Feb 22, 2023
In the 1850s, Jim Bridger put his extensive knowledge of the West to use by guiding wealthy adventurers, geological surveyors, and the U.S. military. Then, in 1862, the discovery of gold in Montana sparked yet another gold rush, leading thousands of prospectors to illegally trespass on Lakota and Cheyenne land via the...
Feb 15, 2023
This is part 3 in the series on Jim Bridger. For the previous 2 installments see links below.
Fur trading no longer lucrative, Jim Bridger and a business partner decide to open up a trading post of their own, dubbing it Fort Bridger. Wasn’t long before Jim began doing brisk business, both to travelers along the...
Feb 8, 2023
Some of the richest beaver country was in the heart of territory claimed by the Blackfeet Confederacy; a tribe known to the fur trappers as Bug’s Boys, or the Sons of Satan. Needless to say there was no love lost between the American trappers and the Blackfeet, and violence became a given any time the two groups would...
Feb 1, 2023
Jim Bridger would join the ranks of Ashley’s One Hundred while still a teenager and - alongside other future old west legends like Hugh Glass, Jedediah Smith, and James Beckwourth - head up the Missouri river in search of beaver. From present day northern Montana all the way down to the Gulf of California, from...