
1784–1864
An army engineer, explorer, and inventor, he helped map the American West at a time when much of it was still unfamiliar to the United States. He is best remembered for expeditions across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain region, and for the lasting debate sparked by his description of the plains as a "Great American Desert."
4 Audiobooks
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 1
by Edwin James, Stephen H. (Stephen Harriman) Long, Thomas Say
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 4
by Edwin James, Stephen H. (Stephen Harriman) Long, Thomas Say
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 2
by Edwin James, Stephen H. (Stephen Harriman) Long, Thomas Say
James's Account of S. H. Long's Expedition, 1819-1820, part 3
by Edwin James, Stephen H. (Stephen Harriman) Long, Thomas Say
About the author
Born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, in 1784, he graduated from Dartmouth College and entered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the War of 1812 era. Over the next several decades, he built a varied career as a military officer, topographical engineer, civil engineer, and inventor.
He became widely known for leading government expeditions into the trans-Mississippi West, including journeys that gathered geographical and scientific information about the upper Mississippi Valley, the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountain region. His 1820 expedition is especially notable because its reports helped shape how many Americans understood the plains for years afterward.
Long's work was not limited to exploration. He also contributed to early railroad and bridge engineering, showing the practical side of a career that connected science, surveying, transportation, and nation-building. He died in 1864, leaving behind a legacy tied both to western exploration and to the infrastructure of a growing United States.