Joseph Walker was a mountain man and explorer. In 1843 and 1848 he pioneered the segment of the California Trail, the primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the California gold rush, from Fort Hall, Idaho to the Humboldt River and in 1848 the 40 Mile Desert Cutoff to the Carson River.
“Here we looked back for the last time into Missouri and civilization and set our faces towards that unknown and wonderful Land.” Dr. Solon Douglas Martin, 1849