16 
walker’s pass. 
a barometric profile. We descended from the summit more than eight miles, and found the 
belt of unbroken ground to extend as far as we could see along the base of the mountains, in 
both directions. I will now state the results of the subsequent calculations of our observations, 
from which an opinion of the practicability of the pass for railroad purposes may be formed. 
Starting from Kern river, at the m uth of Chay-o-poo-ya-pah, and ascending to the point 
where the latter comes from the mountains, a distance of 17 miles, we have a gentle ascent, 
viz: 5f miles on a grade of 13 feet per mile, 6|- miles of 29 feet per mile, and the remaining 
5 miles at 17 feet per mile. From here over the summit to the point we reached in the basin 
is 16J miles, and this part may be considered the pass proper. Here the grades are of an 
entirely different character. We have for the first 6J miles (which brings us to our camp) 
an average grade of 272 feet to the mile—less than this at first, but gradually increasing as the 
summit is approached ; from camp to the summit, 1| mile, at 428 feet per mile; and from 
the summit to the base of the mountains, 8J miles, at 265 feet per mile. 
These steep grades, for so long a distance, would at once render this pass out of the question, 
even admitting them to be practicable, unless it can be shown that there is no better one, or 
that it has a pre-eminently favorable position. 
That there are passes with better grades, will appear in the sequel. As to its position, I 
consider it one of the worst of all the known passes in the Sierra Nevada. As far as we know 
the country, (and its general features are well known,) the whole portion east of Walker’s 
Pass, for two or three degrees of longitude, is a mountainous desert, almost destitute of wood, 
water, and grass. It is universally conceded that any road reaching this pass must have come 
either from the Yegas de Santa Clara, the Mohave river, or from the south. If coming from 
the Yegas, in anything like a direct course, the position of the pass would be preferable to one 
farther south ; but this desert would have to be crossed, and the practicability of such a route 
is still a problem. For any road coming from the Mohave, or from the south, a pass farther 
south would possess a preferable position. 
But suppose a road arrives at Walker’s Pass, and, surmounting the obstacles of steep grades, 
enters the valley of the Chay-o-poo-ya-pah, and follows it down to Kern river ; there is, then, 
no other course of proceeding open but to follow down tbis river, for the high mountains on 
each side afford no chance of a passage. The canon before mentioned is said to be five miles 
long, and, according to information obtained from the Indians, the precipitous rocks, jutting 
into the stream first from one bank then from the other, preclude the possibility of even a foot- 
trail through it. It is probable, also, that here the river is very rapid. The point where we 
struck the river, near the mouth of Chay-o-poo-ya-pah, according to the barometer, is 2,600 
feet above the level of the sea, and Kern lake, at the head of the Tulare valley, is but 400 feet. 
The distance, as taken from the map, is forty miles. Adding one-fourth for sinuosities, and we 
have an average grade of forty-four feet to the mile. The course of the stream is southwest, at 
right angles to the proper direction of a road that is to traverse the.Tulare and San Joaquin 
valleys. 
After due consideration of the foregoing facts, I think I am justified in saying that Walker’s 
Pass is badly situated, and impracticable. 
But many persons may naturally ask, Is tbis pass, here described, Walker’s Pass ? is this 
the pass which every one, two years ago, admitted to be an excellent one ? It is due to me that 
this question s. ould be answered. 
Mr. Joseph Walker, from whom Walker’s Pass takes its name, is an old mountaineer, and 
