Of Trails and Trappers

Bridger Country was once home to vast, nomadic buffalo herds and an important hunting ground for the Plains Indians. The Bannocks and Nez Perce crossed the Rockies from Idaho and Oregon on the Bannock Trail to hunt in the Clark’s Fork and Yellowstone River Valleys. (Today, part of the trail blazed by the Indians is a newly- paved highway known as the “Chief Joseph Scenic Highway”. This name honors the famed Nez Perce Indian leader who trod the length of Bridger Country north with his weary people in a futile effort to escape the U.S. Cavalry and reservation life in late 1877. An easy round-trip journey from Bridger, the Scenic Highway is a spectacular journey through some of the most unusual topography in the west. Breathtaking views meet one at every turn in the road....from the jagged-landmark magnificence of Pilot and Index Peaks - to the laughing streams of Sunlight Basin).

When you stand upon the Absaroka Mountains and in the Sunlight Basin, you stand upon the very bones of Mother Earth, uplifted basement rock - 3.2 billion years old.

Indians not only traveled through the region, they’ve lived in Bridger Country for over 10,000 years. The Mountain Crow (Absaroka) held vision quests upon the highest peaks of Amanchab‚ Chije (The Pryor - or Arrowhead - Mountains). U-shaped structures of piled rock and wood built for the quests can still be seen in the high places. The openings of these structures always face the rising sun. Young warriors continued their vision quests, sometimes for a number of days, in the hopes of developing a special relationship with the spiritual world and for good luck in battle or material pursuits. Amanchab‚ Chije remains a holy place to the modern Crow. A little farther south, in the Big Horn Mountains, is the very ancient and controversial “Medicine Wheel” - a center of spiritual importance for many North American tribes.

Bridger Country features legends of Spaniards who strayed far north of their normal digs to explore the area. Tales are told of a single Spanish coin found atop a high peak just southwest of Bridger. No one knows if it was dropped by a gold-hungry Conquistador....or a far-traveling Indian.

And then there were the trappers and explorers of the American West. The greatest of these men knew Bridger Country well. Former Lewis and Clark co-traveler, John Colter, wintered in the area. He was the first white man of record to see Bridger Country, the Sunlight Basin and Yellowstone National Park. Joe Meek visited here, as did Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick. And of course, the greatest mountain man and western explorer of all time, Jim Bridger, was once a very important part of Bridger Country. The Blanket Chief (Casapy) as he was called by the local Crow Indians, traveled this area extensively - first as a trapper - then as a guide for military and emigrant trains. Jim Bridger was an amazing man. He is known to have traveled as far south as Mesa Verde and possibly as far north as the Yukon. He discovered the Great Salt Lake and the gold in the Black Hills. And he remembered most every step of the his journeys well enough to guide others. Map makers of the era relied heavily on Bridger’s memory when working to construct a picture of the vast lands between the Missouri River and the Colorado. And all this from a man who could neither read nor write! But what Bridger may have lacked in education, he made up for in native intellect. His memory was almost infallible. His common sense equally so. Jim Bridger spoke Spanish and numerous Indian dialects. Men and women who knew the old trapper/explorer - Indian and white - always spoke highly of Jim Bridger. He was honest. He was loyal. He was a natural leader and a generous friend. He was a formidable enemy and a man of extraordinary strength - a survivor of countless scrapes with the Indians. (At a skirmish at Pierre’s Hole, west of the Tetons, Bridger stopped two Blackfeet arrows with his back. He carried one of these metal arrowpoints in his flesh for three years - at which point it was dug out by Dr. Marcus Whitman at the annual Green River Rendezvous). Jim Bridger was married thrice to Indian women...but all three died before the old trapper. It is a matter of record that Bridger treated his wives with respect and love and made provisions to educate and care for his children. . In 1864, he and John Bozeman had a race to see who could lead a wagon train to the newly-discovered gold fields of Virginia City via Bozeman City first. Bridger trailed his train through an easier, but slightly longer route, mostly through the territory of friendly Crow Indians and gradually-climbing terrain. His outfit crossed the Clarks Fork just a little south of the present town of Bridger. In the end, the two guides brought their trains into Bozeman about the same time. Bridger’s outfit was undoubtedly in better shape than Bozeman’s, but Bozeman promoted his route as “shorter and faster”. For some time, Bozeman’s route was a much-traveled trail to Bozeman and points beyond. But the road eventually got the name, “Bloody Bozeman” largely because of Sioux Chief Red Cloud’s constant attacks on white people in the area. Eventually Virginia City gold was no longer a big draw and folks began to see the sense of the Oregon Trail or “South Pass” route to the West Coast over the treachery of the Bozeman Trail and its Sioux guardians. Jim Bridger’s wisdom prevailed in this matter...... After all, he was the first white man to note the existence of the South Pass and to promote that route to the West Coast.

Bridger’s first annual Jim Bridger Days Celebration to honor this extraordinary man, was held in 1935. The fest was a combination of flower shows, foot races and boxing matches. (K.O. Hendrix of Fromberg was set to go up against Eddie Hammer of Minot, North Dakota in one of these bouts). Eighty one year old George Bridger Teeples was the guest of honor at this first celebration. Born around Jim Bridger’s Wyoming home (probably Fort Bridger) in 1854, Teeples is considered to be the first white child born in Wyoming....and the last living man to have known the great Jim Bridger personally. The Jim Bridger Memorial was dedicated to “old Gabe” on this sunny day in August. A large structure of hundreds of rocks and ore samples set in concrete was unveiled in the city park. Pieces of Sunlight Basin, the Clark’s Fork River basin, Yellowstone Country and points between make up this unusual monument. It is a collection of stones and ores from the trails Jim Bridger walked, lovingly compiled by those who loved and enjoyed the same beautiful places.

Jim Bridger, his eyesight failing and his legendary health declining, spent most of his last years upon a porch on his Missouri farm just south of Kansas City. It is recorded that the old trapper often sat, chin on cane, with his clouded eyes fixed hard on the West.

“ I wish was I was back there among the mountains again - you can see so much farther in that country,” he said.

And it’s true. You really can see farther...and clearer...out here.