Prescott Honors Captain Joe

Joseph Walker continued to keep a small cabin near Prescott, Arizona.  In 1864, he led Governor Goodwin and other officials on a tour of the Little Colorado River basin. He was 66 years old.

Walker returned to California and spent several months on his ranch, returning to Prescott to lead private explorations, visiting the country along the south rim of the Grand Canyon where he had been so curious 30 years before. 

At the 4th of July celebration in 1866, the new Governor McCormick said, "The real pioneer is seldom a man of words or seeker of notoriety...Walker is one of a few who has experience so rich and valuable and worthy of public presentation."

Walker left Arizona for good and returned to the family ranch in California in 1867. 

Picture of Captain Walker by Matthew Brady circa 1860...


Next time...The Victory Lap

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On This Day in History:  On January 28, 1855, the Panama Railway, which carried thousands of unruly miners to California via the dense jungles of Central America, dispatches its first train across the Isthmus of Panama.  (Nothing newsworthy happened on January 29th :)