Jim Bridger: Mountain Man

by Stanley Vestal

Even among the mighty mountain men, Jim Bridger was a towering figure. He was one of the greatest explorers and pathfinders in American history. He couldn't write his name, but at eighteen he had braved the fury of the Missouri, ascending it in a keelboat flotilla commanded by that stalwart Mike Fink. By 1824, when he was only twenty, he had discovered the Great Salt Lake. Later he was to open the Overland Route, which was the path of the Overland Stage, the Pony Express, and the Union Pacific. One of the foremost trappers in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, he was a legend in his own time as well as ours. He remains one of the most important scouts and guides in the history of the West. The Christian Science Monitor has called this biography "probably the fairest portrait of Jim Bridger in existence." The New York Times has praise for a "painstaking job of research among the usual Bridger sources and among some others which have been neglected. . . . [The author] has adequately set the scene for his hero's adventures and has honestly appraised the great guide's historical stature."Other Bison Books by Stanley Dodge Queen of Cowtowns, Joe The Merry MOuntain Man; The Missouri, The Old Santa Fe Trail, and   The True Story of the Fighting Sioux Told in a Biography of Chief White Bull

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Westerns, American History, Biography Memoir, Nature

346 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Walter Stanley Vestal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley...

Reviews

[Daniel Brink · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes me want to move to Montana and live in the wilderness. Who's with me?

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done, assumedly of good scholarship, though Vestal's disconcerting habit of introducing venacular randomly through the text constantly threw the reader out of the story.

[Jake Silver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry points as it relates to descriptions of names and places, but really interesting depiction of one of the most influential settlers of the western half of the country in the 19th century. Gave me a strong appreciation for the country during that era.

[Julier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read this account written over 50 years ago, especially comparing other historical sources. The author really admired Bridger so you certainly can't believe every single thing in it. I loved how much overlap there was with Native Americans , Bozeman Trail, Hudson Bay Company and trappers, discovering Yellowstone and the great Salt Lake, interactions with Brigham Young, Marcus Whitman, Bridger's wives and death of his daughter following the 1847 Whitman Mission "massacre" incident, etc.
Included famous incident where Dr. (Rev) Marcus Whitman, without anesthesia, surgically removed a 3-inch arrowhead from Jim Bridger's shoulder.
One of my favorite things was how no one would believe Bridger's accounts of Yellowstone's geysers, boiling mudpots, etc. According to this account Bridger decided to tell outrageous tall tales with a straight face. I wasn't aware of Bridger's physical decline, but it sure sounds realistic.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to read, but whet my appetite for more mountain man books. It has prompted me to learn more about the indigenous people, as this book is portrays the indigenous tribes very negatively.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad biography considering how old it is (1946), but a bit too much hero worship. He lived an interesting life and helped explore the West.

[Michael Papier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about a young man that tries to find a way to support some family by going on an adventure out west and makes his share of mistakes by letting others influence his judgement. After he realizes that he made mistakes by not following his own council, he makes a habit out of making his own mind up and following his own judgement. Life was very hard and unforgiving in the trapper and guiding Buisness and he also had to walk that tightrope between his job/Buisness and the Native Tribes in the areas he traveled. The stories of Kit Carson and Jim Bridger are incredible and few that met the men were impressed by their physical build and stature. They were not on the same scale as "Liver Eating Johnson" who was known to best a man with a single kick to the chest and had the physical size strength and skill to take on multiple challengers at one time. Jim Bridger was a one of a kind man that knew as much about the Country West of the Mississippi as any man alive while he lived. The book is well worth the time and should be made available to public schools so they can see what kind of men helped open this Nation to settlement and the sacrifices and hardships endured by the people involved.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow was this boring. I was expecting this to be more of a story of survival, living off the land in the mountains, etc. Instead, it's about a fur trapper with many comrades. Granted, I only read 100 pages or so-1/3 of the book, but a quick breeze through to the end looked to be much of the same: fighting what they call the "cussed Injuns", trapping, the friction with a competitive fur trading company and building forts, etc. When I got to the part of Jim's band killing a Native American in cold blood who appeared to approach them for peace, carrying the peace pipe and offering a handshake and then was shot off his horse right then there was a bit too much. Still, I decided to trudge on realizing the history of hostilities between the two cultures in those days, hoping the story would get better, or at least somewhat interesting, but it never did. It's just boring.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

An amazing, true tale of adventure in the undeveloped West. Unfortunately, because this book was written in the 1940s, the language and attitudes towards the native people is hopelessly dated. The author uses the phrase "cussed injuns" so many times that you could make a drinking game out of reading this. I did enjoy the book a lot but because it is so one-sided I can't rate it any higher than three stars.

[Caleb Sommerville · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely (if dated) look at America's greatest scout. I decided to read it based on The Revenant and the fact that he's buried about 10 minutes away from where I live.
But you can really tell this was written in 1946.

[Scott Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. The name Bridger hit my radar around 2003 when my college freshman English professor recommended "Moon of Bitter Cold" by Fred Chiaventone. It's odd, I don't recall westerns as a major interest of mine at the time, so I'm not sure where the recommendation came from, but I took it, ordered the book and loved it. Bridger was a key figure in the historical novel's depiction of the Fetterman Massacre at Fort Phil Kearney. Vestal's book was a great biographical account of that event, something I had never read about before outside of the novel, so it was great to fill that in. The mountain man-era account was fantastic as well, but I had read a bit more detailed one in Win Blevins' "Give Your Heart To The Hawks" that covered Bridger's time in and around the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Overall, this was great as yet another piece of Mountain Man history. Best part was I found out Bridger lived his last years minutes from my house. His memorial at Mount Washington Cemetery is 15 minutes away, really looking forward to visiting to my respects to this titan of the American Frontier.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did like this book. It was an enjoyable read which is not always the case when written in 1946 and about someone who lived so long ago. I had never heard of Jim Bridger, or so I thought. But come to find out I had numerous times, I just did not know it. He was the young man who left Leonardo DiCaprio in the "Revenant." He also has lots of landmarks named after him in MT, CO, SD, and NV. He lived in St. Louis when he was young and eventually died in Kansas City. He had a very eventful life.

The book was easy to read, even though in was written in colloquial English. But I felt it added to the enjoyment of the book. Sometimes I hate it. There is also a lot to learn of this period of time in this part of the world, where there is not a long written except by soldiers and about soldiers. I really enjoyed reading about him meeting Brigham Young. Very interesting.

If you like history, this is an extra great book

[Keith Middleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tough read for me...

If you are entertained by exp!oration stories and Indian fighting page after page this is the book for you. Bridger was a great explorer and man...he accomplished a lot in his life. After reading about all he accomplished in his life you wonder why your sitting around letting grass grow under your feet. I love to travel and have yet to travel past central Texas. I will one day visit these lands traveled by Bridger and experience the vast expanse of the west. I guess you can say I admire his accomplish!ants more than I did the book. The book got very repetitive as far as guiding trappers, soldiers, exploration, and fighting Indians.

[Bobby H · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book had promise and went into good detail into a person's life who I had never heard of previously.
However, the author mixed a folksy-home spun writing style that depending heavily on phonetic spelling in order to sound like dialect. This is mixed with more intelligent writing with properly-spelled words.
While cute at first, this progressed into confusing and eventually just plain annoying.

[Michael Wright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Certainly a man of the mountains, Jim Bridger deserves a better written biography than this. He tried to learn some of the ways of the the Native American populations, and was instrumental in US expansion. However the natives were treated so disrespectfully then and at the time of this writing. It was sometimes painful to read. The author used phonetic spelling not only for quotations/dialog, but in the narrative, too. Who does that? I only finished it to finally get it off my shelf.

[Mikel Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true American Hero!

If you are interested in a extremely well documented book about the greatest American Mountain Men, explorer, and expert on living with and tracking the Native American tribes of his time then I highly recommend that you read this book. It is authentic, historically accurate and a absolutely must read for anyone interested in this time in American history.

[Alex Wiseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although choppy and sparsely-worded throughout (at least as compared to other historical accounts of the West that I have read), this does seem to be as complete an account of Bridger's life and explorations that I have seen. I wish there were even more about his earlier exploits, and his encounters with the Mormons (and conflicts with them) could probably be a book all by itself.

[Robby Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but...

This was an informative and entertaining read. But the effort to produce dialog in Bridger's drawl was poorly done and tiresome. Still, its a a rare look at an unsung hero of early America.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Revenant movie did not give Bridger the credit that he deserved. He was a great pioneer who help established the West and was key in our war with the Sioux. It was a great, informative and interesting read.

[Rachel]

Narrative style is a bit like listening to stories around the campfire. Gives a taste to how our United States history use to be taught as well as insights into Jim Bridger's life; which is one worth learning about.

[Michael Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history

This captured the character and spirit of a great American. The tales are not half of what Bridger actually accomplished, but a good summary, and very readable.

[Jeff Pinkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book. Connected Bridger to the Revenant Movie after I finished this.

[Parker Briggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stanley Vestal is the gold standard for Western history. The figures come alive, and it's written almost like fiction to make it real entertaining.

[Clint · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-researched and well-written book about one of America's great explorers from the early/mid 1800s.

[Kathy Howells · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative -and entertaining!

[Isaak Keskula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great picture of a wonderful mountain man. I read it due to nostalgia for a time I’ve never been—makes me wish I were there.

[Karen Hoeksema]

Very well researched and well written.

[S. Willett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wild west was a place of beauty and horror. The life Jim Bridger lived leaves you feeling like one shut up in a box. This man explored, made the trails homes and towns were later built on, and was hired to be a U.S. Guide for exploring expeditions, hunting, and trapping.

[Rex Cluff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good story. It is a biography but it is written and presented as a story and very captivating at that. I would have given it a higher rating except for the section dealing with Brigham Young and the Mormons which was negatively biased and made the Church, and Brigham Young in particular, to look like detestable villains. I, of course took umbrage at that perspective. The rest was fine. It correctly made the government out to be incompetent.

[Steve Courson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s written in 1946 so no surprise that ‘cussed Indians’ is a common refrain. If you enjoy reading about Mountain Men, fur trapping days, Yellowstone and Jim Bridger, this book is for you. I enjoyed it.