"arrived at Bridgers Fort and camped on an Island formed by Black Fork [ ] distance 17 3/4 miles"
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They left this morning expecting to be at Fort Bridger today. They were able to trade and re-stock as best they could and rest themselves and their animals for a while not to mention having the time for needed repairs to wagons.
On the way Wilford Woodruff fished some and "crossed more than a dozen trout brooks ...... the first I had seen since I left England." They were all very happy to have the trout. William Clayton's 'roadometer' showed they were 397 miles from Fort Laramie, and they think they are about a hundred miles or so from the Salt Lake Valley.
Photo at right is Fort Bridger today. The following is taken from "Oregon, California, Mormon Pioneer, and Pony Express Trails":
"Jim Bridger, along with his partner Louis Vasquez, established their first trading post along the Black Fork of the Green River in 1843. Their clientele existed almost exclusively of westward bound emigrants since the Green River Basin fur trade had essentially died out by that time. Bridger predicted the location "promises fairly" and the site saw every major development of the West pass by its doors. The fort welcomed mountain men and Indians, westward emigrants and Mormon pioneers, the Pony Express and Overland Stage, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the U.S. Army.
The Mormons established Fort Supply, for its emigrants, about twelve miles south of here in 1853. Two years later, Lewis Robison, supported by Brigham Young, purchased this site from Jim Bridger for $8000 and for two years, trade continued much as it had. Then, in early 1857, Young advised Robison to fortify the post, in anticipation of the coming of the U.S. Army, dispatched to Utah to replace Young as governor. Robison completed his fortified walls in August 1857." . . . "The Army took possession of Fort Bridger in 1858 and turned it into a military post. In spite of temporary abandonment during the Civil War and again in the 1870s, the post remained U.S. Government property until 1890 when it was abandoned. Many buildings were sold at public auction and were moved off site to become private homes, barns, bunk houses and the like. The buildings that remained fell into disrepair until the 1930s when locals spearheaded a drive to preserve and restore what remained of old Fort Bridger. The property was dedicated as a Wyoming Historical Landmark and Museum in 1933."
