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EXPEDITION
AGAINST
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MOHAVE
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EXPEDITION AGAINST THE MOHAVE INDIANS In 1858, Captain Joe Walker was probably the best known of the surviving mountain men. He had started his career in the mountains almost forty years earlier trapping and trading beaver skins. When the pelts were no longer desired for the manufacture of hats in the east, Walker adjusted his vocation to trading horses and mules, along with guiding emigrants to the western shore of the Pacific. In 1848, with the discovery of gold in California, Walker, with help from a couple of nephews, began supplying beef and mules to the miners in the hills of California. It was during this period, while visiting the mines, Walker had the opportunity to see and study the different rock formations where gold bearing ore was being found. Walker, who had tramped all over the unknown west, knew he had long ago seen these same formations in the vast waste lands of the Great Basin near the Colorado River. It was in connection with this, that Walker put together a party to explore the Mojave Desert and Colorado River regions. The majority of information published about Walker's 1858 expedition was supplied by the author of "Westering Man." The author mentions that on the west side of the Colorado River, Walker had a 'fracas' with the Mojave Indians. During the fight, one of the men was injured and the party returned to 'pueblo de los angeles' for medical help. At Los Angeles the injured man, by the name of Lyon, died from his wounds. Another expedition in 1858 headed by George Lount, also climaxed in a fight with the Indians on the desert. In their 'fracas' with the Indians, George Lount's brother was seriously injured and the party returned to Los Angeles for medical attention. I wondered if Walker and Lount could have first met in Los Angeles in the year 1858 instead of the 1861 the date given by newspaper reports as to their first meeting. 
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