orig. James Bridger
born March 17, 1804, Richmond, Va., U.S.
died July 17, 1881, near Kansas City, Mo.
U.S. frontiersman.
From 1822 he led fur-trapping expeditions to Utah and Idaho. He was apparently the first white man to visit the Great Salt Lake (1824) and among the first to explore Wyoming's Yellowstone River region. In 1843 he established Fort Bridger, Wyo., as a fur-trading post on the Oregon Trail . After the 1850s he worked as a government scout. He became legendary for his knowledge of the territory and its Indian inhabitants.