Mountainman - Part 2

(Cont. from Last Week)

by Dan R. Conway

(Originally published in the Hysham Echo on Feb. 3, 1927)

There was then, perhaps, no other part of the American continent where humanity could be seen in so varied, curious and unusual phases - where the spirit of the untamed frontier was so typical. There were the merchants, the fur buyers, the outfitters, the French-Canadian voyageurs, the rough Indian traders, as well as the many different types of adventurers and hangers-on always to be found where civilization met the primitive. Added to all these were the Indians themselves, who, with squaws and papooses, arrayed in the full regalia of savage attire, gave added color to an already romantic atmosphere. Down along the waterfront, daily there arrived and departed the rude keel boats hailing from and heading for the “Pays d’en Haut” where abounded the beaver, the buffalo, mink, otter, martin and other animals, so much sought after, because of the rich clothes they wore; and where the hordes of Indians were always ready to trade their valuable peltries for the worthless trinkets offered them.

Young Jim Bridger

Mingling with this varied populace, a brown-haired youth, with keen, gray eyes, tall, erect, square-shouldered, the picture of energy made his way from place to place, tensely interested in the scenes that were being enacted before him.
Until but a few weeks previous to this time, this lad had been a blacksmith’s apprentice; but the youthful lust of adventure had guided him to this great outpost.
It was the fur depots, the waterfront and the traders’ stores which most attracted this young man; for, it was in these places that he saw the men who so much appealed to his adventurous mind. Young “Jim” Bridger, then 18 years of age, had hailed from his native city of Richmond, Va., lured west by the insistent call of the frontier. Here, in St. Louis, he had watched these frontiersmen - the free trappers and traders - clad in their greasy, worn garments of buckskin and buffalo hide. Their tales of thrilling adventure had stirred in his heart an overwhelming desire to see the enchanted land which they described.

Leaves for the “Pays d’En Haut”

So, on this March morning in 1822, when there appeared in the local newspaper, an advertisement calling for 100 men to form an expedition to travel under Ashley and Henry to the “Up Country”, or “Pays d’en Haut” as the French called it, “Jim” Bridger was ripe for the opportunity to go up the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains.

Thus it was, that this young man, who was destined to ultimately become the most picturesque character of the Rocky Mountain section’s free trapper and free trade era, made his first eventful and hazardous trip up the Missouri river to the mouth of the Yellowstone, and on up other river valleys to the Rocky Mountain region. Before this expedition ended, young Bridger had displayed qualities which marked him as a natural leader in the wilderness. Cool-headed, daring and resourceful far beyond his years, his ability and good judgment won for him the respect of his employers and his companions.

He Knew No Fear

In person, “Jim” Bridger was tall, slender, erect and energetic. He had a quiet, agreeable manner, but was somewhat reserved, and expressed himself only after he had weighed his words well. He had keen, gray eyes and a level glance. His hair was brown and long, and he looked the typical western mountain man. His courage and pose were unfailing in the face of the greatest hardships and dangers.

A Born Topographer

This youth took naturally his place among a group of men who had before them great possibilities as explorers and pathfinders. He became a wonderful guide and a born topographer. The whole West, and all the passes and labyrinths of the Rocky Mountains were mapped out in his mind. He had such a sense of locality and direction that he used to say he “could smell his way where he could not see it.”

“With a buffalo skin and a piece of charcoal,” says Captain Gunnison who once employed Bridger as a guide, “he will map out any part of this immense region and delineate streams and mountains and other circular valleys, called ‘holes’ with a wonderful accuracy.”

Was With Bonneville

Scores of prominent government and private expeditions employed him as a guide and chief scout, running through a period of fifty years. It was Bridger who piloted Captain Bonneville on the expedition which was immortalized by Washington Irving. As late as 1868, General Sheridan consulted Bridger about his plan of making winter campaigns against hostile Indians. The old scout came out once more from Kansas, where he was living, to consult with the renowned general, and gave him the benefit of his advice, knowledge and experience.

Opened Up “Bridger’s Trail”

It was Jim Bridger who, in the sixties, opened up a wagon road which became known as “Bridger’s Trail”, leading from a point on the Oregon Trail, near Independence Rock, Wyoming, through central and northern Wyoming and southern Montana, in the Gallatin Valley, Montana Territory, thereby shortening the distance from Omaha to the Montana mining camps.

In the early fifties, while he and a companion were seeking to explore the river valleys of the western slope of the Rockies, Bridger set out alone, and, in an effort to locate the western seas, became the first white man to set foot upon the shores of the Great Salt Lake, Utah.

Setting out from one of his established camps in what is now southern Montana, this same mountain man, while exploring new beaver streams, was the first white man to explore the wonders of the now famous Yellowstone National Park. So marvelous were the tales he told of the awe inspiring things he viewed on this trip, that the people at first refused to believe his stories.

His Shoshone Wife

Bridger’s habitual expression was mild and his manner was mild and kind. He was respected and trusted by both white men and red. He held the confidence of the Indians because he always treated them with justice. His wife, (the only one of which there is any definite knowledge), was an Indian of the Shoshone tribe.

This wife of Bridger is worth telling about. Bridger had been captured by some Indians, for a fist fight with one of the band after a truce. Being then a young man, he was a good looking chap. An Indian maiden liked him. She slipped into his tent the night of the capture, and cut his thongs, thus freeing him. Jim made his escape under cover of night, and that summer, he found this Indian girl and married her. He never had any other wife. At least there is no absolute proof that he ever had any other.

In General Dodge’s “Biographic Sketch of James Bridger,” in which he deplores the fact that no writer has compiled a complete history of Bridger, and his mountain companions and the remarkable and stirring events of their time, he tells of Bridger’s matrimonial affairs. General Dodge claims that Bridger was married three times: that his first wife was the daughter of a Flathead chief. This wife died in 1846. According to the biographer, the second wife was a Ute who died in 1849; and the third wife a Snake (Shoshone) woman.

Owing to the fact that very little of definite facts are known of the man’s early life on the plains, except as handed down by the journals of explorers and traders, there is no absolute proof that Bridger ever had more than one wife.

Character of the Man

Historians and others have made much ado about the character of the man, as to whether or not he was a drunkard. Some writers have pictured him as the embodiment of license. It matters not if he did or did not drink. Regardless of these things, it remains that he was one of the nation’s greatest explorers and he performed invaluable service on the old frontier. One of his neighbors who lived but a short distance from Bridger during the last 18 years of his life, says:
“We never knew him to drink. We had three saloons here, and all the drink a train could carry. The Indians were paid off here and that brought in liquor by the cistern full. Jim would hang round, and once in awhile he would take a nip. But that was all. He played poker mostly - and I know, myself, he played a good game.” Print this post