Goodbye Rockies!

While all this was going on with Fremont and his "survey expedition", Captain Walker was once again busy buying and selling horses, furs, and leading wagons to the West.  In fact, it is reported that he passed the Donner Party, warning them that the route they were on was too dangerous and even directing them to use the Walker Pass route...Of course we know the party paid no attention to Captain Walker, resented his advice and called him a "Missouri puke".  They went on their way where 48 of them perished by starving or freezing.  Experienced trailblazers and guide vs.  greenhorn settlers...


It was during that year 1847,  that it is believed Walker's wife, children and family were killed or possibly contracted cholera which was sweeping through the tribes, decimating them.  In one year, half of the Cheyene died in 2 weeks alone. 

Joe Walker was almost 50 years old when he went home to Missouri briefly, but the people were just too "mean to stay" says Joe.
He  left Missouri for good on September 2, 1847.  On his way back to California he stayed in the mountains a bit longer than normal, stopping at Fort Nonesense which was now in ruins.  He met up with an old trail guide, Joe Chiles, who was leading his last group of settlers to California.  This was the last time anyone saw Captain Walker in the central Rockies after spending 20 years in those mountains.  The pleasure of the country had gone for Joe, so alone he returned to California where he spent the rest of his life.

Next Time: 2 Bad Apples...

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This Day in History:  On November 25, 1876,  U.S. troops under the leadership of General Ranald Mackenzie destroy the village of Cheyenne living with Chief Dull Knife on the headwaters of the Powder River. The attack was in retaliation against some of the Indians who had participated in the massacre of Custer and his men at Little Bighorn

We'll Find a Better Way

Joe Walker intended to find a new and better way through the Sierras.  At this point six of his men decided to remain in California.   George Nidever was a talented cabinet maker and later moved to the coast and became a prosperous sea otter hunter.  Walker had no hard feelings for the men who stayed - the whole journey had been voluntary. 

In February 1834, the party of now 52 men left San Juan Bautisa with 315 horses, 47 head of cattle, 30 dogs and traveled parallel to the Sierras, looking for information on any pass through the mountains.  At what is now present day Bakersfield, they turned east up the Kern River and came to a Tubatulabel Indian Village where they learned of a pass and were offered guides to take them. 

Walker was the first white man to travel through Walker Pass - one mile above sea level but far enough south to be snow free in early winter.  In 10 years this would be an important gateway for the settlers. 

Next time...Searching the Sierras