Fort Bridger--Worth a Stop Then and Now

We've been reading about the great Westward Movement in our U.S. history studies. Out of the many options for field trips relating to this era, I spontaneously chose to take a road trip one day to visit Fort Bridger in Wyoming. It was a good choice. Fort Bridger encompasses so much of that time period that it was perfect.

Jim Bridger was, of course, a fur-trapping mountain man. As the end of the mountain man era came to a close, Bridger and partner Louis Vasquez built the fort as a trading post which became a vital supply point on the Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Mormon Trail. Then the U.S. Army established a military post there during the Utah War and Judge Carter and his wife, Mary, had a thriving commercial empire there as Post Traders. The Pony Express had a stop there. And it was here that the first school house was built in Wyoming. What is preserved at Fort Bridger is 40 years of history from the wild, roaming, frontier days and including the migration to and settling of the West.

We went just as things were opening up for the season. Not everything was open and ready, but I didn't mind too much as we were nearly the only ones there and had the whole place almost entirely to ourselves. It was very peaceful.

We were delighted to come across a beaver dam in our wanderings, too, especially since we'd recently learned so much about them. This was a great chance to walk around it a little and study the dam and its effects.

**IF YOU GO, wear walking shoes! It is acres and acres. Keep in mind that the town around Fort Bridger is very small, so you might want to pack a picnic like we did, which was very pleasant to eat as we enjoyed the setting. There are two shops:  one is trading-post-style in the old Fort Bridger with Native American and frontier-type items in it, and the other is a shop in the museum with books and the usual touristy stuff. Also, this is small mammal heaven. Lots and lots and lots of prairie dogs running around and popping in and out of holes and tunnels, and we also saw a marmot and a baby cottontail in addition to the evidence of beaver.