New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-01-11
CALIFORNIA.
NOTES OF CAPTAIN JOE WALKERS TRIP
ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN......No.
From The San FrsneiscO Herald.

From The San francisco Herald
Captain Joe Walker, the celebrated mountaneer ana
trapper, tho first white man who ever crossed the
Great Central Basin which lies between the Sierra Nevada
and the Rio Grande. Liont Beale has since tavosed ITS
northern rim and Capt Aubrey has still more recently
penetraed through its very heart Aubreys report VIII
doubtless be hi zhly interesting Little is known regard
ING this my serous land beyond the fact that abounds
in ruined cities and for many miles Is as barren as
desert All the information regarding it is derived from
CoIt Walker, and was given to the world tnrougn tue
m, dunn of columns few months since Inc history
of Capt Walkers wanderings over the soitudes oil our
Continent would FIJI volume. We have gathered rom
him in the of long conversation many interesting
details of what he his pioneer trip across me Gea
Basin He started from this city in February lsoo win
marty Of eight men, and the necessary complement OF
mules and supplies. He pushed rapidly down tue coast
Range to its junction with the seTra Nevada 10 inc
Sierra and turned his face eastward Although 10 mid
winter. Walkers Pass was free from snow while tho
mountains on both sides OF 1t were covered 70 eonaer
able depth From his elevated perch on the crest OF the
Sierra he could the desert stretching away as lar as
the eve could each toward the Colorado This desert Is
barren waste Of sand, with here ami there grown o
cbemse The cactus was sometimes with growing to
the hight of sixteen twenty feet No chain OF noun
tains could be SEEM although small bnttes occasionally
broke the level Of the plain Some of the buttes were
covered with cedar others with pine The plain itself Is
sometimes level as table for many mies-at otaer
points rolls like some OF the praes OF the west ABOUT
30 or 100 miles north Of Walkers Pass the country be-
comes broken and rugged mountains traverse In every
direction Capt Walker after crossing the Sierra struck
due east over the nhosptabe desert for the Colorado
which /. nearly 400 miles distant Being well acquainted
With . signs he found water sufficient, although
oftentimes he had to dig down in the sand, where
novice would have passed the spot without an idea
that water could be had Springs occasionally met
with which dubbed up, clear as crystal ran Tor little
distance and disappeared again in the sands Inc mohaVe
river traverses this desert of the Colorado IL heads on
the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada little south of the
Caon Pass runs nearly due north for distance OF hy
miles then circles to the east turns to the SOUTH and CON
t;rues lis course nearly due east II is supposed TO
emrty into the Colorado although its junction with that
river cannot be seem Ii certainly does not enter above
ground as Capt Walker has travelled up the right bank
of the Colorado and met with stream coming INTO
from tho west On his way the desert he Travelled
down tho Mohave for two hundred miles It's banks are
very low and in the rainy Hoods its bottom IL
sometimes sinks into the sands underground for M
teen mes and then oozes up and continues its course
The banks of loose sand very few rocky lodges are TO
be found upon it, In the dry season II Is very sinail
stream not more than twenty yards wide where II hrs
enters The plain and throughout its whole length very
shallow.
wide valley extends on this side OF the Colorado from
its mouth about hundred and NIFTY mules up Capt.
Walker thinks the Mohave must empty lnto inc Cooraao
near the head Of this valley From Walkers Pass to the
Colorado he says a railroad could be built without foot
of grading He struck the Colorado little south oil tne
mouth Of the Rio Virgen and travelled up the river until
ho came to the vrgeD The last stream heads IN tue oou
Watch mountains souhery course ana emptles IN
10 the Color ado Just below the Big Canon It's mouth IS
wide sandy bed with very little water-in TACT II SHOWS
much more water hundred and nifty miles up stream
this is owing to the fact that frequently sinks and rum
into the sand Sewer River drains the northern slope OF
the Sou Watch mountains and runs north CaPt aiker
in one Of his tramps passed from the head OF
the Sewer to Of the Vgenhe says the country De-
them il more cut up than any he met with ON
this COntnent-to use Ms own eApfe'sioi' 70 VIII ~ "
pieces with canons' . go
On the Upper yirgen are two very remarkaoie isls.
One ofthem about two hundred miles from s moath Is
The most stupendous cataract in the world iais 10 an
almost unbroken sheet distance OF ful one ee
The river some distance above traverses pretty ,m
bered valley and then runs through close canon mere
tbe current becomes rapid The mountain seems 10 run
directly across the river AT the fail the stream Is narrowed
to thirty forty yards while the canon res Oh
in almost peuepdcuar cliffs 10 height OF two hundred
feet The pet CD rushes on to the orink OF me
preepice leaps over and falls with scarce break mo tne
vast abyss beneath Capt Walker describes the sgnt az
grand beyond description About thirty miles above uso
e another magnificent fall Here the river plunges over
the cliff falls distance of two three hundred feet ana
breaks into myriad fragments upon projecting iedse
beneath Although the fall is not so great as IN the oner
il il picturesque, from the multitude Oh smane oa
acts into which it "a divided by the rocks
The waters Of the Virgen are beautifully clear f9r
srty or eighty miles below the Big Fails they run tnough
lofty csuons Soon after they have emerged INTO the
desert thew are absorbed in great measure by the ssnu
and become much smaller stream Inc c9sis! IN, ~
into innumerable rocky assures and deep raVlnes Ca
Walker travelled for whole day down the bed OF steep
canon He turned off into lateral canon wnicn oecame
80 narrow that he could not get back again fof TWO
ree miles the rocks actually closed over his head 90 ths
he could not see the sky IL Ike rayersing an I'm
mepse natural tunnel 200 feet high IL was
The dry bed of stream which empted during ins rsy
season into the virgen he saw drit logs pnea SKY
feet high in one part of the tunnel Whist grand sgns
would that torrent be rushed down Us
he'd and almost fIledit rocky conduit Inat "hOe
ton of country has been in former ZINES ocan sct;"n
h. he seen IL but little known-no white man ef
cent Cant Walker having trayerseo H. ana hoihns coai
induce him 10 attempt il again IN 9s'her arlleIs NC
hall rive some further account OF the wonders OF TINS