Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-27
Move Set on Foot to Preserve
Famous Historic Relic
in Colorado.
HOME OF INTREPID TRAPPER
Unique Cabin Built With Lookout on
Top for Unfriendly Indians Is
Built in Romantic Spot.

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 n national park |
| Beecher island Indian battlefield is also |
u national park, and there is a monu- |
ment where Major Thornburg and his
troopers We're 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 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 lookout on top, where the trap.
per used to watch for unfricndly In
UiaDS. is lOCaIeu III Il TOulanllC spot.
1t is in the valley of the Little Snake
river, which winds along the Colorado
Wyoming state line. 1t is III 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 off
n large attacking party of Indians.
Few visit the spot today because of
its inacceSsibility, but this will soon
be changed. 4 few miles below Bird
gers cabin a development company
of Denver is opening 10000 acres of
/ state land to settlement \ 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 4 spur of the Union Pacific
railroad will reach it from the north.
while the new ATofat road. from Den
yer to Salt Lake, will pass within 4
few miles of it 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 prcsageS. He moved
into the Little Snake country early in
the forties, it is said, because some one
had moved into the same county with
2 him in the eastern part Of Colorado
, a year or two before, and he cOnSid-
cred the country was getting 'toc
derned crowded" Even when he died,
:. in 1898. there wps little Indication of
the present great demand for cheap
irrigated land, and the scout would
i have scoffed at anybody who prophe-
n sled the coming of a great irrigation en-
terprise to Little Snake river valley.
Had But One Parallel.
, Jim BaNers experience i'll the wild
=, west. particularly in Wyoming is only
= paralleled by Jim Bridger. Baker was
born in 1918 at Beileville, Ill. In
:, 1888 he joined Il 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 not
able fact that this first expedition
= was in clarge of Jim Bridger. and
1t 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 Il council
to determine whether TO kill the white
men or let them go on. But always
according TO Baker, Jim Bridger's
Quicllness 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
ence Baker declared he was never
nearer death than on this first trip
which ended at the mouth Of Pope
Agile, on Wind river.
Baker engaged as a trapper, forged
rapidly to the front in his hazardous
vocation. and soon he was ranked
with Jim Bridger and Kit Carson. He
wandered all over the Rocky mountain
country, sometimes in company will
parties of trappers and sometime:
alone. The wilderness held no terror:
for him, and he was able to match hi:
cunning against that of the Indians
He played great part in bringing
civilization to the west
Bakers cabin was the scene of many
IN exciting skirmish and the foresight
of the old trapper in building the queer
lookout on his house was more thar
once rewarded when he headed off In
dams who sought to surprise him. II
1855 Baker entered the service of the
government as scout, and for severa
years he was looked upon as one of thu
greatest scouts and guides in the serv
ice of the army. The Pixies peak ex
element drew him to Denver, and IL
1859 he built home on Clear creek
not far from the present capital of Col
orado. Here he remained until 1873
when he went back to his first love, tn,
Little Snake river valley.
Baker, like the other old trappers o
his day, had several Indian wives
hInnrr OF I, is, childrr,, In, al