Science Fair Project Encyclopedia Pike was born in Boston, son
of Benjamin and Sarah (Andrews) Pike, and spent his childhood in
Byfield and Newburyport, Massachusetts. He attended school in
Newburyport and Framingham until he was 15, at which point,
having passed the Harvard entrance exam but unable to afford
tuition, he began a program of self-education, later becoming a
schoolteacher in Gloucester, Fairhaven and Newburyport. In 1831
Pike left Massachusetts to travel west, first stopping in St.
Louis and later moving on to Independence, Missouri. In
Independence, he joined an expedition to Taos, New Mexico,
hunting and trading. During the excursion his horse broke and
ran, forcing Pike to walk the remaining 500 miles to Taos. After
this he joined a trapping expedition to the Llano Estacado in
New Mexico and Texas. Trapping was minimal, and after traveling
about 1300 miles (650 on foot), he finally arrived at Fort
Smith, Arkansas. Settling in Arkansas in 1833, he taught school
and wrote a series of articles f