Joseph's older brother Joel had one sentence to describe the year 1820 - "Went to Texas didn't like it, returned to Osage in 1821." On Joe's tombstone is one single line..."To New Mexico 1820."The Walker boys' intent was to go to New Mexico first and then on to California which would have been a very ambitious plan at that time since no Americans were known to have traveled overland to California - the distance, directions and danger were well-known rumors.
It is important to remember that at this time, New Mexico included present day Texas, Sonora, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah and Arizona. Not the state of New Mexico we know now. The streams were untapped and rich in beaver (beaver hats were a fashion at that time) and trade prospects were good. So it is no wonder that Americans were extremely interested in the commercial prospects of the region.
The nearest communities were 800 miles away from the manufactured goods of Missouri and the American interest in the silver mines came up against the Spanish attitude of no free trade with the United States. To them consumer shortages were preferable to the United States trading furs out of their region...Into that climate the Walkers arrived.
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