JIM BRIDGER BORN

On this date back in 1804 that great mountain man Jim Bridger was born.

At the age of 20 Jim headed west along the routes that Lewis and Clark had pioneered. At the age of 21 he was the first white to see the Great Salt Lake…Incidentally; he thought it was the Pacific Ocean.

Getting married to the daughter of a Flathead Indian Chief, he decided to settle down and started a trading post, founding Fort Bridger along the Oregon Trail in Wyoming.

At the age of 64 with eyesight failing and rheumatism, he retired in Westport, Missouri and died at the age of 76 on July 17, 1881.