Complex sentence: Jedediah Strong Smith, an American fur trapper and explorer, was the first American to cross the Great Basin in 1827-west-to-east from the Sierra Nevada near Ebbetts Pass.
Split into simpler sentences: Jedediah Strong Smith, an American fur trapper and explorer, was the first American to cross the Great Basin in 1827. He traversed the basin west to east from the Sierra Nevada near Ebbetts Pass.