On March 20, 1822, at age 18, he left his apprenticeship after responding to an advertisement in a St.
At age 13, Bridger was orphaned he had no formal education, was unable to read or write, and was apprenticed to a blacksmith. Louis at the eastern edge of America's vast new western frontier. His parents were James Bridger, an innkeeper in Richmond, and his wife Chloe. James Felix Bridger was born on March 17, 1804, in Richmond, Virginia.
He was known as Old Gabe in his later years. James Felix Bridger (Ma– July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century.