The Quintessential Mountain Man

Jim Bridger was the epitome of the hardy mountain man.  As a child he went from Virginia to the

frontier city of St. Louis with his family.  At 13 he was apprenticed as a blacksmith.  At 19 he became a member of William Henry Ashley's first expedition to the Rockies.  He was a quick learner, tall and with a keen eye.  Although he became a legend as an Indian fighter, he tried to get along with the Indians.  He had three Indian wives, each from a different tribe and each died young.

Bridger's friends called him "Gabe".  He was notorious for his tall tales, but many of his tales were based on real events.  Once he floated down the Bear River to settle a bet on the direction the river flowed, ending in Great Salt Lake (probably the first white man to see it).  Due to the salty water, he believed he was on the Pacific Coast.

Most of Bridger's maps were the most accurate of maps available.  Although he was illiterate, he spoke French, Spanish and several Indian languages. 

He roamed the Rockies as a trapper, trader and eventual partner in a fur company.  In 1843 he built a fort on the Oregon Trail where he sold supplies, did repair work, and gave advice to travelers.  For 10 years he was successful until a raid by the Mormon vigilantes destroyed the fort.  Bridger moved his family to a Missouri farm, came back alone to the West as a guide.  He was a scout for the U.S. Army in the "Mormon War". In 1866 he marked the Bozeman Trail from Nebraska to the Montana gold mines.

Bridger was disabled by arthritis and failing eyesight when he retired in 1867.  By then the coming of the railroads saw the end of the West that Bridger so loved.

Next time...Life in the wild
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Today in Pioneer History:  On  March 28, 1776, Juan Bautista de Anza, one of the great western pathfinders of the 18th century, arrives at the future site of San Francisco with 247 colonists.

The Great Unknown Purchase

No one seemed to know what this complete mystery we just bought was like! France refused to specify the southern or western boundary, leaving it to the United States to deal with Spain.  Talleyrand said, "You have made the best possible terms for yourselves and I suppose you will make the most of it."

What was known of the resources, terrain, and climate of the new purchase was as vague as the boundaries.  The few Europeans who had explored the area had only explored narrow, long pieces of land, chiefly along major rivers.  Other than that information, the United States had no idea what lay to the west.  They had borrowed a great deal of money for something they had no idea what it was!

Jefferson's answer to this problem was to enlist the explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore just what the United States had just purchased.  Jefferson also wanted to strengthen the US claims to Oregon Country and find a water route to the Pacific Ocean if there was one. 

Next time... the men who set out into the great unknown
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Today in Pioneer History: On December 3, 1818,  Illinois achieves full statehood. Though Illinois presented unique challenges to immigrants unaccustomed to the soil and vegetation of the area, it grew to become a bustling and densely populated state.

Who Owns What?

Even after the defeat of the British in the Revolutionary War, the frontier warfare between the pioneers and the Indians continued.  Besides the Indians, Spain held claims in the Mississippi country and the British still held Detroit and other forts in the Old Northwest.

France at this time was America's ally, but wanted to keep America from becoming a sovereign nation who might one day take over the whole continent.  France wanted to divide the United States up between Spain in the south, and England in the northwest - even reserving most of the middle southeast for strictly Indian country.

The colonists on the other hand negotiated with England who agreed to yield its territories in exchange for goodwill - at least on paper.  Eventually America claimed Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, and the land north of the Ohio River.

On January 14, 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris and the United States
officially became a sovereign nation at peace with the world.

There were problems with the newly acquired territories.  By 1780 Kentucky had 45,000 settlers, Tennessee about 10,000.  Neither region was up for statehood, in fact Kentucky was part of Virginia and Tennessee was part of North Carolina.

Rule by the "eastern elite" who were far less interested in protecting settlements from Indians and more interested in securing vast wilderness land grants, was resented by the settlers.  The easterners complained that frontier people were mostly paupers who contributed little to tax revenues.

The truth was far more complex...as we will see next time.
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On This Day in Pioneer History: On November 2,1902, engineer Andrew Riker delivers the first four-cylinder, gas-powered Locomobile—a $4,000, 12-horsepower Model C—to a buyer in New York City.