Denver along Vasquez Creek (now Clear Creek). The area became known as Baker's Crossing, where he established several businesses, at what is now 53rd and Tennyson in northwest Denver. He built an adobe house and raised cattle. He operated a stone coal (anthracite) mine, a toll bridge on the Denver Boulder Wagon Road, and a store operated by his two wives. His customers were European American settlers and Native Americans. In 1864, Baker was appointed a captain in the Colorado Militia along with John Chivington, who later lead the Colorado Territorial forces in the infamous Sand Creek Massacre. He worked for Indian Agent Daniel Chessman Oakes as a guide. Horses and mules has been stolen by Southern Arapahoe. In retaliation, Baker and others raided Little Raven and his band. He led a railroad survey party to Salt Lake in 1872. In 1873, Baker left Colorado and bought a ranch in the Little Snake River Valley near Savery, Wyoming. He built a hand-hewn log cabin, that looked like and served as a fort for settlers following the Meeker Massacre (September 29, 1879). Baker raised cattle, which he branded with "JB". He guided an Indian agent and separately guided Colonel Wesley Merritt following the massacre. As European American gold prospectors encroached on Oglala Lakota’s land at French Creek in the Badlands, tensions grew about who had rights to the land. Baker served under General George Armstrong Custer during the Battle of the Rosebud in the Black Hills against Crazy Horse, the Oglala Lakota chief in 1875. Following the Meeker Massacre, the United States Cavalry pursued the Utes responsible for the attack. Baker was hired by Major Thomas Tipton Thornburgh as a guide to track the Utes. Fourteen soldiers were killed at a battle at Milk Creek. Personal life and death Jim Baker was married three or more times, perhaps with as many as six wives, including women from the Shoshone, Snake, Bannock, and Flathood tribes. He fathered 14 children. Baker was first married to Marina, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Shoshone chief Washakie, in October 1847. They had three children: Jennieve Jane, William and Joseph. Marina died while Baker was away on an extended hunting trip in 1852. She and some of Baker's children died of smallpox. Baker fell in love with Flying Fawn, a Sioux woman and daughter of Long Lance. They were about to be married when Flash of Fire, her