Books and Manuscripts

A Fine Document Relating to Legendary Frontiersman Jim Bridger and the Opening of the American West

Sarpy, John B.
Manuscript Document, signed
St. Louis, Missouri, June 20, 1843. Single sheet, 12 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. (324 x 200 mm). One-page manuscript document, signed by fur trade magnate John B. Sarpy, being an affidavit testifying about his actions on behalf of the estate of fellow fur trader Henry Fraeb; manuscript on verso by court justice George A. Hyde, docketing to same by probate judge Peter Ferguson. Creasing from old folds, separations along same; tape repairs on verso. 

A fascinating 19th century document relating to the early American West and legendary American mountain man Jim Bridger (1804-81).

American fur trader John B. Sarpy (1798-1857) was a partner in the major fur trading firm of Pierre Chouteau & Co., and whose brother was prominent fur trader Peter A. Sarpy (1805-65). Here, John recounts his actions on behalf of the estate of fellow fur trader and trapper Henry Fraeb, who was killed by Sioux warriors in 1841. Fraeb was considered a leading fur trapper and mountain man of the 1830s, and operated in the Rocky Mountain region catching beaver and buffalo. In early 1841 Fraeb and Bridger opened a trapping base near the Colorado-Wyoming border at the confluence of the Little Snake River and Battle Creek, a region then untouched by fur trappers and still populated with scores of Native America tribes, many hostile to increasing white encroachment. 

As Sarpy recounts, Fraeb and Bridger held debt with his firm and it was feared that unless someone became executor to Fraeb's estate, “Bridger might interpose difficulties in the settlement of the accounts existing between them & Bridger & Fraeb”. As Sarpy continues, “for the purpose of doing justice to themselves, as well as to the said Fraeb the said Sarpy applied for letters of administration, which were granted to him…The said Bridger has however since this time been here & has settled in full the accounts existing between the firm of Pierre Chouteau Jr. & Co. & the said Bridger & Fraeb…”

Bridger was one of the most colorful and legendary frontiersmen of the 19th century American West, and was considered the “King of the Mountain Men”. Like many American frontiersmen of his time, Bridger followed in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark into the American West, but stood out for his trailblazing, skilled trapping, and his role as an invaluable guide for migrating western settlers due to his vast knowledge of the region's people and resources.

Raised on the outskirts of St. Louis, Bridger joined his first fur trapping expedition in 1822 as a member of William H. Ashley and Andrew Henry's trip up the Missouri River. As one of "Ashley's Hundred", he journeyed alongside, and made lasting ties with, other famous frontiersmen of the Old American West, including Hugh Glass, James Beckwourth, Jedediah Smith, among others. From this first foray, and over the next forty years, Bridger extensively explored the far and wide reaches of the American West, and was the first white man to visit the Great Salt Lake, and was among the first white men to explore the Yellowstone region, decades before its survey by the American government. For several years he operated as an independent trapper, and in 1830 he joined several partners in acquiring the Rocky Mountain Fur Company from Jedediah Smith. Later, in 1840, Bridger established an important trading post, Fort Bridger, along the Green River section of the Oregon Trail, which operated as a popular way station for overland travelers en route to the riches of California. Throughout all of this he worked as a valued wilderness guide and army scout, prized for his intimate knowledge of the region's resources and its many Native American tribes and their languages. With his eyesight failing, he retired in 1868 and moved to Missouri, and died in 1881, at age 77.