The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1907-09-04
jim BAKERS CABIN,
Move to Preserve Famous His
toric Relic In Colorado.
HONE OF INTREPID TRAPPER.

Unique Cabin Built With Lookout on
Top For Unfriendly Indians 10 Lo-
Gated In Romantic Spot-Many Acres
to Be Opened For Settlement Near II.
The people Of Colorado feel that Jim
Bakers old cabin, on the Little Snake
river, should come under the law that
gives the government supervision and
control Of historic places Of interest,
says a Denver special dispatch to the
Chicago Inter Ocean.
The cliff dwellings OF Colorado have
been set apart as a national park.
Beecher island Indian battlefield is also
a national park, and there is a monu-
ment where Major Thornburg and his
troopers were killed In northern Colo
RADIO when they were marching to the
rescue Of the Ute agent, Meeker. AS
interesting as any of these places Is
Jim Bakers cabin, built In the early
forties by this intrepid scout and
pathfinder, who ranks with Jim Bridger
and Kit Carson among the great char
acters Of the early west. Here Baker
penetrated. long before any other white
man thought of settling In such a wild
country, and here he lived with the
friendly Indians and fought the I'M
friendly tribes, every day being spiced
with some thrilling adventure.
Bakers unique cabin, which is built
with a lookout on top, where the trap
per used to watch for unfriendly In
dlans, is located In a romantic spot.
1t is In the valley of the Little Snake
river, which winds along the Colorado
wyoming state line. 1t is in the foot
hills of the Sierra Madre mountains,
and near it Is the celebrated Battle
mountain. where Baker and some trap
pers and squaws successfully stood of
a large attacking party Of Indians.
Few visit the spot today because of
Its inaccessiblllty, but this will soon
be changed. A few miles below Bird
gers cabin a development company
Of Denver is opening $4,000 acres of
state land to settlement. A sixty mile
irrigation ditch is being built, and next
year, when the water is turned on the
land embraced in this vast project,
Jim Bakers once lonely valley will be
thickly populated, and there is no
doubt that a spur of the Union Pacific
railroad will reach 1t from the north,
while the new Moffat road, from Den
yer to Salt Lake, will pass within a
few miles of 1t at the south.
Old Jim Baker himself would never
have dreamed of the rush for this
valley which the building of the Little
Snake river ditch presages. He moved
into the Little Snake country early in
the fOrties, it is said, because some one
had moved into the same county with
him in the eastern part Of Colorado
year or two before, and he consid-
cred the country was getting toe
derned crowded" Even when he died,
In 1898, there was little indication OF
the present great demand for cheap
irrigated land, and the scout would
have scoffe0 at anybody who prophe-
sled the coming of a great irrigation en-
terprlse to Little Snake river valley.
Jim Bakers experience in the wild
west, particularly In Wyoming, is only
paralleled by Jim Bridger. Baker was
born in 1918 at Belleville. Ill. In
1888 he Joined a company Of recruits
at St. Louis, in the service Of the
American Fur company, and made the
journey up the Missouri and across
the plains into Wyoming. 1t Is a not
able fact that this first expedition
was In charge of Jim Brldger, and
II was only through the tact and re-
sources Of this notable plainsman that
the entire party was not lost. Many
times the party was stopped by saw
ages, and the warriors held a council
to determine whether to kill the white
men or let them go on. But always
according to Baker, Jim Bridger's
Quiclkness OF wit and his extraordinary
knowledge Of the Indian character
saved the scalps OF the entire outfit
In all the years of his frontier expert
snee Baker declared he was never
/ nearer death than on this flrat -trtp