Part 3: Trader- Chapter 16,17 and 18 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 16,"The Overland Trail" Dr. Whitman's school has been attacked by Indians, and Dr. Whitman and Joe Meek's daughter have been found dead. Bridger's daughter Mary Ann is missing and never seen again. Jim Bridger goes back to Missouri and purchases a farm for his family in Little Santa Fe but soon returns to Fort Bridger. Travelers see Mrs. Bridger keeping house in June of 1849, but only three weeks later she dies in childbirth. She gives birth to Virginia, Jim's daughter. Jim keeps the baby alive with milk from shot buffalo cows. Captain Stansbury of the U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers hires Bridger to map out a new trail west.

Chapter 17, "The Treaty of Laramie" The Treaty of Laramie is signed in the summer of 1851. More whites are passing through the Oregon Trail to...