WLM
| arts
Author Jefferson
Glass at the replica
of Reshaw’s Bridge
at Evansville.
decorated buckskin clothing
and moccasins. Parkman wrote,
“There was no superfluity, and
indeed every limb was compact
and hard; every sinew had its full
tone and elasticity, and the whole
man wore an air of mingled
hardihood and buoyancy.”
Richard lived on the edge of
danger, yet was known for
sharing everything he possessed
and welcoming visitors with
“mountain cordiality.” His son,
educated in the Midwest, came
back to Wyoming where he
was known both as a renegade
and cold-blooded killer and
an ambassador of the tribes to
Washington, D.C.
Richard played an important
role in the development of the
economy of the frontier beyond
his toll bridge business. He
44
Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine | Fall 2014
could be called Wyoming’s first
rancher, he mined coal for his use
and to sell, he opened a trading
post in Colorado’s gold rush area
and stocked it with moccasins
and leggings made by Native
American women at Reshaw’s
Bridge, thereby establishing
what could be called Wyoming’s
first manufacturing.
Author Jefferson Glass is well
immersed in the story of John
Baptiste Richard. And, he says
as he looks out the window
of his home toward the site of
Reshaw’s Bridge, “There is more
history right out the back door
than most people realize.”
To order Reshaw: The Life and
Times of John Baptiste Richard by
Jefferson Glass, visit High Plains
Press online at highplainspress.com.
WLM