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

With a buffalo skin and a piece of charcoal. he
VIII map out any portion Of this immense region
valleys called holes with wonderful accuracy
Capt J. W. Gunnison, U. S. A.
Bridger sold out at FIT. Bridger in 1850 and
moved to Jackson County, Missouri. He bought
a big farm and built a large residence. He had
an Indian wife and several children. He kept
open house. Virginia Bridger was married there
IN 1854 to Capt. Albert Wachsman. The wedding
was a big social event. Captain W"achsman died
In 1888 and in 1892 she married Frank Hahn.
Brldger died in 1881 and his grave in Washington
Park cemetery, Kansas City, is marked by a mon
ument erected and inscribed by General Dodge.
According to General Dodge, Bridger had three
indian Wiyes-One at q time and all regular-a
Flathead, a Ute and a Snake. Mrs. Hahn is the
daughter Of the second wife, the Ute, TO whom
Bridger was married at Ft. Bridger by the famous
Jesuit, Father de Smet.
Bridgers career reads like a fantastic romance
and the most fantastic thing about 1t is this:
"Old Jim" Brfdger is an American Immortal be-
cause Of his fantastic Tall Yarns" The West
may forget him as "the uncrowned king of al
the Rocky Mountain scouts, guides, traiers, In
dian fighters, trappers and plainsmen from the
Thirties to the Seventies" But his Tall Yarns
will always be told in the West to each succeeding
generation.
"Old Jim" led a dual life. He was apparently
equally devoted to fact and fiction. When he
told fact he was exact. His spoken work had
the confidence of white man and Indian alike.
His maps were invariably correct. When he
snapped yarns with old cronies or could get the
ear of a tenderfoot, his adventures were limited
only by the powers Of his imagination. And he
never played a bigger joke on a greenhorn than
he played on himself, for when he told Of the won
ders of the Yellowstone an admiring public burst
into laughter over another of old Jim's' tall
yarns"-and refused to believe a single word.
So Jim, making the best of a bad job, concoct-
ed the "obsidian cliff yarn and added it as the
crowning wonder of the Yellowstone. 1t Is prob
ably the most popular Of all his Tall Yarns" and
is too well known to need telling here. The "herd
O. picked buf1er' was showed In by a seventy-day
storm and frozen solid. In the spring Jim rolled
the carcasses into Salt Lake and supplied the
Utes with meat for two years. The ice-cOld spring
was high up and the water ran down-hill so fast
that It was boiling by the time it reached the foot
of tie mountain. The alum creek shrunk up his
pony's feet to points, SO that the animal stuck
when he hit the trail
Can Imagination conceive of a situation more
unique than Sir George Gore, with a perfectly
straight face, reading "Munchausen's Tales" to
Jim Bridger beside a Rocky Mountain campfire?
Yet the incident Is strictly true, as is Jim's COM
mel It and rival boast. Sir George was a noted
Irish sportsman who hunted for two years in the
Rockies, 1So4-5, with Jim for guide, philosopher
and friend. The Gore range Is named for him.
He Travelled with q retinue Of fifty and outfit
to correspond. He dined In state late In the
evening and 1t was his practice after dinner TO
read to Jim from the great books Of the world.
Imagine his inward delight In reading from the
biggest liar OF all print to the champion liar OF
the WestI