When young Jim was age 13 he was apprenticed to Mr. Phil Creamer of St. Louis. Jim was to learn the blacksmith trade. Attracted by a want ad in the Missouri Republican, in 1822, 18-year-old Bridger joined Gen. William H. Ashley's fur-trapping expedition to the headwaters of the Missouri. Under the leadership of Andrew Henry he became one of the explorers and mountain men who discovered South Pass. This discovery helped open the fur trade in the area of the Great Salt Lake and Green River Valleys.
During the winter of 1824-25, Bridger was a member of a fur-trapping party in present-day Utah. After a fire-side wrangling as to where the Bear River ended wagers where laid and Bridger took it upon himself to solve the mystery. After constructing a buffalo-skin bullboat Bridger embarked on a wild ride down this river. Bridger was much surprised at the end of his ride to find that, in addition to being still alive, he had reached a vast salty lake. After attempting to quench his thirst in the lake's briny substance it is said that he figured he'd landed clear out in the Pacific Ocean. Bridger had discovered the Great Salt Lake of present-day Utah. It is also historically noted that others, besides Bridger and at various time, also discovered Salt Lake. The other contestants include Etienne Provost, Jedediah Smith, and Peter Skene Ogden.
At the 1830 rendezvous on the Wind River just below the mouth of the Popo Agie the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was organized by five experienced mountain men. The parterres were Tom Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette, Henry Fraeb, Jean Baptiste Gervais, and James Bridger.
Continuing to trap beaver in the mountain streams, in the fall of 1832, Bridger and Fitzpatrick led their brigade toward the head of the Madison River. In that area, on October 25, they ran in to a conflict with a band of Blackfeet. The outcome, among other mishaps, was that Jim received two arrows in his back. The arrow heads remained there until the rendezvous of 1835 when the missionary Doctor Marcus Whitman removed them.
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