A famous trapper, guide and Indian fighter is Jim Baker. He was famous in Colorado in the early days. Jim Baker was born in Belleville, Illinois, December 19, 1818. He was a companion of the famous frontiersman, Jim Bridger. Baker trapped for the American Fur Company in 1839 and later became a free trapper so he could work for himself. He was a guide for General John Fremont, another explorer pictured on the Bristol Wall. Wagon trains also hired him to help guide them across the wide expanse of the west. Baker operated a toll road near Denver, but he decided thecountry was getting too crowded.
He decided to move to Northwestern Colorado. There he built a combined cabin and fort on the Snake River, just north of the Colorado-Wyoming border. That cabin is now located in Cheyenne, Wyoming. James Baker died in Savery, Wyoming, on May 28, 1898.
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Painted by: Kathy Barnes
Written By: Carole Hiegert and Joan E. Grant