Jim Bridger

James Felix Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old Gabe in his later years. He was from the Bridger family of Virginia, English settlers who had arrived in North America in the early colonial period. Bridger was of the second generation of American mountain men and pathfinders who followed the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804–1806. He participated in early expeditions into the west and mediated between Native American tribes and westward-migrating European-American settlers. By the end of his life, he had become the foremost explorer and frontiersman in the American Old West. He had conversational knowledge of French, Spanish, and several indigenous languages; his photographic memory allowed him to map most of the Rocky Mountains from memory. He was described as "at least six feet tall, straight as an Indian, muscular and quick in movement, but not nervous or excitable; in weight probably 160 pounds; with an eye piercing as the eye of an eagle that seemed to flash fire when narrating an experience." His strong constitution allowed him to survive the extreme conditions in the Rocky Mountains from the Canadian border to what would become southern Colorado.