First Across the Sierra Nevada 



165 



FIRST ACROSS THE SIERRA NEVADA 



By Willis Linn Jepson 



In the year 1832 Captain B. L. E. Bonneville of the United 

 States Army secured leave of absence from the War Depart- 

 ment for the purpose of conducting on his own account an 

 exploring and trapping expedition in the Rocky Mountains. 

 As lieutenant in charge of a portion of his command was 

 Joseph Walker, who had already ^ichieved fame as a frontiers- 

 man. The expedition wintered in the Rocky Mountains on 

 Green River, and the next year half of the party under Bonne- 

 ville made an exploring trip northward. The other half under 

 Walker was, according to Bonneville's account,^ sent to ex- 

 plore the country on the western side of the Great Salt Lake. 

 At the time, however, of organizing the Walker party at the 

 rendezvous, it was well known, as it now seems to us, that the 

 objective point of the party would probably be California, if, 

 indeed, that decision had not definitely been reached.^ 



The country to the west of Great Salt Lake had never been 

 traversed by white men. It was a terrifying and unknown 

 region, a vast desert waste where men might easily perish in a 

 short time for lack of water, where afterwards thousands did 

 so perish. Scarcely anything was known of it in any respect. 

 Men who had penetrated as far as the Rocky Mountains, trap- 

 pers and explorers, merely knew that it was poorly watered 

 and of great extent, that somewhere to the westward of it was 

 the Pacific Ocean, and that along the shores of the Pacific lay 

 a narrow strip called California, concerning which there were 

 wonderful stories narrated at the campfires of the trappers. 



* Washington Irving, "The Rocky Mountains," Vol. I, p. 210; Vol. II, chs. 13 

 and 14. (Philadelphia, 1837.) The second edition was entitled, "The Adventures 

 of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West." 

 (New York, 1849.) See the accompanying map. 



' Joseph Nidever joined the Walker party at Green River for the express purpose 

 of coming to California. Had there been any doubt on this matter he would obvi- 

 ously, as Bancroft points out, have mentioned the fact in his journal. Nidever 

 says: "In the spring there was a large number of trappers gathered at the ren- 

 dezvous in Green River Valley, and among them Captain Walker and company, 

 bound for California. We joined him, making in all thirty-six." (See Nidever, 

 "Life and Adventures," MS., p. 58, Bancroft Collection.) 



