W.H. Baker left Ithaca early 1887 and returned to Syracuse to work with his brother Dr. Ellis Baker at the Syracuse Forging Co., which soon became the Syracuse Forging & Gun Co. They manufactured a trigger-plate hammer gun designed by A.C. McFarland, Patent No. 370,966 called the "New Baker Gun". After the factory in Syracuse burned in the summer of 1888, they moved to Batavia and eventually the company became the Baker Gun & Forging Co.
The "New Baker" was offered in (very rare) higher grades
The 1897 is a sidelock hammergun
In the 1900 catalog the Model 1897 hammer gun with twist barrels $25 net; with Damascus barrels $27.80 net. I do not believe higher grades were offered, but Daryl might correct me
I also do not know when fluid steel barrels were offered on the 1897; possibly with the Batavia line in 1902
The last 1897 was made in 1915 or 1916, but may have still been in dealer's stock thereafter
"The Evolution of Baker Hammer Guns" by William M. Furnish and Daryl D. Hallquist is in
The Double Gun Journal, Volume Nine, Issue 2, pages 63 to 77, 1998.