The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1924-04-10

Ie2as, the Southwest and California were Span
lsh. Canada was British. The Pacific Northwest
was mo Mans Land" with Russian, Spaniard.
Britafn and American all striving for a foothold.
Inc Undiscovered Country" of the Louisiana Pur-
cnase was American.
The French tri-color came down and Old Glory
went up over St. Louis March 10, 1904. With a
cheer, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, waiting
lmpatfently on the American side of the Missis-
s1ppi, set forth on its historic exploration to see
what the United States had got for its fifteen mil
lions. 1t wintered (1S05-6) at the mouth Of the
Columbia and arrived at st. Louis late in 1906,
returning as from the dead.
The mutton rejoiced. And thereupon, the Ameri-
can people, with the realization that the Louisiana
Purchase was in truth a Detachable Land"
thrilled with their first full vision Of their destiny
and resolutely set their faces toward the setting
sun thenceforth to be content with nothing less
than a clean sweep from ocean to ocean.
Lewis and Clark reported the Missouri to be
alive with beaver clear to its headwaters in the
Rockies. And th%ereupon began the Age Of the
Trapper which was to last for forty years.
The trapper, as blind in his way as the Span
lard who saw nothing unless gold, saw nothing but
fur-and trod on the gold that In the next stage
of development was to call out the prospector, to
be followed in turn by the settler and civilization.
1t was the American free trapper who first spied
out the land and established the practicable routes
of travel. By 1880 the trapper knew the West;
any geographical discovery after that was a dis
covery only in the sense that it resulted In pub
ncity.
The return of Lewis and Clark in 1906 spurred
American fur-traders to activity. Manuel Lisa of
st. Louis-adroit and masterful Father Manuel"
made a successful trip up the Missouri and in 1903
organized the Missouri Fur Company. John Jacob
Aston organized in New York the same year the
American Fur company. Astor's plans were of
worldwide scope-the founding of Astoria on the
Columbia the shipping of furs to China return
carOOpS of tea md silk to New York Lisa diad
in his prime in 1920; the Missouri Fur Company
lasted until 1880, when it was crowded out by the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company and the American
Fur Company.
James Bridger, born in 1904 in Virginia, ap-
pears upon the scene in 1922, when the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company was organized in st. Louis
by Gen. William H. Ashley. A youth of eighteen,
he was one of Ashley's proft-sharing associates.
with Smith, Jackson, Provost, the Sublettes, Fitz-
patrick, Campbell and Beckwourtl-all of whom
became famous.
Bridger gained his title Of respect-"Old JIM
before he was thirty. In twelve months of 1924
he made a circuit of 5000 miles, extending from
the Mississippi to California and from Kansas to
Montana. He discovered South Pass through the
Wyoming Rockies IN 1923 and Great Salt Lake in
1924. He rediscovered, about 1880. the Yellow
stone, first seen by John Golfer in 1907 and
laughed off the map as Golfers He'll"
1t was Ashley who superseded the stationary
trading post by the caravan and annual rendez-
vous. By 1880 Bridger was a directing partner.
In 1899 he and Milton Soublette and Fitzpatrick
bought out Ashley. In 1884 Astor got out of the
American Fur Company because the French had
invented a way to substitute silk for beaver In
top-hats. His successors bought out Bridger and
his associates in the Rocky Mountain Fur Com
pany.
IN 1913 Bridger established Fort Bridger In the
valley Of the Black Fork OF the Green river In
Utah. Fort Bridger was not an Indian trading
nos+ h,t wos q house of accommodation for set.
pressing west over the Oregon Trail. 1t was
tho erst Of its kind and marked the passing OF
the trapper and the beginning OF a new era.
Bridger opened the Overland Route by Bridger's
Pass to Salt Lake. He gulded zen. Albert Sidney