James Bridger was born in Richmond, Virginia on March
17, 1804. In 1812 Bridger’s family moved west
to Missouri. In March of 1822, he began his life on
the frontier as a member of General William Ashley’s
Upper Missouri Expedition, trapping furs. Jim was
in good company when he signed on with Hugh Glass,
Jedediah Smith, and Thomas Fitzpatrick to be a member
of General Ashley's Upper Missouri expedition. At
the age of 17, he was the youngest member of the expedition.
This was beginning of a long and colorful career in
the mountains for Jim Bridger.
Jim and several other trappers bought out General
Ashley and established the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
in 1830. In 1843 Bridger and Louis Vasquez built a
trading post on the west bank of Blacks Fork of the
Green River in south-western Wyoming. The trading
post became a major way station on the Oregon and
California Trails, a military fort, and a Pony Express
station.
After working for Ashley, Bridger trapped the Rocky
Mountains with various companies and partnerships.
Renowned by his peers, Bridger was an able brigade
leader and an excellent trapper. Year after year he
was able to avoid Indian attack and turn a profit
from his trapping.
One particular discovery early on in Bridger's career
brought him lasting celebrity. To settle a bet in
the winter camp of his trapping party of 1824, Bridger
set out to find the exact course of the Bear River
from the Cache Valley. He returned and reported that
it emptied into a vast lake of salt water. The men
were convinced he had found an arm of the Pacific
Ocean. In reality, he was the first white man to view
The Great Salt Lake. Bridger's most important discovery
would come years later, in 1850. Captain Howard Stanbury
stopped at Fort Bridger and inquired about the possibility
of a shorter route across the Rockies than the South
Pass. Bridger guided him through a pass that ran south
from the Great Basin. This pass would soon be rightfully
called Bridger's Pass and would be the route for overland
mail, The Union Pacific Railroad line and finally
Interstate 80.
Bridger had married three times during his lifetime.
He married his first wife, a woman from the Flathead
tribe and had three children with her. His wife died
in 1846 and he remarried the daughter of a Shoshone
chief, who died in childbirth three years later. He
married another Shoshone woman in 1850 and had two
more children with her. He continued to serve as a
guide and army scout leading many army units through
the Rockies until 1865, when he was discharged from
Fort Laramie. Suffering from health problems, he returned
to his farm in Missouri in 1868. He died there on
July 17, 1881.
Bridger was well known for telling tall tales during
and after his life time. Many of his stories were
intended to amuse, but some were actually true, like
the geysers of Yellowstone. Because he became so associated
with telling tale tales, many stories told by others
were attributed to him. Today many places bear his
name, such as Bridger, Montana and the Bridger Mountains.
Bridger rose to the status of the quintessential mountain
man. Biographer Grenville Dodge described him as:
"a very companionable man. In person he was over
six feet tall, spare, straight as an arrow, agile,
rawboned and of powerful frame, eyes gray, hair brown
and abundant even in old age, expression mild and
manners agreeable. He was hospitable and generous,
and was always trusted and respected."
Bridger had a remarkable sense of humor and he especially
loved to shock tenderfeet and easterners with his
tall tales. He would tell of glass mountains, "peetrified"
birds singing "peetrified" songs, and reminisce
about the days when Pikes Peak was just a hole in
the ground. These stories were related in such a serious
manner as to fool even skeptics into believing them,
making Jim's laughter all the louder when his ruse
was revealed.
All of these attributes served Bridger well, and made
him adaptable to just about every situation he found
himself in. By the end of his lifetime, Bridger could
claim the titles of trapper, trader, guide, merchant,
Indian interpreter and army officer.
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http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/jim-bridger/
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Mtmen/jimbrid.html
