Bibliography: Herringshaw, Thomas William. Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century, Chicago, IL:American Publishers' Association, 1902. p. 69 BAKER, ISAAC GILBERT, merchant, was born Aug. 22, 1819, in Rigfield, Mo. In 1866 he engaged in mercantile business, operating the Baker line of steam-boats, transporting freight by wagons to the mining towns, and trading with the Indians. Every year he collected in the western region about twenty thousand dressed buffalo robes and shipped them to a market in the east.