Newly Translated With Related Documents And Original Maps.

Newly Translated With Related Documents And Original Maps.

JAMES BRID0ER TRAPPER, FRONTIERSMAN, SCOUT AND GUIDE A Historical Narrative Illustrated By J. CECIL ALTER n With which is incorporated a verbatim copy, annotated of JAMES BRIDGER A Biographical Sketch Illustrated By MAJ. GEN. GRENVILLE M. DODGE D Longs COLLEGE BOOK CO. COLUMBUS, OHIO 1951 COPYRIGHT, 1920 BY J. CECIL ALTER Printed in the United State of America JAMES BRIDGER About 1866. CONTENTS CHAPTER FAGE PREFACE ad FOREWORD zv I Bridgers Beginnings 1 II Into the Indian Country 5 III Arikaras Oppose Trappers 11 IV The Arikara Sham Battle 15 V Bridger Figures in a Bear Fight .... 20 VI Hugh Glass and the Grizzly 25 VII Cooke Elaborates Glass 9 Adventure ... 30 VIII Exploring the Wilderness 86 IX From the Big Horn to the Bear .... 44 X Bridger Discovers Great Salt Lake ... 48 XI Exploring Utah Valleys 56 XII Ashley Conducts First Rendezvous ... 68 XIII The Salt Lake Rendezvous 70 XIV Traveling and Fighting 79 XV Another Winter at Salt Lake Rendezvous . 85 XVI Peter Skene Ogden and the Americans . . 98 XVII Fanciful Story of Bridgers Marriage . . 101 XVIII Bridger Shares Proprietorship 105 XIX Competition Becomes Keener 112 XX The Battle of Pierres Hole 120 XXI The Arrowhead in Bridgers Flesh . . . 127 XXII Wyeth Dickers with Trappers 188 XXIII Rocky Mountain Fur Company Passes . .140 XXIV Arrowhead Removed from Bridgers Body . 148 XXV Employed by Former Enemies 155 XXVI The Passing of the Rendezvous 168 XXVII Bridger Builds Fort Bridger 170 XXVIII Another Flier in Fur .179 XXIX The Donner Party at Fort Bridger . . . 188 XXX The Mormons Confer with Bridger . . . 189 XXXI Bridgers Home and Families 204 XXXII Bridger Pilots Stansbury to Salt Lake . . 214 XXXIII Exploring the Overland Route221 vii vili CONTENTS CHAPTJSA FAGS XXXIV Bridger Describes Yellowstone Park . . . 228 XXXV The Mormons and the Indians 238 XXXVI Garrison Urged for Fort Bridger .... 289 XXXVII The Mormons Take Fort Bridger .... 244 XXXVIII The Mormons Take Fort Bridger Concluded 255 XXXIX Bridger Mixes with Royalty 264 XL Why the Army Went to Utah 274 XLI The Battle of Fort Bridger 288 XLII Army Leases Fort Bridger Lands .... 295 XLIII Bridger Accompanies Troops to Utah . . 808 XLIV The Fate of Fort Bridger 815 XLV Captain Raynolds Employs Bridger . . . 829 XLVI Fort Sarpy to Deer Creek 841 XL VII The Beginning of Bridgers Stories . . . 858 XLVIII Raynolds Misses Yellowstone Park . . . 358 XLIX Raynolds Leaves the Mountains .... 867 L The Evolution of Bridgers Stories . . . 880 LI Scouting Again for the Army 892 LII Chief Guide for Powder River Expedition 407 LIII Chief Guide for Powder River Expedition Concluded 422 LIV Observing the Peace Conference .... 427 LV The Fort Phil Kearney Conference . . . 488 LVI Bridgers Route to Montana 447 LVII Indian Mastery at Fort Phil Kearney . . 457 LVIII Bridgers Exit from the Mountains . . . 469 LIX Bridgers Declining Years 474 LX Fort Bridger in the Sequel 488 Biographical Sketch G. M. Dodge . . . 498 Bibliography 527 Index 581 ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE JAMES BRIDGEE Frontispiece JAMES P. BECKWOUBTH 74 JOSEPH L. MEEK 116 JAMES BAKER 166 BRIDGERS NAME ON NAMES HILL 180 FORT BRIDGER, Wyoming, in 1849-50 216 ORIGINAL FORT BRIDGER SURVEY 248 FORT LARAMIE, Wyoming, in 1853 266 JOHNSTONS ARMY, arriving at Fort Bridger .... 290 FORT BRIDGER, November, 1857 310 SHOSHONE INDIAN VILLAGE, near Fort Bridger .... 366 BRIDGERS FERRY, North Platte River, Wyoming . . . 404 THEBATTLE FOR BUFFALO MEAT 442 MRS. VIRGINIA BRIDGER HAHN 476 STUBBINS WATTS GRIST MILL 486 JAMES BRIDGER, about 1866 495 MONUMENT TO JAMES BRIDGER 497 FORT BRIDGER, in 1867 499 PREFACE IN his natural lifetime James Bridger was a resident of the West at large, with but two or three definite domiciles that he ever called home. So in the annals of western Americana the old scout and mountaineer dwells in comparative obscurity in widely scattered and unrelated references...

On March 20, 1822, the "Missouri Republican" published a notice addressed "to enterprising young men" in the St. Louise area. "The subscriber," it said "wishes to engage one hundred young men to ascend the Missouri River to its source, there to be employed for one, two, or three years. For particulars enquire of Major Andrew Henry... or of the subscriber near St. Louise." The "subscriber" was General William H. Ashley, and among the "enterprising young men" who embarked with Major Henry less than a month later was eighteen-year-old James Bridger, former blacksmith's apprentice. So began the Ashley-Henry fur empire and the long, colorful career of Jim Bridger.

In the years that followed, Jim Bridger became a master mountain man, an expert trapper, and a guide without equal. He came to know the Rocky Mountain region and its inhabitants as a farmer knows his fields and flocks. Indeed, J. Cecil Alter tells us, "he was among the first white men to use the Indian trail over South Pass; he was first to taste the waters of the Great Salt lake, first to report a two-ocean stream, foremost in describing the Yellowstone Park phenomena, and the only man to run the Big Horn River rapid on a raft; and he originally selected the Crow Creek-Sherman-Dale Creek route the Laramie Mountains and Bridger's Pass over the Continental Divide, which were adopted by the Union pacific Railroad."

Such knowledge, together with extraordinary skill and uncanny luck, preserved Jim Bridger in a country where nearly half of his mountain companions met violent death. It also gave rise to a brood of impossible tales about Old Gabe and his adventures-tales which he himself may unwittingly have helped along with his droll humor.

Based on Mr. Alter's original biography of 1925 (a facsimile edition of which, with addenda, appeared in 1950) and a wealth of new facts gleaned from many years of careful research, Jim Bridger is the authentic story of the Old Scout's life. Only those events in which Bridger took part are included; improbable and uncorroborated stories, however interesting, have been omitted.