2 Routes - 2 Ways

In June of 1851, Captain Walker set off on an extended trip into an area that had fascinated him for30 years.  The area of the southern Great Basin and the Colorado Plateau - the last extensive tract of land largely unknown in the West.  Walker said his reason for going was to "find a more direct route between LA and Santa Fe."  He had spent many years as a young man in the area and something was calling him back.

There were only known routes as that time....the first route was "The Old Spanish Trail", that twisted trail through southern California, north to almost Utah Lake and then southwest again across California through the Mojave Desert.  The 2nd route "the Arizona Route" went from El Paso through Tuscan and Yuma.  The country between the 2 trails was seldom used by white men.

As Captain Walker crossed Walker Pass with 7 men including his nephew Jeems,  he found the interesting Moqui Indians (or Hopi as known to the white man). After visiting with the people, Walker and his men descended into the Mojave Desert, following the desert for more than 100 miles along a trail that Jedediah Smith had used 20 year earlier along the Virgin River.

They cut across the desert south of Death Valley and reached the Colorado "considerably worn out."  After resting they swam the horses across the Colorado River and continued east into Arizona, traveling between the Grand Canyon and the Mogollon River.

North of Flagstaff the rode through impressive conifer forests, the largest stand of Jeffrey pines on the continent.  Just outside the woods, they discovered a complex ancient ruins far more extensive and preserved than anything seen in New Mexico.  From the description left to us, it is believed that they were in the area of Sunset Crater, northwest of Flagstaff where a considerable number of Indians had been forced to abandon their homelands because of volcanic eruptions in 1000-1200 AD.  It is now a national park and of course Walker is probably the first white man to see the lava fields...he seems to be the first to see most of the frontier west!

Please note:  I have map pics and photos ready for this post but I am unable to upload images to the blog...I am working on a solution.  

Next time...Old Friends, New Friends.

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On this Day in History:  On December 11, 1872, Buffalo Bill Cody makes his first stage appearance on this day, in a Chicago-based production of The Scouts of the Prairie.