Jim Baker (frontiersman)
| Jim Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1818 Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois |
| Died |
1898 (aged 80) Savery, Carbon County, Wyoming |
| Resting place | Baker Cemetery, Savery, Carbon County, Wyoming |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Honest Jim Baker |
| Occupation | frontiersman, trapper, hunter, fur trader, explorer, army scout, interpreter, soldier, territorial militia officer, rancher, mine owner, toll keeper |
| Employer | Rocky Mountain Fur Company |
| Known for | Being a fur trapper, with Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and a highly regarded, U.S. Army scout and Indian interpreter, for Generals John C. Fremont, William S. Harney, Albert Sydney Johnston, and George Armstrong Custer |
| Spouse(s) | married 20 times, to Native American women |
| Children | numerous |
Jim Baker (1818–1898), was a frontiersman, trapper, hunter, fur trader, explorer, army scout, interpreter, soldier, territorial militia officer, rancher, mine owner, toll keeper and mountain man and a friend of Jim Bridger and Kit Carson and one of General John C. Fremont's favorite scouts. He was one, of the most, colorful figures of the old frontier West.
The decline of the fur trade, in the early 1840s, drove many the trappers to quit, but Jim Baker stayed on. Little is known of his movements, after 1844, but in 1855, he was hired, as chief scout, for General William S. Harney, of Fort Laramie, and was with the U.S. Army sent to pacify the Mormons, in Utah. In 1873, Baker built a cabin, with a guard tower, near the Colorado Placers, of the Little Snake River, in Wyoming, where he raised livestock, until his death in 1898. His cabin is, currently, on display, at the Little Snake River Museum in Savery, Wyoming. The grave, of Jim Baker, is marked with a stone, at Baker Cemetery, near Savery, Carbon County, Wyoming.
Baker was married twenty times, each time to an Indian woman, one of whom was the daughter of a Cherokee chief; he had a number of children. Another one of Baker's wives was a daughter of Shoshone chief, Washakie.
Early life
Jim Baker, was born in Belleville, St. Clair County, Illinois, of Scotch-Irish descent.
Exploits in the fur trade
At an early age, Jim Baker traveled, on foot, to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met Jim Bridger. This was a beginning of a new adventure, as Baker signed a contract, with the American Fur Company, to join a trapping expedition.
At 21, Jim Baker was recruited by Jim Bridger, as a trapper, for the American Fur Company, and on May 22, 1839, left St. Louis, with a large party, heading for the annual trapper rendezvous in the Wyoming mountains.
May 25, 1839, on the old steamer, St. Peter, traveling up the Missouri to Kansas City, the Bridger party was transported, on keel boats, traveling to Grand Island, on the Platte River, reaching the Laramie Plains. They continued down the Medicine Bow and Laramie Rivers, to the Sweetwater River, crossing South Pass to arrive at Fort Bonneville.
1838 to 1839, Baker hunted and trapped the Wind River Mountains. When spring broke, in 1840, he returned home to Illinois.
Spring of 1841, Jim set out for his second journey to the Rocky Mountains, traveling back across the Laramie Plains, over South Pass, down the Green River, to Bridger's camp, at the Henry's Fork. Bridger, who was worried about his associate Henry Frapp, sent Baker, along with others, to search for the lost party, who had been trapping, at the base of Squaw Mountain ,on the banks of the Little Snake River.
In August 1841, he was involved in a desperate fight, at the junction of Battle Creek and the Snake River, when 35 trappers beat off a large band of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho.
August 21, 1841, Jim Baker noticed a cloud of dust arising on the southwest side of Bastion Mountain. A shower of arrows came from a cliff overhead, as they had encountered hostile group of Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. Captain Frapp died early, in this fight, leaving Jim Baker at the age of 21 to take charge. This battle gave a new name to Bastion Mountain, now known as Battle Mountain.
August 27, 1841, after the warriors retreated, the trappers departed from Battle Mountain and returned to Bridger's camp.
U.S. Government scout and Indian interpreter
In 1847, Baker settled, for a short time, in Salt Lake City, Utah region, where he became a government scout and guide. His fluency in the Shoshone language and use of Arapahoe sign language, as well, as his knowledge of the rivers, trails, mountains and Indian war trails, led him to Mexico, where he returned, with a regiment of soldiers, to Fort Bridger. General Albert Sydney Johnston, who was in command of U.S. Army, sent to install a new governor in Utah, because President James Buchanan believed, that the Mormons would forcibly, resist the replacement of Brigham Young, as Utah Territorial governor, during the Mormon War, from 1857-1859.
Businessman, Colorado Militia officer, rancher, scout, and death
In 1859, Jim Baker took up a homestead, near Denver, three miles north on Clear Creek. In 1864, he built an adobe brick building, at what is now 53rd and Tennyson Streets, just west of, the campus, of Regis University. Baker built a toll bridge, as well as, owned the first coal mine in Colorado, where Ris is now, 18 miles west of Denver. This same year, Baker was appointed a captain, in the Colorado Militia, along with John Chivington who later, lead the Colorado Territorial forces, in the infamous Sand Creek Massacre.
In 1873, Baker left Colorado and bought a ranch near, Savery, Wyoming, he built a cabin from cotton wood trees, that he chopped, along with his three daughters, Isabel, Madeline, and Jennie. The cabin had three stories, the upper was used, as a watch tower, but as the threat of Indian hostility gave way, the third story was removed.
1875, Jim Baker served, under General George Armstrong Custer, as a scout, during the Battle of the Rosebud, in the Black Hills.
1881, Jim Baker, once again, was asked to scout, in yet another battle, the Meeker Massacre, led by General Thornburg.
In May 15, 1898, Jim Baker died in his cabin, near Savery, Carbon County, Wyoming. Loved and respected by many, he was known as "Honest Jim Baker". His body was laid to rest, in a small cemetery, overlooking the Little Snake River Valley.
In 1917, the Baker Cabin was removed from Savery and taken to Frontier Park in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
In July 1976, the home of Jim Baker was returned to Savery, Wyoming and is now, located at the Little Snake River Museum. The cabin was reconstructed under, the direction of Jim Baker's great-grandson, Paul McAllister, who still lives in Dixon, Wyoming.
External links
|