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Moccasin TelegraphJim Bridger Was Her Grandfather£ ;jfc**» / 4-1* ■. .. lt;.i / -•’ V .ft 4 ,v1 p, *^4K 3 •■' ^ 'V^*«: •.«*i ?«■ACHIEVEMENTS of the legendary Jim Bridger are vividly recalled by his granddaughter, Mrs. Clara Stinnett (right), shown with her daughter, Mrs. Lucille Shoemaker, whom she is visiting at Picher.rendezvous with his beaver pelts a little later, he was named the best liar in camp asBy VELMA NIEBERDING“Jim (Bridger) guided emigrant trains. He shepherded captains and colonels and generals and led their detachments by the hand. He ministered to settlers and explorers and surveyors and Mormons and railroad builders.He was an atlas of the West anda compendium of information to whoever needed geography or skill—Bernard DeVoto, Across the Wide Missouri.” Jim Bridger as a mountain man needs no introduction. His granddaughter does. She is Clara Carroll Stinnett of Modesto, Calif. At present she is visiting a daughter, Mrs. Lucille Shoemaker, Picher Mrs. Stinnett is 79 years young; her memory of early events in her life unusually keen and accurate. She never saw her famous grandfather or his wife, Mary, daughter of the noted Shoshone Chief, Washakie. But she has avidly-read accounts of them. In any history of the West you will find the name of Jim Bridger indexed.Also you will find accounts of another grandfather, Chief Washakie, who helped General Crook fight- Crazy Horse at the battle of the Rosebud. So unpressed was President Grant that he ordered a saddle made especially for Washakie.Mrs. Stinnett was born in Vinita, Indian Territory, in 1892. Her parents were Abraham Carroll and Mary Bridger It is interesting that both lived in this area for many years withft' ftmost people unaware that Mary Bridger was the daughter ofWomen’s Society.ft\ssembly of GodThe WMC of the Assembly ofGod church met at the home ofMrs. Oletha Bandv. Mrs.►Pear lie Bench presented the lessonOthers attending were Mrs. Dayna Unn, Mrs. Mae Jones, Mrs. Eva Thorpe, Mrs. OliveHood. Mrs. Irene Ferguson. Mrs. Mary Ixu Sturges and Mrs Joan Woods. The next meeting will be Sept. 30 at the home of Mrs. Joan WoodsNews in Brief Visiting Mrs. J F. Mustain Sunday were Mrs. C. Clymore. I-irry and Stella of Chelsea, Mrs. Toby Stanart and Paula ofwTulsa. Mrs. Fred Scharder, and Mr. and Mrs. Boyce Wallace .f Springdale. Ark Mrs Floy Story is visiting in the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. I). Parham at Rogers, Ark Mr and Mrs. C. J Wilcox and Curtis visited his mother, Mrs. Bessie Wilcox of Miami Saturday and attended theJim Bridger and his Shoshone wife, Mary Washakie. (Her Indian name was Little Fawn.)Mrs. Carroll was living with her daughter, Mrs. Stinnett, when she died in 1920. At that time the family was living on the Wilbur Ranch northwest ofMiami.Clara Stinnett attended Seneca Indian School and Riverside Indian School in California. Her first teacher at SIS was Miss Naomi Dawson (now Pacheco).She notes that her mother’s nalf-sister was Virginia Rosalie, later to become Virginia Wachsman Hahn. She was the daughter of Jim Bridger’s second wife, a Ute, who died when Virginia was born Somehwere it is written that Jim raised the baby onbuffalo milk.Virginia Wachsman made her home with Mrs. Stinnett until her death at the age of 85. She is buried at Fort Bridger. This mountain post, located in southwestern Wyoming, was established by Jim Bridger in 1843 It is now a museum where many objects of the Bridger family are preserved.There are many fascinating tones about Jim Bridger He drifted alone down Bear River in a bullboat in 1824 and discovered the Great Salt I,ake. Stripping off his greasy buckskins he plunged in for a swim only to find that he couldftsit upright in the bouyant brine -and stay afloat without using his arms or legs.Soon after this he explored another lonelv wilderness and found Yellowstone Park Jim was a teller of tall tales, and when he showed up at a trapperhe described steamingwaterfalls a thousand feet high and other wonders of Yellowstone. Out of this adventure came his delightful story:‘They was peetrified trees a-growing, with peetrified birds on 'em a-singing peetrified songs,” he related.Bridger also told a story-about the time in 1830 when it began to snow in Salt I^ake Valley and continued for 70 days without ceasing. The whole country was covered to a depth of 70 feet and all the buffalo in the region perished in the storm. Their carcasses however, were preserved by the cold and, ‘‘When spring came,” Bridger said, “all I had to do was tumble 'em into Salt I^ake and I had pickled buffalo enough for myself and the whole Ute Nation for years.”Jim Bridger died in 1877 at the age of 77 years He lived out the later years of his life on a farmwnear Westport, Mo. Mary Washakie had died 20 vearsMrearlier in childbirthMaj. Gen. G. M Dodge erected a monument to Bridger in Kan.^as Citv. Mo. Eac h vear a• T fttroop of Boy Scouts there holds services and plays taps for theold scout and mountain man who lived such an adventure-filled life.Mrs. Stinnett is the only livinggrandchild of Jim Bridger,although there are several great-grandchildren Among these are her own children, Helen Stephens, Richard Stinnett and Carroll Stinnett of Modesto, Calif., Mrs.Shoemaker of Picher, Mildred Elliott, Columbus, Kan., John Stinnett, a Springfield, Mo., rancher, and Kenneth Stinnett, who operates a foundry in Wichita, Kan Jim Bridger could neither read nor write. “Manv ex-ftplorers took credit for what he really discovered because he was unable to record what he knew on paper,” Mrs. Stinnett observed.She remembered the storv■that he helped map the mountain passes for the surveyors who were building the Union Pacific railroad. He took a piece of charcoal and drew maps of the region on a brown paper sack.”Mrs. Stinnett plans to return to California about Oct. 1. She said she had many pictures and other mementos of her famous grandfathers-Bridger and Washakie—at her home.“Our People and Where They Rest is No. 5 in a series on Indian cemeteries now being compiled by James W. Tyner and Alice Tyner Timmons of the American Indian Institute, University of Oklahoma. The current book lists visits to 106 old cemeteries in northeast Oklahoma and has a picture of Charles Bluejacket, chief of the Shawnee, 1817-1897.The 106 cemeteries recorded in Volume 5 bring the total to 483 sacred places preserved in “Our People and Where They Rest.” According to James Tyner, “The reasons for preserving a record of burial places are as numerous as there are graves. Each person who has ever experienced an earthly existence is most rnportant—to his Creator, to himself and to his people. In whatever time, generation or period of years a person lived he contributed something good to the benefit of those who remained and to those of comini generations.” The work has been made possible under the Doris Duke Oral Indian History Project of the American Indian Institute Dr. Boyce Timmons is director.ALONG THE TRAIL. A meeting and barbecue w as held at the home of Mrs. James Allen last Friday for the purpose of organizing a club to interest young mothers. A Walt Disney Production film on family life was shown and tentative plans for a meeting to be held each month were approved The next meeting will be the last Wednesday in OctoberftThose attending the initial session included MarvwDaugherty, Linda Breeden, Jo Ann Olsen, Dorv Mosher andrdaughter, Paulette, Bertha
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Miami News Record
Miami, Oklahoma, US
Sun, Sep 26, 1971
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USA 16 Sep 2020
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