The Victory Lap

In the summer of 1867, Captain Joseph Walker made his final trip, traveling through the Grand Canyon and La Paz, a river port on the Colorado.  He stopped for supplies and food for the mules,
paid for with what Walker's bad eyes thought was a silver dollar but later turned out he gave the Indian a $20 gold piece.  He went in search of the Indian and his change.  When he found him, he also discovered he knew him from the Apache days and the Indian returned the coin saying he would never cheat Captain Walker.  Quite a tribute to the man Captain Joseph Walker was. 


Even with his poor vision, his instincts never failed him.  From Colorado, Walker continued westward through the Mojave, following trails he no longer could see clearly but knew by instinct.  He arrived home for the last time in the fall of 1867. 

Next time...The Final Interview

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This Day in History:  Oh February 2. 1812, Russians establish Fort Ross on the coast north of San Francisco, staking a tenuous claim to the riches of the Far West.
 

Allied with the Indian Tribes

For a brief time before the settlers and soldiers arrived (12 years), the remaining mountain men lived well.  The elite group included Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, Crazy Bill Williams, William Bent and Joe Walker.  They were scattered over a huge unsettled area from the central plains and upper Missouri to the Sonoran Desert and the Sierras.  They had one thing in common - they each had a special relationship with one or two of the important Indian nations.  The only white who remained and did well were established good businessmen and bartered with the Indians for pelts.

Their tribes included:

Bent and Carson --- Cheyenne and Arapaho
Bridger --- Shoshoni
Beckworth --- Crow
Williams --- Ute
Walker --- Snake

Next time...a Special Exception