Long, Stephen Harriman (1784-1864), was a United States Army engineer, an inventor, and the commander of the first scientific survey of the Great Plains. Long began his Army engineering career as a professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. He led scientists and artists on three famous expeditions—to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1818, to the Rocky Mountains in 1819 and 1820, and to Lake Winnipeg in Canada in 1823. In 1819, he invented a steamboat made for shallow waters. His other inventions included diving equipment and a type of railroad bridge.
Longs Peak in the Colorado Rockies is named after the explorer. In addition, Long popularized the term “Great American Desert” to describe the arid Great Plains. Long was born on Dec. 30, 1784, in Hopkinton, New Hampshire. He died on Sept. 4, 1864.
