Cañon City record., 1908-11-12

) CANON CITY RECORD.
, - . ~
1t were not for the overpius Of our
white population the noble red man
would be quite as ignoble as ever.
The Price Of Tail Feather: No In
dian can be considered . warrior untfl
he goes out and plucks the eagle
feathers for his war bonnet We once
knew an indian. yellow Eagle, who
in order to get his coup feather dug .
hole in the ground ON the open prairie
far from camp or habitation. Over
he hxed q covering. Of brush upon
which was laid the carcass Of y fresh
ly slain antelope. In this trap he lay
for three days waiting the eagles con-
Ing. When at last one did alight hs
sliced it and despite its Tapping a1A
/ pecking plucksd the precious feath-
er, s
When Jim Baker died ten years ago
- his ranch on the Little Snake in
aOutt county. there passed away one
lot the few men whose life was more
thrilling. more adventurous. than ey-
an q Fsanimore Cooper has been able
- picture. For . score Of years he
lived among the Indians, hunted In The
pathless forests Of the north and west.
wandered over the endless stretches
OF prairie. endured countless hard
ships and braved the greatest dangers
He was familiarly known and highly
respected by the Utes, Aarapahoes
and Cheyennes. When the Pixies Peak
immigration poured Its long columns
into Denver he came here occasional
ly. but only for brief visits He found
the ways OF civilization were not his
way. 20 he returned soon again to his
ranch In the mountains.
Baker went to the forests Of the
north in 1880 and came to Colorado
in 1898. A tenth OF his adventures
would I'LL a great volume. Four times
he took a wife from among the In
dians and once came near paying for
squaw with his life. For several
years he was hunted by the Utes and
marked for torture and death the mo-
men { he fell into their hands. A doz-
en- times he escaped their vengeance
by mere chance Several times he was
snowbound In the mountains in the
dead OF winter and nearly starved.
Much Of his time for many years was
spent evading the hostile red skins
and the NUMBER of his personal en-
counters with beasts and msn.. and
wars with Indians was evidenced By .
nass of scars on his grisxled body
from AsaA 10 loot.
In 1857 Baker acted a. scout for
Captain AArcey's troops which weat
Into Utah 10 fght tAe Mermoaa. T1sy
stole . march % l1Asosy aaa drove
|otf all hls horses and nule9. ta1ing .
greater s1sare % tAs psovissoas. TAs
Dsa wses i1 . Ssa0srats eoaaitjon.
Bakef offered to cfoss he main raAGs
and come to Fort 0ariaAd IL the San
Lais valley for relief. II was early in
Dscsmbsr and the snow ON the range
was from two 10 forty feet deep. Ba-
ker started to work his way straight
acroas the range. He became vora
out and nearly fanlshed. In descsad-
iAg ths range ~ became % exhausted
that he was forced to give mp and
would have perished had not . little
hand OF Ute Indians found and cared
for him. Had they recognized him he
would have been killed because the
Utes had marked him for revenss. bat
they did not and he sueceedea In
reaching the fort In safsty.
In 1855 Baker had the aide OF his
facs torn of by the sxplosioa oe .
rine. II happened In = camp Of In
dians, twenty nilss from Denver. The
agent had Distributed . hot OF rifiss
and cartridges amoAg the Indians IN
the camp and Baker succeeded In gsk-
ting hold Of one. Al he tried to 1re It
the cartridge in the stock exploded
and blew In into shreds. One half OF
his face was torn 10 shreds and his
right jaw hung by q small piece. with
out . complaint and all the time con-
scious, he stood the ride to Denver
and was taken to the once OF Or.
Strobe on Larimer street. DR.. Strobe
nxed up the jaw by the use OF hard
wood pins and sewed II mp. Three
months afterwards Baker had entirely
recovered.
Another story has been often told