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Stan Paregien, Editor


Elliott S. Barker


Elliott Barker died at the age of 101 in a nursing home in Santa Fe on April 3, 1988. He and S. Omar Barker were brothers. Elliott Barker was born on December 25, 1887 in Moran, Texas and at the age of three his family moved to the rugged Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. The story of that 550-mile, seven-week trip by horse and ox drawn wagons is detailed in the first chapter of his book, Western Life and Adventures . He was raised on a mountain ranch and learned hunting and trapping, ranching, sawmill and cowboy work firsthand. After graduating from high school in Las Vegas, New Mexico, he worked as a guide and outfitter for hunters and fishermen for two years.

On Jan. 1, 1909, at the age of 22, Elliott Barker started working for the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico as an Assistant Forest Ranger. The pay was $75 per month, but he had to rent his own living quarters and feed his horses at his own expense. And the new Ranger was advised to always carry his gun with him and to never, ever go out at night without another armed Ranger along. It was rough in those days.

A year later, in March, 1910 Game Warden Barker caught a 16-year-old rancher's daughter fishing illegally. The plot thickened and 14 months later, he married young Ethel M. Arnold. And, as you can see in the photo below, they continued to fish together the rest of their lives. He stayed with the Forest Service for 10 years, most of it in the Pecos Wilderness area.

The flue epidemic of 1918 hit Taos in a terrible way, killing 10 percent of the population within 60 days. Elliott Barker closed his office and devoted his full-time to getting six doctors and nine nurses to come to Taos from the Red Cross in St. Louis, Mo. The American Red Cross awarded Barker a silver coffee urn trophy and a letter of commendation for his efforts to save lives.

In 1919, he went back to ranching. He operated his old ranch profitably for several years, only to go broke during the national depression in 1928. By April, 1930, he was badly in need of money, and he went back to the Forest Service and was placed in charge of wildlife management and predator control on the 360,00 acre Vermejo Park in northern New Mexico, for $150 per month, plus a house to live in and a cow to milk and fed horses to ride.

On April 1, 1931 Elliott Barker became the state's first game warden. He was appointed to a two-year term, and remained in that position until retiring in 1953, 22 years later. He spent three terms as president of the Western Association of State Game and Fish Commissioners, one term as president of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and was a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Committee that formed the National Wildlife Federation. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Scottish Rite and Shriners, and the Methodist Church.

However, it was in 1950 that Elliott Barker "adopted" a bear cub that had been rescued from a fire in the Lincoln National Forest. He raised it and took it to Washington, D.C. to represent the National Forest Service. "Smokey Bear" became famous as a living symbol for forest fire prevention. And Barker became known as "the father of Smokey the Bear".

When he retired in 1953, he began writing in earnest. He wrote seven books, including Smokey Bear & the Great Wilderness (Sunstone press, 1982), Western Life and Adventures, 1889-1970 (Lowell Press, 1970), the latter having won the Spur Award from the WWA on June 22, 1972 for "Best Western Non-fiction Book of the Year". He also wrote When the Dogs Bark Treed, Beatty's Cabin Book, Ramblings in the Field of Conservation, Eighty Years with Rod and Rifle, and 101 Smiles, Chuckles and Hearty Laughs. He also published two booklets of poetry, A Medley of Wilderness and Other Poems and Outdoors, Faith, Fun and Other Poems.

Glen W. Burtram, secretary of the Santa Fe Wildlife and Conservation Association, nominated Elliott Barker for the Saddleman Award in 1983. Though he did not receive the Saddleman, he collected many other awards over the years, including "Conservationist of the Year" presented by the National Wildlife Federation; a plaque and a $500 check from the American Motors Corporation in 1964 for his outstanding conservation work; the New Mexico Chapter of Nature Conservancy presented him with its "Leopold Conservation Award" the New Mexico State Game Commission dedicated to and named for him a 5,505-acre wildlife area; and the Sangre de Cristo Girl Scout Council dedicated to and named for him its summer encampment area. And on the occasion of Elliott and Ethel's 60th wedding anniversary, May 17, 1970, Governor David King issued a proclamation declaring May 17th as "Elliott S. Barker Day in New Mexico." New Mexico State University conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon him in 1976.

Elliott Barker came from hardy stock. He was still leading pack trips into the New Mexico mountains at the age of 84. Barker was survived by his wife, Ethel; three children, Roy Barker and Florence Giers, both of Santa Fe, and Dorothy Elmore of El Paso; a sister, Grace Wilson of Aztec; and by 10 grandchildren and 14 grandchildren and one great-grandson.

Elsa M. Barker

(Deceased)
Elsa McCormick Barker was born in Illinois in 1906. She married S. Omar Barker, now deceased, in 1927. She graduated from New Mexico Highlands University, and she taught English in high school in Las Vegas, NM from 1930 to 1971. She and Omar joined WWA in 1954, and they each served as president of the organization. Elsa Barker was president of the WWA from 1972-73, and her husband was president in 1958-59.

Elsa M. Barker was a cover-featured author for Ranch Romance Magazine throughout the heyday of Western fiction pulp magazines, and she was a contributor to many other magazines as well. Several of her serials and novelettes were distributed world-wide by King Features Syndicate. She wrote some 200 short stories.

Elsa Barker also wrote such fiction books as Riders of the Ramhorn (1956), Clouds Over the Chupaderos (1957), Cowboys Can't Quit (1957), Showdown at Penasco Pass (1958), War on the Big Hat (1959), and Secret of the Badlands (1960). All were published under the name "E.M. Barker," since editors at that time did not believe fans of Westerns would read books written by women.
Six of Elsa Barker's novels were published in England and in Holland. Her novels War on the Big Hat and Clouds Over the Chupaderos were published in translated and published in the French language by the 30,000 member Club de Lecture des Jeunes in Paris under the titles Le Ranch du Grand Chapeau and Cowboy au Nouveau Mexique.

Her husband, the late S. Omar Barker, wrote a touching tribute to her in the May, 1954 issue of The Roundup. In part he said, "Elsa shares with me a great love of the outdoor West, as well as a fondness for and tenderheartedness toward dumb animals--maybe especially housecats and horses. Essentially a quiet person, maybe a little reserved, she is completely friendly, not uncomfortably shy nor without independent opinions. If she has any vice, it is reading books when she ought to be asleep.

"Frankly, I'm right proud of what she has accomplished as a writer, not only because she has sold several hundred shorts, plus novelettes, and serials, but because in her western romances she writes what is primarily a vigorous plotted, action western with love interest, rather than merely a love story set in the West. She has not sacrificed home making to her writing, but when she digs in her heels on a serial, she can pile up wordage like any other professional."

The Barker family--Elsa, Omar and his brother, Elliott-- certainly made significant contributions to the literature of the West.

Jane Valentine Barker


Jane Valentine Barker began working as a columnist and historical writer for the Daily Camera in 1967, writing a column entitled, "Over The Shoulder".

Barker and Sybil Downing collaborated on numerous monographs in the "Colorado heritage Series" published by Pruett Press, including such titles as Adventures in the West (1979), Beauty in the Rockies (1980), Building Up (1979), Happy Harvest (1978), Magic, Mystery and Monsters (1979), Mountain Treasures (1978), Settling Down (1979), Trappers and Traders (1979), Wagons & Rails (1980). They also did one volume in Pruett's "Women of the West Series," Martha Maxwell: Pioneer Naturalist.

In 1976, her book 76 Historic Homes in Boulder, Colorado was published for the Bicentennial year. She followed that up with Heritage Homes of Boulder County (Pruett Press). In 1979, she was named as Colorado Press Women's 1979 Woman of Achievement.

She has served on the boards of directors of the Boulder YMCA, Historic Boulder, Inc., the First National Bank of Boulder, the Boulder Historical Society and the Boulder Alumni Club of the University of Colorado. She holds memberships in the Colorado Press Women, Colorado Author's League and Boulder Writer's Club.

S. Omar Barker


(Deceased)
Many people today, including this writer, believe that S. Omar Barker was the best cowboy poet and storyteller of the 20th Century.

He was an accomplished public speaker and after-dinner entertainer.

S. Omar Barker was a prolific writer of books of poetry, as well as novels for both adults and children.

CLICK HERE to read the entire life history of this amazing writer and humorist.

This listing is far from complete and may
contain errors. Therefore, all Westerners and/or their
agents are requested to submit recommended changes
by contacting Stan Paregien

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© 2003 by Stan Paregien, Sr.