, 1923-06-29


plainsman. The story is as follows:
A little while ago tho people OF
Wyoming and Colorado We'd f~ervently
with each other for permanent pos
session Of Jim Bakers old cabin. This
quaint fort.llke structure stood in the
Dixon. wyo.. and rear the northwest
ern Colorado boundary.
Overlooked from the east by Battle
mountain. 80 named to memorabilia
a bitter fight between some trappers.
including Baker. and the Indians. and
placed between the forks of the
stream in the broad valley beyond
rifle shot from any natural barricade,
the Baker bullet-proof house. with its
turreted second story was a sure
enough relic of the early days.
Lonely indeed It va In that beau
tiful but isolated valley, one might
think. while the old frontiersman oc-
cupied 1t in his declining years and
even after the thrifty mining and
stockgrowers' towns of Slavery. Baggs
and Dixon sprang up on Bakers buff
falo pastures. But with Baker re
moved to the Happy Hunting
Grounds OF his adopted people, in
a tiny rectangle which he reserved
on the brow Of an adjacent hill. and
his last but best loved home offered
for sale. the valley became a mecca
for tho p%reservers of historic places.
Colorado's Original Settler
While Baker, living, had never
meant SO very much to Coloradians
Baker dead, was remembered as Colo
RADIOS first citizen, the original set
tier In that state, according to Ban
croft. What was nor Bakers unique
cottage would look well IN Denver's
municipal park; hence the purchase
money was rendered.
Then came entreaties from tn,
people of Cheyenne and of the Lit
tie Snake river valley settlement,
themselves eloquently protes t 1 n
against the removal of the well-pre
served landmark. Whereupon a wyo
ming Legislature. then in session
having an affection for the passing
frontier and for the votes of thos,
professionals. appropriated $500 for tn.
purchase of the house.
But this was followed by a crud,
codicil carrying $3.50 for the remov
al Of the structure to Cheyenne
Forthwith that thing was done wh,,;;
every lover of the historic markell
must protest against, and which tn
legislatures original motive wa
: aimed to preventive cabin wa!
carted away.
Those scores OF logs SO CAREFUL,
selected and drawn across the mile
Indian fashion ne doubt. then hewr
n surfaced SO accurately by tn,
primitive implements in the hands o
Baker and his skillful squaws anC
built into n sort of throne hous,
among the teepees of the Snakes, o
whom Baker had taken his wives
and forming a refuge from the on
s'aughts of all the tribes in tn,
Rockies.
Those logs bearing the very foo
n fnger prints of a fast pass'nl
frontier and belonging to Little Snak,
River Valley as much as the CT
dwellings belong to the Mesa Verde
were torn asunder. the numbered part
trundled some seventy miles to tn,
railroad. shipped to Frontier park n
Cheyenne. and there reassembled. be
reft OF the cabins chief historical as
set. its environment and atmosphere
The spirit of the builder has fed tn,
structure. to remain in the valley o
his last adoption.
Lettering In st Louis
Jim Baker, sturdy and twenty wa
lettering on the old St. Louis rive.
front when Jim Bridger offered hin
an eighteen-month contract to traI
in the Rocky mountains for the Am
er'can Fur, Company. Thus thcs,
two famous inns and ninety-one othe.
trappers left ST. Louis on May 25
1888, by steamer. Taking keel boat
into the Kaw, they were towed an
other ninety miles when the rea
journey across the plains and noun
tains began in carts. on horse and oil
foot. G
Baker says when he reached the Lar
annie Mains tho Indians uara n thtot