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I was reading this biography recently on the Mountain Man Jim Bridger, and a guy named Jim

Clyman kept popping up. And this isn't the first time I've ever read about

Jim Clyman. Seems like I've been seeing this guy's name mentioned in nearly every nonfiction

book I've ever read on fur trappers and mountain men. And chances are, you've probably seen his

name too. But who was he? Turns out there's a good reason. This guy is mentioned in all those books on fur trappers.

And now that I know more about the man, I'm astonished that Climman isn't as well known to me and you as the aforementioned Jim Bridger.

Or Kit Carson, or Hugh Glass, or Jedediah Smith, for that matter.

Because Jim Climman not only knew all of them,

but he rode with him. He fought alongside him, and in some cases he saved their damn lives.

And those aren't the only historical figures with connections to Jim Climman. How's Abraham Lincoln

and George Washington strike you? Go ahead and toss in Alexander Hamilton for good measure.

And later on in life, climbing would have another rendezvous with historical destiny,

one I guarantee you've heard of.

Now, Jim may not have actually met George Washington, at least not that I can prove,

but he was born and spent the first 15 years of his life on a farm that

his family rented from our nation's first president. The climbing family, by the way, would later

move to Ohio at a time when Ohio was still very much part of the frontier. And Jim, at the age of 20,

...