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following the West Wind
Life Story of Joseph R. Walker
"Knight of the
Golden Horseshoe"
Captain Joe Walker is what you get when you glue together a
true Western hero and a James Bond type
Like Cordell Walker the “Texas
Ranger”...who was know for his moral values and community service,
his ability to over coming odds with physical contact as a primary tool of
enforcement... cemented together with "Jim West' of “Wild Wild West”
the special agent on horseback who performed secret missions for the
President.
After the journey, Spotswood was believed to have given each officer
of the expedition a stickpin made of gold and shaped like a
horseshoe on which he had inscribed the words in Latin "Sic jurat
transcendere montes", which translates into English as "Thus
he swears to cross the mountains."
The horseshoes were encrusted with small stones and were small
enough to be worn from a watch chain. The members of Governor
Spotswood's expedition soon became popularly known as the
"Knights of the Golden Horseshoe."
The journalist of this expedition was an officer, Lieutenant John
Fontaine, of the British Army.
Germanna
Fort Germanna
This Blue Ridge Expedition was intended upon exploring and mapping
the West for settlement. By products included land acquisition for
farming, mining and quarrying. Spotswood was both aware that Germans
were coming to Virginia and their inherent ability to mine and forge
silver and Iron. This new land would become "Germanna" on the
Rapidan River in Spotsylvania.
It was from Fort
Germanna that the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe
left for their westward expedition in
1716. At the time Fort Germanna was the western most British
settlement in the New World. The fort, however, was not kept up once
Germanna became the home of Alexander Spotswood and it soon
disappeared, along with the rest of the site.
Spotswood took 12 German Rangers to protect his "Knights".
NOTE:
Of the original 1714 Colony at least 5
families were my ancestors
http://www.germanna.org/original_settlers
Richter, Fischbach, Heimbach, Haeger,
Friesenhagen;
Most were Steelsmith, Toolmakers, and
Hammersmiths.
In 1728 Goochland Shire was founded
less than 50 miles south of Fort Germanna. It was in this area along
the Tuckahoe Creek that Joseph R. Walker was born in 1798 and it was
also here he inherited the spirit of the "Phantom Trail." Joe Walker
was the son of Joseph Walker who had married Susan Willis in 1789.
Susan Willis was the grand-daughter of Robert R. Willis Sr. the
owner a plantation near that of William Randolph II. William
Randolph was the cousin of Jane Randolph who was the wife of Peter
Jefferson and mother of Thomas Jefferson. When William died in 1745,
he named Peter as family guardian. The Jefferson couple moved 48
miles from their Shadwell plantation into the Tuckahoe plantation
house with their two year old son, Thomas where they lived in until
1754. There can be very little doubt that the Willis clan were
not friends to the Randolph and Jefferson family, seeing that they lived
less than 5 miles apart.
the name Joe
Walker
In those days, was as familiar as are
now those leaders of
business and politics
He was truly the first "Captain America"
His dress
was a marvel of adaptation to his business, while it was rich and
simple. It was of dressed buckskin throughout. A loose fitting coat
and pants ornamented with needle-work in silk, trimmed with fur,
moccasins that showed all the skill that savage art could muster,
California leggings, fastened below the knee and ornamented with
threat work of silver and gold wire done by hand, in figures of
lilies and broad sombrero to keep off the sun. Mounted on a noble
looking roan horse, of Spanish blood, on a Mexican saddle, with
spurs whose rowels were six inches in diameter of polished steel
plated with gold at his heels, he was, with his rifle across his
saddle bow, as perfect a prince in bearing as I have ever seen. He
seemed born to rule the wild spirits around him without effort and
they at once acknowledged their leader without discontent or
controversy.
John
McBride 1846
His career was the most distinguished life of any frontiersman in
“American History”
From the "Californian" December 1881
By
James O'Meara
Biographical sketches
Of the
adventures and intrepid spirits who explore the vast wilderness and
broad deserts which now constitute the States and Territories of the
pacific and the whole region westward of the Missouri River, are
befitting subjects for presentation to the people who inhabit this
domain, and who therefore feel a deeper interest in its history; and
in time these biographies will constitute one of the most
interesting and not the least important, of the various departments
of the standard literature of the Republic: similarly as the lives
of De Leon, of De Soto, of Champlain, of John Smith and Roger
Williams, and of Daniel Boone and other early explorers and
adventures are required in connection with the discovery, origin and
settlement of the several divisions of the country lying eastward of
the Missouri.
And in contrast
with the myths and fables, the fiction and romance, and the
obscured, confused, and uncertain accounts and histories of the
origin and foundation of the nations of the old world, these
clear-cut, authentic and entirely trustworthy records of the new
world are singularly fascinating, instructive, and wholesome. The
world has been made conversant with the grand explorations of Lewis
and Clark to the Pacific shore of Oregon and their tracing of the
mighty Columbia and its chief tributaries…the Clearwater and Snake
Rivers; and similar adventures of Bonneville are perpetuated in the
charming narrative of Irving. But there are other explores and
pioneers of this vast western empire, yet to be honored by tributes
of enduring form, in manner commensurate with their exploits and
their merits; and these contributions may most appropriately come
from among the people whose fortunes have been happily directed
hitherward more or less directly through the adventure and toil, the
sagacity and self-sacrifice of these noble and intrepid pioneers who
first tracked the waste of wilderness and desert and supplied to
their countrymen the knowledge of the magnificent domain which is
now peopled by the most enterprising of their race and has before it
the promise of that still greater development which is so certain in
the course of time to be fulfilled in its ultimate grandeur and
glory; when the many States of the Pacific shall be densely
populated and shall outrank all others of the Union in the leading
elements of prosperity and wealth; and when San Francisco shall
become the unrivaled possessor of the rich and enormous traffic of
the Indies and China, together with that of the great island
continent and the many islands of the broad Pacific. In this spirit
of the performance of this grateful duty, within the measure of the
ability of the writer, this sketch of one conspicuous in his
lifetime among these early explorers and pioneers is presented.
Joseph R. Walker
discoverer of Walker’s Pass through the Sierra Nevada chain, leading
from the great basin into Tulare valley, was born in Knox County,
near Knoxville, Tennessee in the closing year of the last century.
His father had emigrated only the year before from Rockbridge County
Virginia and his new home in Tennessee was at the time barely an
outpost of civilization, with an old block house or fort for
protection of the few settlers from the Indians. At the age of
nineteen years (1818) Jo Walker, as he was commonly called, moved
with the family to Fort Osage, Jackson County, Missouri. His father
had died and his brother Joel Walker, two years his senior…who died
in Santa Rosa township, Sonoma County, about two years ago…and
himself were the main support of his widowed mother and sisters. In
1821, he made his first steamboat trip on the “Expedition”, the
first vessel of the kind that ever ascended the Missouri so far up
as Council Bluffs; and the event was so impressed and retained in
his memory that he could narrate the details of it down to the close
of his life. One circumstance of the trip was the unskilled manner
of loading the boat, by which she was made to draw only two feet of
water forward, while aft she drew six feet. But this great
difference in the draft enabled her to make landings at low banks
and shores with better facility than had she been on “even keel”, as
the boatman’s phrase is. Rafts and broad horns were then the ordinary
means of river navigation on the “Big Muddy” and the novelty of a
steamboat trip, in connection with the wonderfully increased speed
of from six to eight miles an hour…the best time for crack
steamboats of these waters in that early period of steam
navigation…had allured young Walker to the treat. He had early
developed a fondness for adventure and Mountain life and his home in
the sparsely settled regions of his nativity and in the still wilder
Missouri new territory had enabled him to cultivate the chief
requirements for that kind of life. In his 23 year (1821) he joined
a hunting and trapping expedition to the plains with the intention
of extending the perilous journey all the way to the Pacific coast,
as the accounts of the explorations of Lewis and Clark…each of whom
had settled in Missouri after their famous trip across the continent
to the Columbia River and the Pacific shore of Oregon and
subsequently became Governor of the Territory by presidential
appointment …had exited many to engage in similar expeditions. The
route proposed by the party led through New Mexico, at that time a
province of Mexico, secured to the new republic by the treaty of
Aquala, by which Spain had relinquished her dominions in that part
of the New World to her former subjects; and the Governor of the
province was ill disposed toward Americans, either as adventurers or
emigrants. He consequently forbade the expedition from encroaching
upon his domain; and as his orders were supplemented by an ample
military force, the unwilling expeditionists' had no other
alternative than to submit and the return to Missouri was
consequently agreed upon, after a brief imprisonment of the whole
party.
At that early
period, however, the sagacity and enterprise of some who were
engaged in trade in Missouri led them to attempt the opening of a
route that should enable then to possess the rich traffic of the
Mexican border; and as Santa Fe had already became the chief
trading-post for that extensive region, that was made the objective
point toward the accomplishment of the scheme.
The aid of
Congress was petitioned and in 1824 an appropriation was voted by
that body to survey a route from the Missouri border to that chief
Mexican trading rendezvous, the route to be marked by the throwing
up of small earth-mounds at suitable distances. Because of his
superior qualifications for the service , Jo Walker was engaged as
guide to the survey; and although the project was, in direct sense,
a failure it served nevertheless as the “breaking of the crust”, as
Walker himself characterized it, for the subsequent use and benefit
of the caravans or trains which annually conveyed the merchandise
and established the lucrative traffic that so long made synonymous
the term of “Santa Fe trader” and the acquisition of large fortune;
and secured to Missouri the immense profits and great advantages of
that golden gateway to the wild territory of the distance West, in
which has ever since directed its fearless energies to the
exploration and settlement of the vast region on this side of the
continent, then almost unknown wilderness and waste so far as the
white race was concerned.
So well had
Walker acquitted himself in the survey employment that on his return
to his home he was elected sheriff of Jackson County and in that
capacity he developed his foresight as a true pioneer by his
selection of a site for the county seat. He named it Independence,
characteristic alike of his sterling patriotism and his own free
nature and by that name the town is still known. It was long famous
as the point of departures for trains and emigrations bound for New
Mexico, Utah, California and Oregon, as well as for its having been
the chief trading and military post of the far western frontier. His
first term of two years having expired, Walker was honored by
re-election and again creditably served the duration of the term.
Upon retiring from office Walker returned to his more congenial mode
of life; and in the pursuit of his love of adventure, loined also
the occupation of trader of live stock. He made long journeys from
Independence into Arkansas and contiguous territory and Fort Gibson
was one of his points of traffic. At Fort Osage in Missouri early in
1832, while on one of these trips he fell in with Captain B. L. M.
Bonneville of the Seventh Regiment Infantry, U.S.A. then under leave
of absence from Alexander Macomb, Major General, commanding the army
to enable him to explorer the country to the Rocky Mountains and
beyond and whose remarkable adventure, while on that exploration,
the genius of Washington Irving has so felicitously recorded in his
enchanting works. The casual meeting led to the enlistment of Walker
as “sub-leader” or lieutenant in Bonneville’s expedition and he is
thus sketched by Irving:
“J.R. Walker was
a native of Tennessee, about six feet high, strong built, dark
complexioned, brave in spirit, though wild in manners. He had been
for many years in Missouri on the frontier; had been among the
earliest adventurers to Santa Fe, where he had gone to track beaver
and was taken by the Spaniards. Being liberated, he engaged with the
Spaniards and Sioux Indians in War against the Pawnees; then
returned to Missouri and had acted by turns as sheriff, trader,
trapper until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain Bonneville.”
At the same time
was enlisted M.S. Cerre an experienced Indian trader and who had
also been upon an expedition to Santa Fe. He too was engaged as a
fellow-leader with Walker. Bonneville’s party left Fort Osage May
1st, 1832, one hundred and ten men strong, the greater portion of
whom were skilled hunters and trappers inured to mountain life and
experienced in fighting Indians. Captain Bonneville departed from
the accustomed mode of using only animals for pack-trains and
outfitted also with wagons. The American Fur Company and the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company were at that time competitors and rivals in the
valuable traffic in furs and peltry through the wild regions of the
west and with the employees of these companies Walker and Cerre were
well acquired, as the two were likewise with the wilderness in which
they mainly pursued their exciting, hardy and oftentimes perilous
vocation.
During the
following October, the Bonneville expedition reached the country of
the warlike Blackfeet Indians and from there Walker with a band of
twenty hunters was dispatched to range the region beyond the Horse
Prairie. At one of their camping places, while quietly enjoying
their rest after a day of hard travel and a hearty supper of the
game they had killed…some sitting about the camp-fire, recounting
their adventure, others giving attention to their rifles and
accouterments and Walker and a few more beguiling the hours at a
game of “Old Sledge” (seven-up)…they were suddenly surprised by the
war whoop of a party of Indians and had barely time to prepare for
the instant onset of the savages, who shot into the camp a shower of
arrows and had already seized upon the horses and pack mules to run
them off. Quick work with their handy rifles and the determined
courage of the surprised band, in a little while turned the attack
into flight and the Indians were at last glad enough to make their
escape from the deadly encounter without the animals they so much
coveted. Walker’s coolness and intrepidity in the sudden hot dash
and his sagacity in directing the hurried plan of defense into
mastery of the situation served himself and his comrades from
slaughter and enabled them to get away from the scene in good
condition, without serious wound or lose; but he was afterwards more
prone to adopt the very safe course from any repetition of the
hazardous incident and he evermore hated “old-sledge.”
By his consummate
skill in leadership and his equanimity and daring in moments of
greatest difficulty and danger, as well as by his uncommon aptitude
in mountain life and woodcraft, Walker became the most trusted and
favorite among all in the expedition in the estimation of his chief;
and hence when the party reached the confines of what of what is now
Utah Territory, to him Captain Bonneville committed the charge of
the subdivision to find and explore the Great Salt Lake of which
Bonneville had heard and was most anxious to gain accurate
information from a trustworthy source. More than a year had now
elapsed since the expedition had left Fort Osage and Bonneville had
resolved to continue his explorations to the Columbia and trace that
mighty river of the north-west to its mouth and discharge into the
vast Pacific.
“This momentous
undertaking,” as Captain Bonneville himself termed the exploration
of the route and the survey of the Great Salt Lake, now in-trusted
to Walker, resulted disastrously through circumstances against which
it was impossible for him to successfully contend. With his forty
men he had left the main body at Green River valley late in July and
pushed westward toward their allotted destination, to be met and
joined by Bonneville the ensuing spring or summer. It was an
unexplored country through which they were to force their way and
meantime they were to trap for furs and hunt for their own
subsistence. Along the Bear River and the head waters of the Cassie
they hunted and trapped, gathered furs and laid in a store of
buffalo meat and venison. Away southward they could see from their
greater altitude, the shining surface of the Great Salt Lake they
were to reach and report upon. But they could not find or trace any
stream which led to it or was tributary. Beyond and surrounding it
were deserts and utter sterility. Any who have in these times
traveled overland by railroad or otherwise through the Weber canon
and become acquainted with the impracticability of surmounting the
Wahsatch range or suffer the fatigues of the desert which stretches
from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to that range will readily
understand why Walker’s party, in that primitive period of the
exploration of that inhospitable, barren and then unknown region,
were unable to accomplish their desperate and perilous mission. They
were beset by hostile Indians nearly every day; and while upon the
desert they endured sufferings which can be adequately imagined only
by the emigrants and others who have since similarly
suffered…frequent attacks by hostile Indians, hunger, thirst and the
difficulty of subsisting their animals or themselves. They were
compelled at last to abandon the mission on which they were bent, to
save themselves from perishing on the desert and to strike for the
mountain ridges to the northward. They reached Mary’s River and
there the Shoshones troubled them, pilfering their traps and game by
day and endangering their camps as they slept. The killing of one of
these thieving Indians caused such hostile conduct on the part of
his tribe, that the party were forced to leave that region and push
their way across the mountains into California.
The Great Salt
Lake expedition was a woeful failure; but on that terrible journey
into California, Walker traced the Humboldt to the sink of the
river, discovered Carson Lake and also the lake and river which
still bear his name, viewed Mono Lake from a distance and crossed
the Sierra chain not far from the head-waters of the Merced into the
valley of the San Joaquin. On the night of the extraordinary
spectacle in the heavens of the “shooting stars” November 12th, 1833
Walker and his party camped on the banks of the Tuolumne River and
he was roused from his sleep in the dark of early morning by the
comrade who shared his blankets, to look at what the terrified
trapper exclaimed was the “damnedest shooting-match that ever was
seen”. From the San Joaquin Valley he crossed the coast range to
Monterey and there wintered, much to the demoralization of his men.
Early in the spring of 1834 he started to rejoin Bonneville at the
appointed rendezvous on Bear River and there found his chief in
quite destitute condition, from his long journey to the Pacific
shore of Oregon and his exploration of the Columbia and Snake River
and sadly disappointed at the failure of his next darling project,
that upon which Walker had been sent. It was arranged that Walker
and Cerre should proceed on the homeward journey to Missouri, to
superintend the conveyance of the furs to St. Louis; and there ended
Walker’s connection with the Bonneville expedition.
After his return
to Missouri Captain Walker, as he then became known, was quickly
employed by the American Fur Company and during the ensuing four
years he remained employed. These were four years of arduous toil,
frequent privations, desperate encounters with hostile Indians,
besides many hazardous adventures and bare escapes from death. He
then determined to pursue his favorite mode of life on his own
account, untrammeled by contract obligations and unrestrained in his
patty of duty or pleasure. The companion and congenial fellow of the
most noted trappers and mountain men…the Sublettes, Bridger, Smith,
Hensley, Fitzpatrick, Williams, Carson, and others of similar skill
and worth…he employed his years in hunting, trapping, exploring and
pioneering thence onward down to within a few years of his death and
became conspicuous among the few who volunteered their services on
many occasions in guiding and escorting into California and Oregon
the weary and perplexed and destitute emigrants who came over the
plains to found new homes upon this coast. Hundreds of families, of
whom the heads are still living, or whose sons and daughters are now
themselves advanced in life with families of their own about them,
throughout these Pacific States and Territories owe their easier and
safer journey hither to his generous and prudent conduct. He not
only guided or directed them to the most feasible and least
dangerous routes and through mountain passes, but he furthermore, in
many instances, accompanied and gave them his protection and
substantial aid into spots favored of Providence in soil and
surroundings; for he was acquainted with almost every trail and
pass, conversant with Indian life and its dangers and knew the most
eligible portions of the country for settlement and homes.
It was not until
1850 that Jo Walker discovered the pass through the Sierra Nevada
Mountains which leads into Tulare valley, although others attribute
the discovery to Jedediah S. Smith as far back as 1825 while
trapping in the service of the fur company of which General Ashley
was the chief in command in the mountains; and others still ascribe
it to Ogden, the American in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company,
who is said to have found it in 1827; or to Ewing Young of
Tennessee, a pioneer of Oregon who died in 1841; or again to William
Wolfskill, an early pioneer of California, who passed through it on
his way farther westward from an exploration of the Wahsatch
Mountains at a subsequent period. It is clear at all events that
whom-so-ever discovered the pass, it was never utilized to the
purposes of emigration and travel until it was made generally known
by Captain Walker in 1850 when he pushed through it after his
explorations in the country of the Moqui Indians supposed to be a
remnant of the ancient Aztecs in which he saw the ruins of old and
massive habitations, pyramids, castles, pottery, etc. which gave
evidence of a very remote and advanced civilization. These ruins he
found between the Gila and San Juan rivers. They are believed to
mark the site of the greatest city of Grand Quivera or Pecos, the
most populous and grandest of that race now long extinct. Walker
found his way through the Pass from the Mohave Desert into Tulare
valley. It was ten miles from plain to plain and on his way he
traveled along the head-waters of Kern River. General Beale
afterwards traveled along the same region going eastward by the
southern route.
It was in 1844
that Captain Walker resolved to make his home in California, here in
the territory where so many of his old and beloved comrades had
fixed their abode. That year he left for the States with a band of
horses and mules, with a party of eight men to accompany him.
Colonel John C. Fremont was then in advance of him on his return to
the East after his second expedition to this coast. In his journal
of that adventure, under date of May 14th, Fremont says: “We had
today the gratification of being joined by the famous hunter and
trapper Mr. Joseph Walker (the “Mr.” would have roused the ire {a
feeling of deep anger or fury} of the plain and modest old
mountaineer) whom I have before mentioned, who became our second
guide. Nothing but his great knowledge of the country, great courage
and presence of mind and good rifles could have brought him safe
from such a perilous enterprise; i.e. the journey he had made before
he overtook Fremont. Captain Jo Walker’s very modest account of the
“perilous enterprise” was to the contrary effect…that he never felt
that himself or his little party were in the slightest peril, for he
and they were well mounted, well armed and amply prepared for the
long journey overland by themselves, without fear or thought of
molestation from either the hostile Indians or perils of other sort.
And his idea of the quality, if not of the want of the much vaunted
courage of the “Path-finder” and of his skill as a “mountain man”
was not at all to the credit of that gold-medaled hero of his own
exploits whose memorable trip over the coast range from the valley
to Santa Barbara forever dispelled the humorous fancy of those who
indulge it, that mules never famish or die.
After having
guided and accompanied Fremont to Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas River,
Walker continued his journey into Missouri in his own way. But the
following summer, at Fremont’s solicitation, he again engaged with
him in the trip westward to California and his services were once
more invaluable to that distinguished adventurer.
The gold
discovery in California had no charm for Captain Jo Walker, although
he valued money in his own provident and unselfish, un-avaricious
way, he was neither its slave nor its worshiper. To accumulate and
hoard it when about him or known to him were any whose circumstances
or necessities caused them trouble or privation, was averse to his
great and generous nature. He was not wantonly prodigal with gold;
but he was never so fond of it as to make its acquisition the aim or
end of his lifetime pursuit. It was to him mainly the medium through
which to comfortably provide for his own simple wants and to supply
the necessities or relieve the suffering of his friends and the
unfortunate whom he encountered mostly to cheer or assist. His
temperament and mode of life prompted and confirmed in him
moderation in requirements and habits. He was a democratic
republican, of the ancient, pure and simple stamp in principle and
action, without the dress of the politician or guile of the partisan
in his nature and behavior. General Jackson was his grandest of
mortal heroes blessed with immortal name and he remained always
affectionately disposed to his native Tennessee and to the “Old
Missouri” of his early manhood. He was alike temperate and frugal in
his mode of life.
His was a figure
in any group of men even in his ripe age, as the writer of this
tribute saw him in 1855, when he was prevailed upon to recount some
of the eventful deeds and scenes of his active life for publication
in the San Francisco “Herald”, which were graphically and gracefully
prepared for the press by Mr. A. J. Moulder at the time the
assistant editor; and in later years, so late as 1876, when again he
was persuaded to communicate to Mr. R.A. Thompson, then associate
editor of the Sonoma “Democrat”…now county clerk at Santa Rose…a
more extended account of his reminiscences of mountaineering and
Indian fighting. His stature given by Irving and copied in this
sketch and his form was of massive mold of strength and endurance as
well as for activity. He bore himself always as a man conscious
alike of his own rights and proper dignity; nor was he unmindful of
the rights and conditions of others. He had the mettle of a hero,
the simplicity of a child.
Captain Walker
ceased from his accustomed toils and fatigues about ten years before
his death and made his home in peaceful contentment with his nephew,
James T. Walker, in Ygnacio valley, Contra Costa County from which
he occasionally paid visits to his elder brother, Joel in Santa Rosa
and to prize friends in other parts of the state. But he was
happiest in the quiet of that fond home and there he died, October
28th 1876. His mortal remains repose in Alhambra cemetery in Contra
Costa. He lived to the green old age of seventy-six years. The soil
of California has given final rest and sepulture to few more
deserving of the respect and remembrance or homage of her citizens,
for the measure of good works nobly performed from unselfish motives
and in self-sacrificing, generous spirit. Among the roll of her
honored pioneers, his name will cherished; and the record of his
life and of his beneficent services during his eventful career, as a
worthy representative of the noble band with whom he maintained
devoted fellowship, will be inseparably connected with the complete
history of this State, to whose growth and greatness he and they so
materially contributed in the period of its earliest occupation by
Americans and its subsequent marvelous development toward highest
prosperity.
James O’Meara
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Obituary of Capt. Joseph R. Walker
An old Mountaineer and Pioneer
Capt. Jos. R. Walker, died at the residence of his nephew, Jas T.
Walker, in Ygnacio Valley, in Contra Costa county, on Friday,
October 27th, 1876.
Capt. Walker was a noted man on the frontier forty years ago, and
was probably the most distinguished of all the mountaineers who have
become famous for their western explorations. In his sphere he was
surely a great captain and was regarded by all his compeers as
possessing in a remarkable degree those rare qualifications of
judgment, courage, energy, and power of will so necessary in the
make up of a successful leader among the hardy mountaineers and
frontiersmen. In his day all of his class looked up to him as the
captain.
Whilst our informant was in Contra Costa county, last summer, he
pitched his camp on the lands of Jas. T. Walker and visited that
gentleman’s house several times, not only to partake of his
hospitality, but to get from his uncle information necessary to
compose a sketch of his life. In the latter however, he was
disappointed, as the old chief was too feeble to talk much, and his
mind only flashed out when touched upon matters of unusual interest.
But as much as he was able to collect we shall give to our readers.
Joseph R. Walker was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1798 whence
his father moved to Bedford (Roane) county in the same State in 1801.
At an early age the subject of our sketch moved to Louisiana, where
he lived several years and afterwards went to Alabama. But when
still a boy he went to Missouri and commenced his career as a
traveler. In the year 1832 he determined to make a visit to
California. The best maps he could procure of the country,
represented a river flowing from the great Salt Lake to our Pacific
Coast. He determined to follow this route and accordingly in the
early Spring set out at the head of thirty bold and experienced
trappers, well mounted and with an excellent outfit for the trip.
Arriving at Salt Jake he made its circuit, but was disappointed in
finding the river. Nothing daunted he struck out toward the west
with a fixed intention of finding the country they were seeking, and
in October, they reached the Sierra Nevadas which he undertook to
scale.
His
first attempt to descend to the west was near the headwaters of the
Tuolumne, which he found impossible but working a little to the
South west he struck the waters of the Merced and got into the
Valley of the San Joaquin. His was the
first white man’s eyes that ever looked upon the Yosemite, which
he then discovered, although the honor has been given to some other
person at a period twenty years later. His party encamped in San
Joaquin Valley, recruiting and trapping until Spring.
Meantime Capt. Walker, accompanied by a few of his men, explored the
principal valleys of this State, and made himself thoroughly
acquainted with their topography and capabilities.
In
the Spring of 1833, he moved to the South along the foothills of the
Sierra Nevadas, looking for a pass to the east. His skill in judging
the lay of the country at a distance, has been described, by an old
and experienced mountaineer as something so marvelous as to be
nearly akin to magic. He would look at a group of mountains forty of
fifty miles away, and which he had never seen before, and tell in an
instant whether they possessed timber, water and pasturage, and what
was the best approach to them---where were the natural water, ways
and barriers. Guided by this unfailing judgment, he passed to the
Southwest until he came to what he considered the only true path
through the Sierras and which is situated in about 35 ½ degrees
north latitude and which now bears his name---Walkers Pass. This
pass he considered the only true outlet from California to the East.
On his return to the east, he kept nearly on the thirty-fifth
parallel and he found the country east of Colorado (river), fertile
and with a climate unequaled in the world for salubrity. This is the
line par excellence for a railroad.
In
succeeding years he continued to make excursions both to the north
and south; exploring the Cascades and going down the Colorado and up
the Gila Rivers.
Capt. Walker being the most noted traveler in the unknown West,
Fremont engaged him as a guide in his first expedition; but as the
path finder presumed in the outset to know more than the man who had
traversed the country until he was as familiar with it as he ever
had been with his father’s farm, the old mountaineer threw up the
job and recommended his pupil Kit Carson for the place. When spoken
to of Fremont he seemed to recover again some of the fires of energy
and youth.
Said he:
“Fremont morally and physically, was the most complete coward I
ever knew, and if it were not casting an unmerited reproach on the
sex, I would say that he was more timid than a woman. He an
explorer! I knew more of the unexplored region fifteen years before
he set foot on it, than he does to-day. They tell me that Stonewall
Jackson whipped him in a battle and it was no credit to Jackson, for
and old Squaw could whip Fremont.”
He
spoke kindly of Carson and others who became noted as travelers and
mountaineers, pointing out their strong and weak parts. On inquiring
concerning his experience with the Sioux Indians, and what he
thought of them. He said:
“They are numerous, and in numbers only are they formidable, for I
always considered them as inferior to many other tribes, man to man.
They will fight, but still they are not feared by men who understand
Indian fighting, if the numbers are anything like equal. I have
fought better Indians than the Sioux, with the odds five to one
against me, and still I wear my hair. I do not say this to boast,
but merely state it, by way of illustrating the differences between
Indians and white men, when the white men are the right kind.
Soldiers are well enough to mount guard, and make a show at dress
parade, but are poor things when Indians are to be fought.”
In
1859, Capt. Walker acted as guide to the troops sent up the Colorado
from Fort Yuma to chastise the Indians. The old man had been down
the Colorado on an occasion twenty or more years prior to his
guiding the troops along its banks in 1859, and although he had made
an accurate map each morning of the country to be marched over
during the day, showing where the mountains approached the river,
and where the valley widened; where sloughs or tributaries made in;
marking the halting places for the night, and giving a description
of its appearance and extent. Futhermore he would say: “There is
grass and wood in those mountains off there, with water flowing to
the northward” or which ever way it went. It was the recollection of
these stories listened to seventeen years ago, that made our
informant so anxious last Summer to get facts enough to write a
sketch of the great pioneer; but he was found to feeble.
For
some years prior to his death he had been living with his nephew,
who cared for him tenderly, until the summons to depart came. May
his sleep of death be peaceful, and the great awakening find him in
the land of celestial beauty, “Where the wicked cease from troubling
and the weary are at rest.”
His
memory will remain sacred in the hearts of the pioneers that survive
him, and they will never tire of recalling the recollections of his
many exploits.
San Jose California, Saturday, September 1, 1877
Captain Joe Walker
is buried in the Alhambra Pioneer Cemetery near Martinez, CA. The
peaceful, oak-studded, cemetery overlooks the Bay of Suisun just
inside the Straight of Carquinez, near the confluence of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers.
Author: W. A. Slocum & Co., Publishers
(1882)
CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER, (deceased).—Standing in the pretty little
Alhambra cemetery, at Martinez, is a plain, unpretentious marble
headstone, bearing the following inscription: "Captain Joseph R.
Walker, born in Roane county, Tennessee, December 13, 1798.
Emigrated to Missouri in 1819, to New Mexico in 1820, to Rocky
Mountains in 1832, to California in 1833. Camped at Yosemite
November, 13, 1833. Died October 27, 1876, AE. seventy-seven years,
ten months and fourteen days."
What a wealth of reminiscence there is in these few
simple statements—what a life of energy, toil and adventure, do they
speak. It would appear, however, to be doubtful if Tennessee has the
honor of claiming this worthy old pioneer among pioneers. We are
informed by no less an authority than his nephew, with whom the aged
veteran passed his declining years, that the Captain was actually
born in Virginia, but he was taken to Tennessee at a very early age,
whither his parents had emigrated. In 1819, he moved to and was a
resident of Jackson county, Missouri, and took part in the planting
in that State of the arts and sciences, which have done so much
towards making the name of the United States respected in every part
of the habitable world. In the year 1820, Captain Walker made his
first trip on the plains, going with a party to New Mexico on a
trapping and trading expedition, having the ultimate idea of
crossing to the Pacific coast, but when they had reached as far as
Prescott lake, troops were dispatched by the Governor of New Mexico
to order their return. He therefore retired to the settlements, and,
until the year 1832, maintained a residence in Jackson county, and
carried on the business of trapper and trader, his principal ground
being in Arkansas and Texas. On a trip from Independence to Fort
Gibson, Arkansas, for cattle, our subject first met the redoubtable
Captain Bonneville, then stationed there, who told Walker of his
proposed expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and wished him to join
it as apartner; he had not money enough, however, therefore was
engaged as one of the captains of the two hundred and forty men,
which comprised the company when rendezvoused at Fort Osage in 1832.
In his adventures of Captain Bonneville, the greatest of American
writers, Washington Irving, thus describes Captain Walker: "He was
about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in
spirit, though mild in manners. He had resided in Missouri for many
years, on the frontier; had been among the earliest adventurers to
Santa Fe, where he went to trap beaver, and was taken by the
Spaniards. He returned to Missouri, and had acted, by turns, as
sheriff, trader and trapper, until he was selected as a leader by
Captain Bonneville." Captain Walker remained with Bonneville until
the Spring of 1833, when he left the expedition in the Rocky
Mountains, and determined to visit California. The best maps he
could procure of the country represented a river flowing from the
Great Salt lake to the Pacific coast. He made up his mind to follow
this route, and accordingly, in the early Spring, set out at the
head of thirty bold and experienced trappers, well mounted and
accoutred. Arriving at Salt Lake he made its circuit, to be
disappointed in finding the river; but nothing daunted, he struck
out west, and in October reached the Sierra Nevada, which he
undertook to scale. His first attempt to descend to the west was
near the headwaters of the Tuolumne, which he found impassable, but
working a little farther to the southward, he struck the waters of
the Merced, and got into the valley of the San Joaquin. His was the
first white man's eyes that that ever looked upon the Yosemite,
which he then discovered, although the honor has been accorded to
some other person at a period twenty years later. His party encamped
in the San Joaquin valley, recruiting and trapping until Spring.
Meanwhile Captain Walker, accompanied by a few men, explored the
principal valleys in the State, and made himself thoroughly
acquainted with their topography and capabilities. In the Spring of
1833, he moved to the southward along the foothills of the Sierra
Nevada, looking for a pass to the east. His skill in judging the lay
of the country at a distance has been described by old and
experienced mountaineers as something so marvelous as to be nearly
akin to magic. He would look at a chain of mountains forty or fifty
miles away, which he had never seen before, and tell in an instant
whether they possessed timber, water or pasturage, and what was the
best approach to them—where were the natural water-ways and
barriers. Guided by this unerring instinct, he passed to the
southward until he came to what he considered the only true pass
through the Sierras, and which is situated in about thirty-five and
a half degrees of North Latitude, and bears his name; Walker's Pass
he considered the true outlet from California to the East. On his
return to the East, he kept nearly on the thirty-fifth parallel, and
found the country east of the Colorado fertile, and a climate
unequalled in the world for salubrity. Thus he continued for the
next decade of years, trapping and trading, or, as his nephew
expresses it, "coming and going."
In 1843, our subject was in the vicinity of Fort Hall. While there,
Captain J. B. Chiles arrived with the family of that venerable
pioneer, George Yount, of Napa, Julius Martin and wife, now of
Gilroy, Santa Clara county, and Frank McClellan, of Pacheco, Contra
Costa county. A Miss Ayres afterwards joined the party. Being afraid
that they would not be able to get over the mountains before the
Winter, Captain Walker agreed to pilot the party into California.
Captain Chiles was sent on in advance, and was to return to meet
them at or near Walker's lake with supplies. After recruiting the
animals, Captain Walker started with his party for California by way
of Walker's lake, the route he had formerly traveled. He missed Mr.
Chiles, and the party were in severe straits for provisions. They
got fish from the Indians on Walker's river, trading horse-shoe
nails (which the Indians used for awls) for them. Beyond Walker's
lake they abandoned the wagons, as Winter was closing in upon them;
they therefore cached their goods, killed their cattle for
provisions, and after terrible suffering got across the mountains
into Tulare valley, at some point now in Kern county. The chief
dependence of this party of helpless women for food was on the rifle
of Captain Walker, and his woodcraft to pilot them over the wild
waste of desert plains and lofty mountains which intervened between
them and the settlements. His courage and energy were equal to the
task. The captain was wont to describe with great spirit the feast
the party had on a fat mustang pony, the first thing he killed after
getting into Tulare valley. In
1846, war having been declared between the United States and Mexico,
Captain Walker drove a band of mules into New Mexico, which he
disposed of to the Government, and afterwards bought the same
species of animals from the Mohave Indians for a like purpose. In
the Spring of 1847, he returned to Jackson county, Missouri, where
he sojourned until 1849, in the Spring of which year he arrived once
more in California. During that Summer he traded in the mines,
driving stock thither and selling them. He continued until 1851 on a
ranch he had acquired near Gilroy, in which year he organized a
company of nine persons to proceed to New Mexico and Arizona. In
June, 1851, however, the party broke up and scattered, the captain
remaining behind until the month of March in the following year. He
then took up a ranch for a year or two near his old friend, Julius
Martin, at Gilroy, and subsequently, in 1854-55, organized a company
which proceeded on a prospecting tour in the Bodie and Esmeralda
districts. In
1857, he turned towards Arizona, but one of his men, named Lyons,
being wounded in a fracas by the Mohave Indians (he died afterwards
in Los Angeles), the captain returned to California. In 1859, he
acted as guide to the troops sent up the Colorado from Fort Yuma to
chastise the Indians. On May 9, 1861, he left on a prospecting tour
in Arizona, New Mexico besides other places in that locality, while
in the following year he arrived at the place where now the town of
Prescott, Arizona, is located, and discovered the rich mines in that
vicinity. The year 1864 saw him back in California, but to return
before the close of the year, to remain until 1867, when he came to
reside with his nephew, James T. Walker, at his home in the
beautiful Ygnacio valley, where he died peacefully, October 27,
1876. Several attempts in later years were made to get a sketch of
the life of the great pioneer, but old age had laid his heavy hand
upon him; he was too feeble to talk much, and when he did talk his
enunciation was labored and difficult. Of his wonderful memory and
also peculiar talent of judging a country at sight, we may mention
the following: He had been down the Colorado on an occasion twenty
or more years prior to his guiding the troops along its banks in
1859, and had then come down the river, but had never been up it;
nevertheless he would make an accurate map each morning of the
country to be marched over during the day, showing where the
mountains approached the river, and where the valley widened, where
sloughs or tributaries made in marking the halting-place for the
night, and giving a description of its appearance and extent.
Furthermore, he would say, "There is grass and wood in those
mountains off there, with water flowing to the northward," or
whichever way it went. The veteran captain was a quiet,
unpretending-man. He scorned to boast of his achievements as a
pioneer, though a better and more deserving man than many who have
had their fame and deeds trumpeted to the world. He died, as he
lived, an honest, upright man—one of Nature's noblemen.
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