Colonel James Baker (1830-1906)
Colonel James Baker (1830-1906) appears extensively in Chapter 1 of our Butchart Gardens History.
He came to British Columbia in 1884 and became involved in trying to develop the Elk River coal fields.
“In 1886, a year after moving to British Columbia’s Kootenay District, Col. James Baker bought 18,000 acres of fertile land at Joseph’s Prairie from another British settler, John Thompson Galbraith, and set up a farm he named “Cranbrook” after his family’s English home in Cranbrook, Kent.”
The present day town of Cranbrook, B.C. is named for Col. James Baker’s Cranbrook Farm.
![Col. James Baker, circa 1892 (BC Archives photo)](http://www.butchartgardenshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Col_James_Baker-BC_Archives-ButchartGardensHistory-1662x2038-1.jpg)
Here is a map showing the location of Cranbrook, British Columbia, which was founded by Col. James Baker.
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