Sierra Club Bulletin 



fornia has now become a highly praiseworthy undertaking; 

 Bonneville cheerfully takes to himself all the credit for it and 

 does not mention Walker at all ! 



Joseph Walker was a product of those times and conditions 

 of the western country which gave us a group of frontiersmen 

 of very exceptional character. General Christopher ("Kit") 

 Carson, William Sublette, James Bridger and many others 

 were celebrated names, contemporaries of Walker. In one re- 

 spect Walker was the superior of all frontiersmen of his time, 

 namely, in his extraordinary powers of judging country from 

 a distance. This is a quality that is obviously of great im- 

 portance to the explorer. It was with Walker a special talent 

 to view a region at a long distance, determine the best route 

 across it, its general and special topography with reference to 

 mountain passes, gradients and stream flow, and its capacity 

 to sustain a party largely or wholly dependent for sustenance 

 upon the country in the matter of water, of game, of grass and 

 of wood.^^ It was undoubtedly to these gifts that the success 

 of the California expedition was primarily due. The success 

 of the feat otherwise must be credited to Walker's leadership. 



This first expedition to California across the great interior 

 desert, the first passage of the Sierra Nevada by white men, 

 and the discovery of Yosemite Valley, have been largely neg- 

 lected by students of western and California history. Doubt- 

 less the subject would repay investigation by the specialist. One 

 source of information may be mentioned. The original journal 

 of Captain Bonneville is now in the possession of Mr. W. C. 

 Breckenridge, of St. Louis. This gentleman is a highly in- 

 formed student of western exploration and it is to be hoped he 

 may some time publish a full and faithful account of the con- 

 tents of the Bonneville diary. 



The group of frontiersmen to which Walker belonged were, 

 as a whole, not versed in the schools, and the idea of preserving 

 a narrative of their explorations was quite remote to them. 

 They had a high sense of duty, of complete sacrifice to a great 

 venture, and a wonderful passion for the trails and rivers of 



" He [Joseph Walker] was one of the best leaders I have ever met. a good 

 hunter and trapper, thoroughly versed in Indian signs and possessed of a good 

 knowledge of the mountains. He could find water quicker than any man I ever 

 met." — Nidever, "Life and Adventures," MS., p. 62. 



