01Biography
Jim Bridger went west with a fur-trapping expedition in 1822, at 18, and spent the next twenty years trapping and exploring the Rockies. Late in 1824 he became one of the first people of European descent to see the Great Salt Lake. He never learned to read or write, but he spoke several languages. By 1843 he and his partner Louis Vasquez had built a trading post on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in present-day Wyoming, to sell supplies and repairs to emigrants.
02Why they matter
Built the trading post that supplied and repaired emigrant wagons in the mountains, and later guided Army expeditions.
03How they died
Worn down by goiter and rheumatism, he left the mountains in 1868 and moved to a farm near Kansas City, Missouri. He was blind by 1875 and died on the farm on July 17, 1881, aged 77.
04Legacy
Fort Bridger State Historic Site preserves the post. The town of Fort Bridger, Bridger-Teton National Forest and the Bridger Range in Montana carry his name.