Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/389



CAPTAIN JOSEPH R. WALKER 361

It was in 1844 that Captain Walker resolved to make his home in California, here in the territory where so many of his old and beloved comraades had fixed their abode.

That year he left for the states with a band of horses and mules, with a party of eight men to accompany him.

Colonel John C. Fremont was then in advance of him, on his return to the East, after his second expedition to this coast.

In his journal of that adventure under date of May 14th, Fremont says : "We had today the gratification of being joined by the famous hunter and trapper, Mr. Joseph Walker (the "Mr." would have roused the ire of the plain and modest old mountaineer), whom I have before mentioned, who now be- came our guide.

Nothing but his great knowledge of the country, great courage and presence of mind, and good rifles could have brought him safe from such a perilous enterprise," i. e., the journey he had made before he overtook Fremont.

Captain Jo Walker's very modest account of the "perilous enterprise" was to the contrary effect that he never felt that himself or his little party were in the slightest peril, for he and they were alike well mounted, well armed, and amply prepared for the long journey overland by themselves, with- out fear or thought of molestation from either the hostile Indians or perils of other sort.

And his idea of the quality, if not of the want, of the much- vaunted courage of the "Pathfinder," and of his skill as a "mountain-man," was not at all to the credit of that gold- medaled hero of his own exploits, whose memorable trip over the coast range, from the valley to Santa Barbara, forever dispelled the humorous fancy of those who indulged it, that mules never famish or die.

After having guided and accompanied Fremont to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, Walker continued his journey into Missouri in his own way.

But the following summer, at Fremont's solicitation, he again engaged with him in the trip westward to California,