Everything about Jim Bridger totally explained
James or
Jim Bridger (March,
1804 –
July 17,
1881) was among the foremost
mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western
United States during the decades of 1820-1840. He was also well known as a teller of
tall tales.
Jim Bridger had an extraordinarily strong constitution that allowed him to survive the extreme conditions he encountered walking the
Rocky Mountains from what would become southern
Colorado to the
Canadian border he'd also once said. He had conversational knowledge of
French,
Spanish and several
native languages. He would come to know many of the major figures of the early west, including
Brigham Young,
Kit Carson,
John Fremont,
Joseph Meek, and
John Sutter.
Jim Bridger began his colorful career in
1822 at the age of 17, as a member of
General William Ashley's Upper Missouri Expedition. He was among the first white men to see the geysers and other natural wonders of the
Yellowstone region. In the winter of 1824-1825, Bridger gained fame as the first
European American to see the
Great Salt Lake (though some now dispute that status in favor of
Étienne Provost), which he reached traveling in a
bull boat. Due to its salinity, he believed it to be an arm of the
Pacific Ocean.
In 1830, Bridger and several other trappers bought out Ashley and established the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company, competing with the
Hudson's Bay Company and
John Jacob Astor's
American Fur Company for the lucrative
beaver pelt trade. In 1843, Bridger and
Louis Vasquez built a trading post, later named
Fort Bridger, on the west bank of
Blacks Fork of the Green River to serve pioneers on the
Oregon Trail.
In 1835 he married a woman from the
Flathead Indians tribe with whom he'd three children. After her death in 1846, he married the daughter of a
Shoshone chief, who died in childbirth three years later. In 1850 he married a Shoshone with whom he'd two more children. Some of his children were sent back east to be educated.
In 1850, looking for an alternate overland route to the
South Pass, he found what would eventually be known as
Bridger's Pass, which shortened the Oregon Trail by 61 miles. Bridger Pass would later be the chosen route for both the
Union Pacific Railroad and later
Interstate 80.
In 1864, he blazed the
Bridger Trail, an alternate route from Wyoming to the gold fields of
Montana that avoided the dangerous
Bozeman Trail. Later, he served as guide and army scout during the first
Powder River Expedition against the
Sioux and
Cheyenne that were blocking the Bozeman Trail (
Red Cloud's War). In
1865 he was discharged at
Fort Laramie. Suffering from goiter, arthritis, rheumatism and other health problems, he returned to
Westport, Missouri in 1868. He was unsuccessful in collecting back rent from the government for its use of Fort Bridger. He died on his farm near
Kansas City, Missouri on July 17,
1881.
Jim Bridger was well known during his life and afterwards as a teller of tall tales. Some of Bridger's stories -- about the geysers at Yellowstone, for example -- proved to be true. Others were clearly intended to amuse. Thus, one of Bridger's stories involved a "peetrified forest" in which there were "peetrified birds" singing "peetrified songs" (though he may have seen the petrified trees in the Tower Junction area of what is now
Yellowstone National Park). Over the years, Bridger became so associated with the tall-tale form that many stories invented by others were attributed to him.
Supposedly one of Bridger's favorite yarns to tell to greenhorns was about being pursued by one hundred
Cheyenne
warriors. After being chased for several miles, Bridger found himself at the end of a box canyon, with the Indians bearing down on him. At this point, Bridger would go silent, prompting his listener to ask, "What
happened then, Mr. Bridger?" Bridger would reply, "They kilt me."
Country Singer
Johnny Horton made a record titled "Jim Bridger".
Places named for Jim Bridger
Further Information
Get more info on 'Jim Bridger'.
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