Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1924-04-10
~ Iot4N efeKiNsoN SHERMAN
coMPEER-ANp RIVAL

wVO OLD JIM" BRIDGER. ..reler OF
Tall Yarns"
They're classics still, these lattei
- Sir George Gore straightfaced, road
~ "Munchausen's Tales"
4 \H4G BY Rocky Mountain cnmpfre's blaze
(eESEE/ Sale "Od Jim scornful: 'Passel o.
x&AA1 big liesi
N#RNR That critters dogoned bad mistook
WM An sayl Some things seen myself
sA%aA--- w,d read
More hifalutin in a book
YeIlerstun cliff o. rock We kin see thru;
Hula herd o. picked buffler In Salt Lake;
Gran Canyon, where the is always full
Makeup GOrge-echo comes back mex mornin';
Bon' water runnin' from ice-co spring,
An Alum Crick, what shrunk my ponys feet
They'd make man sit up and look"
James Bridger. You probably know considerable.
II you belong
Out where the world making.
Where fewer hearts with despair are aching
That's where the West begins
Where there's more OF singing and less OF signing,
Were there's OF giving and less Of buying
Ana makes friends without half trying
That's where the West begins
For that is the West Of today, as Arthur Chap
man has sung IT. and there Bridgers name though
= he has been dead these forty years and MORE Is
still one to conJure with.
4 1t you are student OF Americana you know
that the history of=the United States cannot be-
told without the story Of Brdger and his fellow
explorers. trappers and fur.traders west Of the
Mississippi
If you are a movie FAM" you may have seen
-The Covered Wagon" and know Bridger pre-
sented in that motion picture production.
The immediate motive Of this article is the fact
that Mrs. Virginia Bridger Hahn of Kansas City,
Kans, Bridgers only surviving child. has brought
,sut for damages of million dollars against The
Covered Wagon" because of its presentation Of
her fnther According to the petition In the suit,
II is reported. the motion picture production de-
picts Bridger a heavy drinker and person who
often became intoxicated and living with two
squaws. Mrs. Hahn charges that her parentage
is brought into question; that her is dis
graced. and that she suffers great humiliation be-
cause her father Is shown In several carousals
She asserts that her father upright, honor
able man. who was never known to drink TO
The purpose Of this article Is not 10 try out OF
court the case of Mrs. Hahn against the Famous
PlayersLasky corporation and the Paramount Pic
lures corporation Its sole purpose is to show that
James Bridger. drunken or sober. Is an American
Immortal-and why.
~rhe Covered Wagon" is a picture based upon
" historical novel Of the same name by the late
Emerson Hough an American novelist and nature
writer. II depicts fhe progress of caravan
the famous Oregon Trail" AS q whole II Is
powerful and touching picture of the tmes-in
Portland the people In fhe theater In response
TO some Of its most stirring scenes.
The Interpretation OF james Bridger presented
on the screen by Tuy Marshall rs dIsconcertIng
and perplexing to say the least. to both herowor-
shIper and student Of history. He drifts In from
the desert. shabby. uncouth, rather maudIin and
quite grotesque. with a prediction for hard liq-
uor and squaws. His produest achievement seems
to be symbolized In his ability TO shoot tin cup
Of liquor from the head Of boon companion after
a drinking-bout
James Brihger and his times must be seen IN
perspective. The history of the United States
west OF the Mississippi begins with the Spanish
explorations OF The Sixteenth century in the South
west The French of the Seventeenth century at
tempted to build Upland empire along the ST.
Lawrence, Great Lakes. Mississippi and the Gulf
Of Mexico. They lost the St. Lawrence region TO
she British The Resolntian Fixed the western
boundary OF the American Colonies az the MIssis-
GippI. The French, under Napoleon. staged a second
attempt at empire-building. this time from New
Orleans and wezt Of tbs Mississippi NapoEeon.
forced 10 choosa between war and colonization
elected 70 HghG So be sold TO the United States
Cor s1bO00O00 the territory between the Aianls-
Mpwi anA the Rockies He pEmnned 10 KIN fwo
birds with cine stone sat the sfmews az war
and ~plana thorn IN the xng1ish breast
ma nc tha beginning az the NinsGaangh eantwx.