Jim Bridger, byname of James Bridger, (born March 17, , Richmond, Va., U.S.—died July 17, , near Kansas City, Mo.), American fur trader, frontiersman, scout, the “mountain man” par excellence. In , Bridger’s father, a surveyor and an innkeeper, moved his family.
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- Jim Bridger born - HISTORY
- A Map of the West in his Head: Jim Bridger, Guide to Plains and Mountains
- Jim Bridger: Mountain Man.
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Army Topographical expeditions to successfully complete assignments. Bridger provided from memory accurate maps of the Rocky Mountains to U. He possessed an intimate knowledge of western geography and natural transportation routes. Bridger was also well known among the American Indian tribes of the Rockies, especially the Shoshone.
He was a personal friend of Shoshone Chief Washakie and was married three times to native women: As a result of all his experience, Bridger played an integral role in the initial geographical discoveries in the West, which, in turn, helped foster early Euro-American emigration and settlement. Bridger's experience had few limits. He quit the dying fur trade in and in , with his partner Louis Vasquez, established a trading post along the Blacks Fork of the Green River in what is now Wyoming and in what then was still a corner of Mexico.
Bridger recognized that the overland migration to Oregon was a sign of changing settlement patterns, and that Fort Bridger could not help but become a profitable economic concern. The Stansbury expedition to the Great Salt Lake in was the first federally funded government exploration guided by Bridger. It was designed to acquire geographical and geological data about the West that would facilitate a future route for a transcontinental railroad and telegraph and to locate coal deposits.
On the return, Bridger guided Stansbury's party east along ways that later became familiar as the Overland Trail and Union Pacific Railroad routes. Bridger's unequaled knowledge of the northern Rocky Mountain region and upper Missouri River Basin aided two expeditions searching for transportation routes between and He served as guide for Lt. Warren's expedition to reconnoiter the regions surrounding the Black Hills and the Yellowstone River. Warren's explorations revealed a great deal of geographical information that was still lacking.
In his reports on the Dakota region, Warren recommended further reconnaissance of the upper Yellowstone and Powder River country, regions that were still classified as terra incognita.
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As a result, Captain William Raynolds was ordered to explore the region in Bridger was the logical choice to guide this important expedition as well. When the Army resumed operations against the Sioux after the Civil War, the Warren and Raynolds reports formed the only existing body of information pertaining to the Dakota-Wyoming region. Whenever the mission was important, the government's choice was invariably the same: Among other expeditions, he spent part of the year guiding Col.
Albert Sidney Johnston, who was sent with troops to escort the new federal governor and restore the presence of the U. Bridger served in as guide for an exploratory party under the command of Capt. Berthoud searching for a route through the Colorado Rockies, and in he served under Col. William Collins and his son Lt. 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 , 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.
Jim Bridger born - HISTORY
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. Although he would remain a trapper, Bridger easily turned to other means of income after the softening of the beaver market in the 's. In the summer of , Bridger and Henry Fraeb began building a crude structure on the west bank of the Green River.
They intended it as a trapping and trading base. The Fort became an important supply point for wagon trains on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. Then in , Mormons resenting the competition tried to arrest him as an outlaw. He sold the fort several years later and bought an apple farm for his family in Westport, Mo. By , Jim Bridger was suffering from failing eyesight and rheumatism.
He spent the rest of his life on their farm, where he died on July 17, , at age Syd Albright is a writer and journalist living in Post Falls. Contact him at silverflix roadrunner. Did Jim Bridger give bad advice? It was in his economic interest to promote the route, touting that it was miles shorter than by the traditional California Trail.
Did Reed ever see the letter? Did Bridger see it and still advise Reed to take the shortcut? He also knew George Armstrong Custer. Jim Bridger made history on a bet. Bridger was selected to go find the answer. The search led him to the Great Salt Lake, which he thought was the Pacific Ocean because it was salty.
A Map of the West in his Head: Jim Bridger, Guide to Plains and Mountains
That made him the first white man to see the lake. But not everyone agrees. Some say the honor goes to Etienne Provost. Bridger then guided him through a pass running south from the Great Basin. As the trappers were crossing the ice of the frozen river, they were ambushed by a large party of Arikara Indians who had been concealed on the opposite bank.
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The ad that inspired Jim Bridger to become a trapper and mountain man. Fort was originally built by Jim Bridger in and later became a U. September 16, at 5: September 02, at 5: