Jim Bridger - Mountain Man

Even among the mighty mountain men, Jim Bridger was a towering figure. He remains one of the most important scouts and guides in the history of the West.

JIM BRIDGED MOUNTAIN MAN A BIOGRAPHY BY STANLEY VESTAL 2Jilliam C orrotn Company NEW YORK 1946 COPYRIGHT, 1946, BY WALTER STANLEY CAMPBELL All rights reserved THIS BOOK, OR PARTS THEREOF, MUST NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA JIM BRIDGER TO THE MEMORY OF MY SISTER MAY Jim Bridgets was a fabulous ca reer. He was one of the foremost trappers in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. But the days of the beaver trade were numbered, and by the mid century Jim had become the most im portant scout and guide in the whole West. Blessed with relentless powers of observation and memory, he could quot with a buffalo skin and a piece of charcoal, map out any portion of this SEP 2 194E immense region with wonderful accu racy quot or look at a printed map, and point out its defects on sight. The book is full of colorful anec dote. Bridger hunted with the dashing Scottish sportsman and baronet, Capt. Sir William Drummond Stuart, who turned up in the wilds sporting white shooting jackets and a Panama hat. He acted as guide for some of the most famous U. S. exploring expeditions and Indian campaigns. He was inter preter at the great Indian peace treaty at Fort Laramie. He was a friend of Kit Carson and Tom Fitzpatrick, and his feud with Brigham Young almost brought ruin to both men. His nickname quot Old Gabe quot became a synonym for courage and open-handed generosity. Few of the great figures of the frontier contrib uted more to the opening of the West. Stanley Vestal is well-known for his books about America, the last, his dis tinguished contribution to the Rivers of America series, The Missouri. In Jim Bridger he paints a bold and authentic picture of a doughty explorer and of the richness of this country when it was young. CONTENTS PREFACE ix PART 1 TRAPPER I ENTERPRISING YOUNG MAN 1 II. SET POLES FOR THE MOUNTAINS 8 HI. HIVERNAN 21 IV. THE MISSOURI LEGION 28 V. HUGH GLASS AND THE GRIZZLY 40 PART 3 BOOSHWAY VI. BLANKET CHIEF 57 VIL THE BATTLE OF PIERRE S HOLE 69 VHI. SHOT IN THE BACK 86 IX. DEVIL TAKE THE HINDMOST 95 X. ARROW BUTCHERED OUT 105 XL OLD GABE TO THE RESCUE 112 XII. INJUN SCRAPES 119 XIII. THE LAST RENDEZVOUS 132 vii mil CONTENTS PART 3 TRADER XTV. FORT BRIDGER 142 XV. MILK RIVER . 154 XVI. THE OVERLAND TRAIL 162 XVH. THE TREATY AT LARAMIE 168 XVm. THE SAINTS RAID FORT BRIDGER 182 PART 4, GUIDE XIX. SIR GEORGE GORE 192 XX. THE MARCH SOUTH 199 XXI. TALL TALES 206 PART 5 CHIEF OF SCOUTS XXII. THE POWDER RIVER EXPEDITION 220 XXHI. RED CLOUD S DEFIANCE 241 XXIV. THE CHEYENNES WARNING 249 XXV. BLOODY JUNKET 258 XXVI. FORT PHIL KEARNEY 268 XXVEL AMBUSH 278 XXVttL MASSACRE 284 XXIX. THE END OF THE TRAIL 295 APPENDIX 301 INDEX PREFACE EVER since tlie days when, as a boy, I raced Indian ponies and swam in a Western river with the Cheyenne lads, I have felt the lack of a satisfying portrait of Jim Bridger. The intervening years permitted much research, but somehow the books about Bridger never seemed to do him justice. In his own time he was a legend, and since his death historians have been content for the most part merely to pile up facts around these retold incidents. There has been no adequate biog raphy to bring the man to life. quot Few men have beenjso misrepresented. On the one hand, he was represented in fiction and on the screen as a drunken, loutish polygamist and liar, in a carica ture so monstrousthat his outraged relatives brought suit to recover damages. The court ruled that no one could confuse this caricature with the real Jim Bridger, and denied the suit. On the other hand, Jim Bridger s real achievements have been ignored or neglected by writers, who have tried to rep resent him as an Injun fighter with aE the dash and daring of Kit Carson, as a wag with all the wit and love of fun of Joe Meek, or as a crusty, ignorant hillbilly, unable to hold his own in the society of civilized men...