In March of 1860, Joseph R. Walker, leading a party of men across the Southern Sierra to prospect, was in Visalia to get supplies. The editor of the Visalia newspaper interviewed Mr. Walker regarding his route and learned surpisingly that he was not going by the then known Walkers Pass. His intended route was one he said he had first taken in 1834 and several times since then, and that it saved 150 miles from the route now known as Walkers Pass. He stated he would go South from Visalia to Tule River, then turn East up the Southern branches of Tule River and cross Kern River 50 miles from Keyesville above the canyon, then on to Big Owens Lake on the East Side. At the end of the article is this statement "Walkers Pass as laid down on the map is incorrect and should be Northeast of Keyesville." Prior to the 1860's Deer Creek was a South fork of Tule River, furthermore, the account written by Zenas Leonard, Walker's clerk in 1834, better fits conditions met on this trail, a known early Indian trading route across the Southern Sierra. Walker's 1834 trip was up Deer Creek, not up the South Fork of Kern River.
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