Joseph Reddeford Walker
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Joseph Reddeford (aka Reddford, but actually Rutherford) Walker, who often went by Joseph R. Walker, (December 13, 1798 – October 27, 1876) was a mountain man and experienced scout.
Walker was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the spring of 1833 Benjamin Bonneville sent a party of men under Joseph Walker and Garland Guthary 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 following the Carson River and descending via Stanislaus River drainages to Monterey. His return route across the southern Sierra was via Walker Pass, named after Walker by John Charles Fremont. The approach of 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.
