Jim Bridger

Once there was a mountain man
who couldn’t write his name,
Yet he deserves the front row seat
in History’s Hall of Fame,
He forgot more about the Indians
than we will ever know,
He spoke the language of the Sioux
the Black Foot and the Crow,

Let’s drink to old Jim Bridger
yes lift your glasses high,
As long as there’s the USA
don’t let his memory die.
That he was making history
never once occurred to him
But, I doubt if we’d been here
if it weren’t for men like Jim.

There’s poems and there’s legends
that tell of Carson’s fame
Yet compared to Jim Bridger
Kit was civilized and tame
These words are straight from Carson’s lips
if you trust a man like him
”If there’s a man who knows
this God forsaken land it’s Jim.”

Let’s drink to old Jim Bridger,
lift your glasses high,
As long as there’s the USA
don’t let his memory die,
That he was making history
never once occurred to him.
But I doubt if we’d been here
if it weren’t for men like Jim.

By Johnny Horton, 1960