, 1904-12-28
MONUMENT
TO BR|DGER
SHAFT ABov THE BONES OF
THE HUNTER, TREaPgR, GUIDE
AND INDIAN FleHTER.-
Among the Achievements Recorded
Upon Monument Are Discovery of
Great Salt Lake, Exploration of
Yellowstone Park and the Finding
Of History-Making South Pass.

The bones of James Bridger, hunter,
trapper, fur trader explorer, guide,
scout n Indian fighter, which for %
years rested in obscurity under a mod
est slab hidden in a thicket on a farm
south of Westport, O lie under a
massive boulder-like monument which
was unveiled yesterday afternoon in
Mt. Washington cemetery, says the
Kansas City Times.
The stone that marked the first rest
ing place of the old pioneer vas SIM
pie, and it was modestly inscribed
with the name, date of birth and death
of the man who lay beneath it and a
verse that recorded that he was missed
by those he left behind. But the years
that have passed since Jim" Bridger
gave up his active, roaming life and
retired to the farm south of Westport
where he died, have placed a new and
wonderfully augmented value upon his
services to the great west, and SO the
monument that was unveiled yesterday
records deeds that will link for genera
tons the name of Jim" Bridger with
the history of the part of the United
States where he spent his life.
Among the achievements recorded
upon his monument which Will perpetu-
ate his name are the discovery of
Great Salt lake, the exploration of the
Yellowstone park region and the rev.
citation to the world of its wonders,
the South pass, hat made possible the
building of the first trans-continental
railroad.
1t was this last achievement that
won him the monument that now
stands above the casket hat holds his
bones. Gen, Granville NJ. Dodge of
New York was the engineer for the
road, and to him was delegated the
task of finding a route through the
mountains over which a railroad could
be built. For sc long that it seemed
that the enterprise must fail, the
search was unavaIling. Then Gen.
Dodge heard of Jim" Bridger, whose
wonderful knowledge OF the plains and
mountains had made him noted
through the west, and sem for him.
To Bridger, a man of little education,
was put the question of a practicable
route for a great engineering feat ike
railroad through the mountains.
Without a moments hesitation Bird
ger said that the road cou'd be built
through South pass,an opening through
the mountains that he had discovered.
From that day until the completion OF
the road Jim Bridger was Gen.
Dodge's constant companion and ad-
wiser.
Gen. Dodge did not forget the from
tiersman's services, and a yea ago at
the unveii.ng of the monument to Gen.
w. T. Sherman in Washington he con-
veyed to Col. John B. Cotton of Kan
sas City his desire to erect a monu-
ment to Bridger. To Col. Cotton was
left the TASK of finding where Bridger
was buried and of designing the monu-
ment which it was decided should be
erected in Mt. Washington cemetery.
The unwilling of the monument yes
terday was the result. The bones OF
the trapper had been removed a week
ago to the cemetery from the grave
on the old Bridger farm near Dallas,
a little town south of Westport.
At Mt. Washington the shaft was
set on the slope of the hill on the east
side of the lake. 1t looks to the west,
towards which the eyes Of Jim
Bridger were ever irresistibly turned,
and if the long sightless eyes of the
old pioneer could see again they would
look across hills that he trod in
his youth before the threatened letters
Of advancing civilization drove him to-
ward the setting sun.
| NJ,rio UPRIGHT at the 0pera