The Life Of Jim Baker 1818-1898. Trapper, Scout, Guide And Indian Fighter

NOLIE MUMEY

Publication: The World Press, 1931, Denver

First edition. 8vo. Limited to 250 signed copies of which this is # 200. Two-tone quarter cloth and boards with original paper labels on front cover and spine, light blue front and rear endpapers, xiii - 234 pp., frontispiece, (portrait of Jim Baker), acknowledgments, preface, illustrated, plates, portraits, large folding map, bibliography, index. Scout, guide, ferryman, freighter, and stockman Jim Baker left his home in Belleville, Illinois for St. Louis, Missouri, where he accepted an offer from frontiersman Jim Bridger to work for the American Fur Company in the waning years of the Rocky Mountain fur trade. He went up the Missouri River in 1838, spent two years trapping in the Rockies, and a year later accompanied emigrants to the Green River. Baker remained several years in the mountains, associating at length with the Shoshones. In late 1857, he guided Randolph Marcy from Fort Bridger to Fort Union, New Mexico, and back to Bridger in 1858. Baker settled in Denver in 1859, occasionally guided parties into the Rockies, and removed in 1873 to Dixon, Wyoming where his sturdy log cabin served as a fort for area settlers during tensions surrounding the 1879 Meeker incident. Previous owner's bookplate on front endpaper, else a near fine copy with the slightest of edgewear.

Inventory Number: 52458