| "The Trailblazer" 2005 Limited Edition of 50 21"H x 20"W x 7"D |
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| © 2006 Dustin Payne Studio |
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| If you roamed the Rocky Mountains in the days of the free trappers you would surely have heard of Jim Bridger; a tall muscular mountaineer, described as having a thick neck, high cheek bones, long brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and a hooked nose. Bridger was a friendly but serious man. Jed Smith once stated that Bridger possessed the skills of Angel Gabriel. Hence, Bridger became known as “Old Gabe”. Even though Jim Bridger could not read or write, it did not keep him from becoming a gifted trapper, guide, businessman, and most of all, explorer. He had a photographic memory of streams, ridges, passes, and trails, which made him a walking encyclopedia. Bridger was spending his second winter as a trapper where he was held up on the Bear River on the western side of the continental divide in southern Idaho. During this time he and members of the trapping party sat around campfires speculating on where the Bear River went. Some thought it might lead all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Bets were made, but unless someone followed the river to its end, the question would never be settled. Young Bridger volunteered to go down stream and find the answer. The river led Bridger to the edge of a great lake, so broad that it seemed to be an arm of the Ocean. He dipped his hand into the clear water and tasted it from the tips of his fingers, “She war some salty, Hoss. Dogged if she waren’t”. Jim Bridger became the first of many trappers to visit the Great Salt Lake. Just twenty years old, young Bridger had challenged his skills as a hunter and outdoorsman in a way that many older seasoned mountain men would not dare. His bold heart toward the Great Mountains and rivers of the west would put him into the history books and historical hall of fame and establish him as “the King of Mountain Men”. Today, in Mount Washington Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri, stands a monument to the memory of “James Bridger” 1804-1881; celebrated as hunter, trapper, fur trader, and guide. Some of his many accomplishments included: Discovering Great Salt Lake 1824. Discovering The South Pass 1827. Visiting Yellowstone Lake and geysers 1830. Founded Ft. Bridger 1843. Opened Overland round by Bridger’s pass to Great Salt Lake. The sculpture’s stone image of Jim Bridger shows a serious and determined young man, his eyes facing west, as they always had. -Dustin Payne |
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