Posts
Beginning with this post, I am going to do a series on Army Scouts of the Old West. I am interested in this as I am a former Army Range Rider; my Grandfather was in the U.S. Cavalry from 1878 to 1880; and, my Uncle was in the U.S. Cavalry in 1913 through 1917. These Army Scouts had to be good Horsemen as they often rode alone in very dangerous country trusting their lives by relying on their skills and their horses.
Born in March 1804 in Virginia, Jim Bridger had several successful careers one of which was that of an Army Scout overshadowed by his exploits as an explorer, fur trapper and Mountain Man.
Bridger was credited with numerous accomplishments enabled by his courage to explore the untamed West on horseback. He was the first to discover the Great Salt Lake in 1824 as well as the steam geysers in what we now know as Yellowstone National Park.
He first explored the West in 1822 at the age of 18, trapping beaver before he ventured further West. He established Fort Bridger on the Green River in then Wyoming Territory where he based an operation to guide prospectors to the Gold fields in Montana and surveyed stage routes to the West.
He eventually scouted and guided General Dodge establishing route for freight wagons, stage coach lines and for what would become the Overland route, Pony Express routes and eventually railroad lines for the Union Pacific.
In 1867 due to failing eyesight, Jim Bridger left the West and returned to Missouri where he died in July 1881.
