Joseph R. Walker

Joseph R. Walker (December 13, 1798 — October 27, 1876) was a mountain man and experienced scout.

Biography

Walker was born in Roane County, Tennessee. Early in 1832 he joined Benjamin Bonneville's expedition from Fort Osage, Missouri. Next spring, Bonneville sent a party of men under Joseph Walker to explore the Great Salt Lake and to find an overland route to California. Eventually the party discovered a route along the Humboldt River across present-day Nevada, ascending the Sierra Nevada, starting near present day Bridgeport and descending between the Tuolumne and Merced River drainage. Capt. Walker states they camped at Bull Creek above present day Coulterville. Walker's party finally descended to the Central Valley of California and on west as far as Monterey. His return route across the southern Sierra was via Walker Pass, named after Walker by John Charles Fremont. The approach to the Sierra via the Carson River route later became known as the California Trail, the primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the California gold rush. Walker was likely the first white man to gaze upon Yosemite Valley.