To john smith’s dismay the settlers in jamestown directed most of their energy toward what

Searching for gold and other riches is the right answer.

John Smith (English soldier, and adventurer)  founded the Jamestown colony in 1607. In accordance with the Virginia Company's intentions, much of the colony's effort in 1608 was applied for gold searching.

The settlers even began an attempt to dig the land around the area of riverbanks. Smith objected to this action of the settlers and tried to adjust the colonists on their important need rather wasting their precious time on searching for gold.