What was Jim Bridger Like? - These Primary Sources Describe the Legendary Trapper
Jim Bridger was one of the most famous mountain men of the 1800s. Read how his peers described him.
Even if you know little or nothing about the famous mountain men of the Rocky Mountains it’s likely you have heard of Jim Bridger. Bridger has gone down with Kit Carson, Daniel Boone, and Davy Crockett as an American folk hero. Like most folk heroes, Jim Bridger (or Old Gabe as he was called) was not overly concerned with recording his adventures. Instead, he seems to have been most concerned with his occupation as a trapper. As a result, he became one of the most admired men of his own time and would become legendary in American history. The downside to all of that is we don’t have a detailed record of his life.
Jim Bridger. Photo via wikicommons.
Now, in all honesty, there has been some great material regarding Jim Bridger’s life. Two good examples are Stanley Vestal’s book Jim Bridger: Mountain Man, and Mountain Men & Fur Traders of the Far West which was edited by LeRoy R. Hafen. These biographies required a tremendous amount of research and really tell Bridger’s story well. However, they are still a modern person’s interpretation of who Old Gabe was. While that doesn’t mean they should be thrown out (actually, I’d encourage you to read them) it can also be beneficial to learn about Bridger from the men who actually met him.
Here are the primary sources of 7 people describing Jim Bridger and his life out west.
Teachers may find this worksheet helpful when analyzing these primary sources with their students.
Osborne Russell
Osborne Russell left perhaps the best mountain man journal we have. Here are the entries describing his encounters with Jim Bridger. As you read them, you should be able to quickly tell how Russell viewed “Mr. Bridger.” It looks like Bridger was quite a leader.
“Here we met with Mr. Bridger and his party who informed us that the country around and below was much infested with Blackfeet. they had had several skirmishes with them in which they had lost a number of horses and traps and one young man had been wounded in the shoulder by a ball from a fusee.”
“Here Mr. Bridger ordered a party of 12 Trappers to branch off to the right and hunt the head waters of Grays and Blackfoot creeks.”
“I started with a party of 15 Trappers and 2 Camp Keepers ordered by Mr Bridger to proceed to the Yellow Stone lake and there await his arrival with the remainder of his party.”
“The Trappers then scattered out in small parties of from 2 to 5 in number leaving Mr. Bridger with 25 Camp Keepers to travel slowly down the river.”
“…when we followed the Camp down the Yellow Stone where Mr. Bridger had concluded to pass the winter.”
Scouting for danger:
“Feby. 22d Mr Bridger according to his usual custom took his telescope & mounted a high bluff near the encampment to look out for "squalls" as he termed it about 1 ock PM he returned appearing somewhat alarmed and on being asked the cause, He said the great plain below was alive with savages who were coming accross the hills to the timber about 10 Mls below us.”
“Mr. Bridger and six men mounted and went to reconnoiter the enemy but returned soon after with the intelligence of their being encamped about 9 Miles below on the river and there was a multitude of them on foot.”
In a fight:
“Mr. Bridger was holding one of the stolen horses by the bridle when one of the Bonnaks rushed thro. the crowd seized the bridle and attempted to drag it from Mr Bridger by force without heeding the cocked rifles that surrounded him any more than if they had been so many reeds in the hands of Children. He was a brave Indian but his bravery proved fatal to himself, for the moment he seized the bridle two rifle balls whistled thro. his body.”
Warren Ferris
Mountain man Warren Ferris describes meeting Jim Bridger in a camp on Gray’s River. You can get a sense of how successful of a trapper Old Gabe was.
“In a narrow bottom beneath the walls of Gray's Creek, we found a party of trappers, headed by Bridger, one of the partners in the R. M. F. Company. Their encampment was decked with hundreds of beaver skins, now drying in the sun…There were several hundred skins folded and tied up in packs, laying about their encampment, which bore good evidence to the industry of the trappers."
John C. Freemont
Famous explorer John C. Freemont was the first to map large areas of the American West. He employed former trappers such as Kit Carson to guide him on his adventures. During an expedition in 1842, Freemont met Bridger and here is what he recorded in his book.
“It was a large party of traders and trappers, conducted by Mr. Bridger, a man well known in the history of the country... Mr. Bridger was invited to supper; and, after the table cloth was removed, we listened with eager interest to an account of their adventures. What they had met, we would be likely to encounter; the chances which had befallen them would probably happen to us… He informed us that the condition of the country had become exceedingly dangerous. The Sioux, who had been badly disposed, had broken out into open hostility, and in the preceding autumn, his party had encountered them in a severe engagement, in which a number of lives had been lost on both sides.”
Here Freemont describes Bridger guiding emigrants on the Oregon Trail.
“Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose name and high reputation are familiar to all who interest themselves in the history of this country, had reached Laramie in company with Mr. Bridger; and the emigrants were fortunate enough to obtain his services to guide them as far as the British post of Fort Hall, about two hundred and fifty miles beyond the South Pass of the mountains.”
Captain John W. Gunnison
Captain Gunnison was similar to Freemont in that he had been employed by the US government to explore the western United States. Before his untimely death, he wrote a book titled The Mormons in which he took the opportunity to describe Bridger after personally meeting him.
“The builder of Fort Bridger is one of-the hardy race of mountain trappers who are now disappearing from the continent, being enclosed in the wave of civilisation. These trappers have made a thousand fortunes for eastern men, and by their improvidence have nothing for themselves. Major Bridger, or "old Jim,'' has been more wise of late, and laid aside a competence; but the mountain tastes/fostered by twenty-eight years of exciting scenes, will probably keep him there for life. He has been very active, and traversed the region from the head-waters of the Missouri to the Del Norte — and along the Gila to the Gulf, and thence throughout Oregon and the interior of California. His graphic sketches are delightful .romances. With a buffalo-skin and piece of charcoal, he will map out any portion of-this immense region, and delineate mountains, streams, and-the circular valleys called "holes," with wonderful accuracy; at least we may so speak of that portion we traversed after his descriptions were given. He gives a picture, most romantic and enticing, of the head-waters of the Yellow Stone.”
Another story about Bridger describing a certain location.
“Another region he visited and trapped in, lies to the west of the Del Norte, and north of the Gila...His own words are: ‘ this fertile place is large enough for three States, and is the most delightful spot that ever God made for man.’ As a guide for explorers the services of that man would be invaluable.”
Samuel Parker
In 1835, Samuel Parker was traveling west with a man named Dr. Marcus Whitman. While making a layover at rendezvous, Parker saw Dr. Whitman perform one of the more famous mountain man surgeries. Here is what he had to say:
“While we continued in this place, Doct. Whitman was called to perform some very important surgical operations. He extracted an iron arrow, three inches long, from the back of Capt. Bridger, which he had received in a skirmish three years before, with the Blackfeet Indians. It was a difficult operation in consequence of the arrow being hooked at the point by striking a large bone, and a cartilaginous substance had grown around it. The doctor pursued the operation with great self-possession and perseverance ; and Capt. Bridger manifested equal firmness. The Indians looked on while the operation was proceeding with countenances indicating wonder, and when they saw the arrow, expressed their astonishment in a manner peculiar to themselves.”
Howard Stansbury
Howard Stansbury was another army officer who met Bridger in 1849 while at Fort Bridger. Here is what the army officer had to say:
“We were received with great kindness and lavish hospitality by the proprietor, Major James Bridger, one of the oldest mountain-men in this entire region, who has been engaged in the Indian trade, here, and upon the heads of the Missouri and Columbia, for the last thirty years. Several of my wagons needing repair, the train was detained five days for the purpose, Major Bridger courteously placing his blacksmith - shop at my service.”
Later on during a meeting with some Sioux.
“After partaking of such food as could be hastily prepared for them, the principal men seated themselves on the ground, in a circle around the campfire in front of the tent, and the pipe of peace was filled and duly circulated in regular succession. Our esteemed friend and experienced mountaineer, Major Bridger, who was personally known to many of our visitors, and to all of them by the repute of his numerous exploits, was seated among us…he held the whole circle, for more than an hour, perfectly enchained and evidently most deeply interested in a conversation and narrative, the whole of which was carried on without the utterance of a single word. The simultaneous exclamations of surprise or interest, and the occasional bursts of hearty laughter, showed that the whole party perfectly understood not only the theme but the minutiae of the pantomime exhibited before them.”
Anson Mills
Finally, Anson Mills records the meeting of Old Gabe in 1966. At this point Bridger would have been 64 years old and a living legend. Here he meets with a British army captain and is pressed for a story. Mills recounts the yarning here:
“Well, I think the most thrilling adventure I ever had on the frontier was in the winter of 1855, when Jack Robinson and I went trapping, about two hundred miles down the Green River in the Ute country. We knew the Utes were unfriendly, but we did not think they were war-like, so we got two horses and a pack outfit, and in December went into camp on the Green River. We had spent two months trapping and were about ready to return, when early one morning we saw a large party of warriors coming up the stream. We had only time to saddle our horses, gather our rifles and ammunition and mount. We estimated their party at about one hundred, and started up the river at full speed, abandoning everything we had in camp.
"As we became hard pressed, one of us would dismount and fire, then mount and pass the other, and he would dismount and fire, and so continuing, checking our pursuers until we gained some ground. Their horses were not only fresh, but they had lead horses with them, which gave them great advantage over us, who had but one horse each.
“We continued this method of defense all day, and by night had killed thirty of the Indians. But our horses were so tired we feared the enemy would take us.
“At the foot of a mountain, where there was dense timber, we took shelter about dusk, knowing the Indians would not follow in the dark. We spent the night in great fear as to what would become of us the next day. Knowing that at dawn they would be after us, we started to lead our horses out of the valley but had no sooner started than we heard the Indians behind us.
“We continued our defense until about two o'clock when we had killed thirty more of the Indians. This left only about forty to continue the pursuit, but they did not seem at all discouraged. If anything, they were more active than ever.
“By this time, our broken horses began to give way at the knees. Observing a narrow canyon, we concluded to follow it as it gave us a better chance of defense than the open. This canyon was narrow, with a swift stream running down it, and we made our way as fast as we could for two or three miles, when, looking around, we saw immediately in our rear the whole force of Indians.
“Matters were desperate. The canyon walls were perpendicular, three hundred feet high, and growing narrower every mile. Suddenly, around a bend in the canyon, we saw a waterfall, two hundred feet high, completely blocking our exit. ”
Here Mr. Bridger paused. The captain, all aglow with interest, cried anxiously, “ Go on, Mr. Bridger; go on! How did you get out?”
“Oh, bless your soul, Captain," answered Bridger, “we never did get out. The Indians killed us right there."
