<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>Everyone was interested in Fort Bridger, but it did not seem to me to be much of a place, it was quite deserted looking, in fact, Jim Bridger, himself was away and I was terribly disappointed. I had heard him spoken of as a sonny man. I did not know what it was and was anxious to see one. We now hear a great deal about Jim Bridger and his Indian wives in connection with the discovery of gold in California, though his connection with it must have been somewhat remote since he was half way across the continent when it happened. He was known then,( in 1843 ) as a trader and a ruffian, not to be classed with Kit Carson or Hastings or men of their type.His somewhat doubtful fame had traveled eastward and our people hoped to see him. I remember going into the fort on the chance that I might see him somewhere about. There was no one in sight except a man, who sat at a big table. I suppose, when big folk came in, he looked up, but when I was in the room, he sat with a goose quill pen in his hand and read from a sheaf of papers. Since he did not notice me, it gave me a chance to stare at him all I pleased. I decided that he was a Frenchman and the impression has remained with me. He may or may not have been, since my opinion was based on the fact that he wore a blue cap with a shiny visor. I do not feel justified in saying that he really was a Frenchman, neither would I say that it greatly mattered. To me, he was quite as interesting as Jim Bridger, but the grown folk were disappointed.
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<BR>Walt Davies
<BR>monmouth, OR</FONT></HTML>