Page:History of California, Volume 3 (Bancroft).djvu/407

Rh connection that John Forster came up from Guaymas to Los Angeles by land in 1833, guided by a native.

Still one more detachment from the army of trappers in the great basin came into California before 1835, and this time by a northern route over the Sierra. The general operations of this army in the broad interior, and the summer rendezvous of 1832-3 in the Green River Valley, have been described by Irving in his narrative of Bonneville's adventures. The same author records the formation of a company sent by Captain Bonneville under Joseph Walker to make explorations west of Great Salt Lake, and devotes a chapter to the adventures of that company. The aim, as given by this authority, was to explore the region surrounding the lake, the extent of which body of water was greatly exaggerated by Bonneville. The company consisted of about forty men, some fifteen of whom were free trappers. The start from Green River was in July 1833, and after hunting a few days on Bear River, they went on to the region just north of the lake. Whatever may have been Walker's original intentions or instructions, his men could not live in the desert, and they went westward in search of water, which was found in the head streams of the Mary or Ogden river, since called the Humboldt. I suppose their destination from the first had been California, though Bonneville may perhaps have had different views; at any rate Walker's men