Time Travel Tales
by Jan Petersen
Saluting Women’s History Month….Jane Alexander Baker Riordan – Rodeo Star
Eliza Jane Alexander Baker Riordan, better known as Jane, was born in Powder River, near Baker City, Oregon, January 18, 1867. Her parents were Daniel and Esther Miller Alexander.
The Alexander family, Jane’s parents, bought a ranch in the early 1870s (present day Keddy Ranch), in Elko County on the North Fork of the Humboldt River when she was a young girl. She had two brothers, one, died as an infant in 1871 at the ranch. On the ranch, she rode with the cowboys and the neighbors, broke colts, and learned the fine art of horseback riding. Always a lady, she mostly rode sidesaddle, not astride.
Jane married Howard Baker from the Snake Valley community in White Pine County, Nevada in May of 1890 at her parent’s ranch near North Fork, Nevada. They had two children, Charles Daniel Baker (1891-1954) and Esther Mary Baker (Peck) (1892-1977). Howard and Jane divorced when their children were very young. Charles and Esther lived with their mother in Elko County on the Alexander Ranch.
In 1906, Jane married James Riordan, (originally from the White River Valley in Nye County, Nevada), a widower with a toddler son named Dan, in Skelton, Nevada – now known as Jiggs, Nevada. They lived on the family ranch in Mound Valley, south of Elko.
As rodeos became popular in the West, Jane, a highly accomplished horsewoman, became interested in competitive rodeo events. She also broke colts for her parent’s ranch. On one occasion, she injured her shoulder with a colt falling on her. Jane entered G.S. Garcia’s 1912 Elko Rodeo, Pendleton Roundup, rodeos in California and throughout the West. Also in 1912, Jane rode in the National Riding Contest in Los Angeles, winning a rough stock event with her side saddle in spite of her only stirrup leather breaking during the ride. Jane also placed second in another competition against Lucky Baldwin’s daughter, Tillie. She then entered an outlaw horse event as the only female competitor. Jane, riding her sidesaddle and split skirt, drew great attention and admiration.
By the 1920s, the Riordan family settled on a ranch on Van Duzer Creek near Mountain City, Nevada in northern Elko County. She occasionally entered local and regional rodeos.
Tragically, Jim Riordan was killed in an auto accident in May of 1923. Jane stayed on the ranch until 1928 when she sold to Bert Jarvis and moved to Elko. She remained interested in rodeos and entered one in San Bernardino, California in 1929 when she was in her 60s. Most of the competitors – men and women were at least 25 years younger than her. Although she didn’t win, she held her own!
Eliza Jane Alexander Baker Riordan died in Elko in 1930 of the flu. She was 63. Survivors included her two children, Charles Baker and Esther Baker Peck and grandchildren.