28 Facts About Jim Bridger

James Felix Bridger was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century.

Jim Bridger was known as Old Gabe in his later years.

Jim Bridger was from the Bridger family of Virginia, English settlers who had arrived in North America in the early colonial period.

Jim Bridger participated in early expeditions into the west and mediated between Native American tribes and westward-migrating European-American settlers.

Jim Bridger had conversational knowledge of French, Spanish, and several indigenous languages; his photographic memory allowed him to map most of the Rocky Mountains from memory.

James Felix Jim Bridger was born on March 17,1804, in Richmond, Virginia.

Jim Bridger's parents were James Bridger, an innkeeper in Richmond, and his wife, Chloe.

At age 13, Jim Bridger was orphaned; he had no formal education, was unable to read or write, and was apprenticed to a blacksmith.

The 19-year-old Jim Bridger was employed by William Henry Ashley in 1823 at the time of the famous bear attack and subsequent abandonment of Hugh Glass, another frontiersman.

Jim Bridger was among the first non-indigenous people to explore the Yellowstone region.

Jim Bridger was the first recorded non-indigenous person to explore Yellowstone's springs and geysers.

Jim Bridger shared that a creek south of Yellowstone Lake formed a Parting of the Waters, with one side going to the Pacific Ocean and the other side to the Atlantic Ocean.

Jim Bridger took a raft on the rapids at the Big Horn River; he was the only man known to have done this and lived.

Jim Bridger had explored, trapped, hunted, and blazed new trails in the West since 1822 and later worked as a wilderness guide.

In 1846, the Donner Party came to Fort Jim Bridger and were assured by Jim Bridger and Vasquez that Lansford Hastings' proposed shortcut ahead was "a fine, level road, with plenty of water and grass, with the exception before stated ".

From 16 July 1857 until July 1858, Jim Bridger was employed as a guide during the Utah War.

In 1859, Bridger was the chief guide on the Yellowstone-bound Raynolds Expedition, led by Captain William F Raynolds.

In 1861, Bridger was a guide for Edward L Berthoud.

From October 1863 until April 1864, Jim Bridger was employed as a guide at Fort Laramie.

Jim Bridger was stationed at Fort Phil Kearny during the Fetterman Fight, and the Wagon Box Fight.

Jim Bridger was unsuccessful in collecting back rent from the government for the lease on Fort Bridger.

In 1850, while guiding the Stansbury Expedition on its return from Utah, Jim Bridger discovered what became known as Jim Bridger Pass, an alternate overland route that bypassed South Pass and shortened the Oregon Trail by 61 miles.

Jim Bridger Pass, in what became south-central Wyoming, later became the chosen route across the Continental Divide, for the Overland Stage, Pony Express, the Union Pacific Railroad Overland Route, and Interstate 80.

In 1864, Jim Bridger blazed the Jim Bridger Trail, an alternative route from Wyoming to the gold fields of Montana that avoided the dangerous Bozeman Trail.

In 1835, Jim Bridger married a woman from the Flathead tribe, whom he named "Emma" and with whom he had three children.

Jim Bridger's firstborn, Mary Ann, was captured by a band of Cayuse during the Whitman Massacre and died soon after she was released.

Jim Bridger died on his farm near Kansas City, Missouri, on July 17,1881, at age 77.

Jim Bridger is remembered as one of the most colorful and widely traveled mountain men.