Following Mountain Man Jim Bridger
From Billings, Montana, to Casper, Wyoming.
By: Candy Moulton 05/01/2009
At the edge of the Red Desert, But situated in a lush valley within view of a mountain range that retains snow on its peaks much of the year, Fort Bridger was strategically located on the route many emigrants and freighters used when traveling across the West.
The man for whom the fort is named, Jim Bridger, had the opportunity to select a location for a post at many beautiful areas of the West for he had traveled all across the region. Most particularly he roamed the Upper Green River Country of Wyoming, north into Jackson Hole, and west into Pierre’s Hole and the Bear River Valley of Idaho.
Bridger, born in Virginia and a migrant with his family across the Blue Ridge to Missouri when he was still a child, came of age in St. Louis. Just past age 18, Bridger answered the call of William H. Ashley in 1822 for 100 young men to ascend the Missouri and enter the fur trade.
Street smart with skills on the river and in a blacksmith shop, Bridger was illiterate. Nevertheless, he would develop his life skills and tramp the West, creating a map of it in his head that he would later share with many travelers—from emigrants to Mormons, and freighters to frontier troops.
Bridger, like the other men who worked for Ashley and Maj. Andrew Henry, spent time at Henry’s fort, located at the mouth of the Yellowstone River in present-day Montana. He’d already been involved in a battle with Arikara Indians, and then he abandoned Hugh Glass, leaving him for dead following a mauling by a grizzly bear. Working for Ashley and Henry gave Bridger an opportunity to learn the mountain trade so he could become a free trapper working for himself. Early on he trapped along the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers, but before long, he had pushed into the high mountain valleys of Wyoming and Idaho.
To begin tracing his trail, we will start in Billings, Montana, along the Yellowstone River, traveling west along Interstate 90 to Three Forks, where the branches of the Missouri come together. Bridger traveled this region in his earliest days in the West; he would later forge a trail from the Oregon Trail (near Casper, Wyoming) to the goldfields of western Montana, near Alder Gulch—the site of present-day Virginia City.
Bozeman Pass to Jackson’s Hole
Our route is through Livingston, Montana, over Bozeman Pass to the town named for John Bozeman, whose own trail to Virginia City was more heavily used than the Bridger Trail. From Three Forks, we turn west and south on U.S. 287 to Virginia City and nearby Bannack, the earliest capital of Montana Territory and now a state historic site.
Next we travel east and south on U.S. 287 and U.S. 20 into Island Park and Teton Basin at Driggs, Idaho, a location known as Pierre’s Hole during Bridger’s day. It is also the site of an 1832 battle between the trappers and Blackfeet Indians. Bridger defended himself, along with Tom Fitzpatrick, who was instrumental in organizing the mountain contingent into a defensive troop.
From this area of northeastern Idaho, head with me southeast on Idaho Highway 33 and Wyoming Highway 22, crossing Teton Pass and dropping into Jackson’s Hole, named for David Jackson, one of the men with whom Bridger partnered in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. If you have a vehicle with decent clearance (my Subaru Outback made it with some careful driving), take the less traveled road into Jackson Hole by following the Grassy Lake Road from Driggs, Idaho, east at the southern boundary of Yellowstone National Park to Flagg Ranch, just south of the park entrance. Flagg is a good place for a meal, for a refill on fuel or to stay the night. Then travel south and west through Grand Teton National Park and across Jackson’s Hole into the town of Jackson.
I recommend taking time to hike or ride horseback through the park (numerous outfitters in the area can provide you with guide services). Be sure to stop at the recently opened Craig Thomas Visitor’s Center in Moose, eat a delicious dinner at Dornan’s near Moose and cap the night with a drink at the Cowboy Bar or the Silver Dollar Saloon in the Wort Hotel in Jackson. For few frills and a good bargain lodging choice, stay at Cowboy Village. If price is no object, choose the Wort.
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