seventeen, his father sent him to his grandfather at St. Louis for schooling, but he was sent home when it was clear he had no interest in education. Interested in living a life on the frontier, he went to the American Fur Company in St. Louis to sign up to be a trapper. Fur trapper and hunter Baker was hired by Jim Bridger to work for the American Fur Company for 18 months, for which he received $465 (). On May 15, 1838, he left St. Louis by boat and traveled up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to the Uinta Mountains of present day Utah and Wyoming. Baker led a pack train to the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous in the Wind River Valley for Jim Bridger. He hunted with Bridger and Kit Carson and in 1840 returned home to Illinois and St. Louis after his contract expired. He then signed up for another several years with the fur company. Baker traveled on the steamer St. Peter upriver to Westport on May 22, 1839. With missionaries and 75 men, Baker was on an eight-day expedition that traveled through lands of the Arikara, who were known for their hostility. Led by Thomas Fitzpatrick, it was bound for Fort Bonneville in what is now west-central Wyoming. Baker traveled with the Bartleson–Bidwell Party headed for California in May 1841. It was the first wagon train to travel overland on the Oregon Trail. Baker traveled from the Green River, to Bridger's camp at the Henry's Fork, arriving in early August. Bridger, who was worried about his overdue associate Henry Fraeb, sent Baker and others to search for the lost party and to warn them of increased hostility among the Plains Indians. Fraeb was found at the base of Squaw Mountain on the banks of the Little Snake River and Battle Creek, near what is now the border between Wyoming and Colorado. Baker hunted near Fraeb's camp on August 21, 1841. Twenty three trappers were attacked by 500 Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux. After Fraeb was killed, Baker took charge of the battle that extended over two to six days. The trappers hid behind stumps, dug pits, and created a defensive barrier of dead horses and logs. The battle ended after a Native American chief's horse was shot and fell over. Four trappers were killed. Most of the trappers' horses were killed, with more than 100 horses dead