American explorers also visited the Laquisimes River country starting in the 1820s, in search of beaver and otter pelts. The fur trappers included renowned mountain men Jedediah Smith, William Henry Ashley, and Ewing Young, who explored the area in the period between 1825 and 1830. In the spring of 1827 Smith's party camped on the Laquisimes River near present-day Oakdale, having reportedly cached of beaver pelts nearby. Smith called the river the Appelamminy. On May 20, Smith and two other men set out along the Laquisimes to attempt a crossing of the Sierra Nevada. About a week later, after having made their way up the rugged North Fork canyon, they crossed Ebbetts Pass, becoming the first people of European descent to cross the Sierra.