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39-516: The R. stood for Rutherford, but is also found as Reddford, Reddeford, and Redeford. "Rutherford" came from his great-grandmother's, Kathleen Rutherford Walker, line, and not his mother's, as incorrectly stated in some sources. Walker was born in Roane County, Tennessee , the fourth child of seven born to Joseph and Susan Willis Walker. In 1819, the family emigrated to Missouri, settling west of Fort Osage . In 1820, he traveled to Santa Fe and

78-510: A gathering of thousands. Roane County has produced thousands of successful athletes. One of Roane County's most recent athletes is Tyler Thompson of Kingston. Thompson played Division I basketball in the Ohio Valley Conference for Tennessee Technological University. 35°52′12″N 84°30′6″W  /  35.87000°N 84.50167°W  / 35.87000; -84.50167 Bartleson%E2%80%93Bidwell Party In 1841,

117-535: A hundred mares and an unknown number of mules. After travelling to California in the Bartleson–Bidwell Party of 1841 Joseph B. Chiles returned to western Missouri and organized the first wagon train of California bound emigrants in 1843. At Fort Laramie , Chiles hired Walker to guide the wagon train to California for $ 300. In August, at Black's Fork of the Green River, the party stopped to rest

156-741: A route along the Humboldt River across present-day Nevada . They followed it to the Humboldt Sink , then made their way to present day Genoa, Nevada at the base of the Sierra Nevada . They began their ascent of the Sierra by traveling up the west fork of the Carson River to Hawkins Peak . At that point, they began wandering, trying to find a path to a dividing ridge and down the western slope. They finally made their way to

195-616: A small Confederate force led by John R. Hart near Kingston. In the years following the Civil War, Rockwood grew into a major iron and coal mining center with the establishment of the Roane Iron Company by General John T. Wilder . Iron ore and coal were mined on Walden Ridge and shipped to Rockwood, where the ore was converted into pig iron. The pig iron was then shipped to rolling mills in Knoxville or Chattanooga. During

234-854: Is now the city of Prescott . The company discovered gold along the Hassayampa Creek and Lynx Creek , which was the impetus for subsequent white settlement in the area. The village of Walker, Arizona , is named for him. Walker returned to the family base of Manzanita Ranch in Contra Costa County, California , in 1867. He died there on October 27, 1876, and is buried in the Alhambra Cemetery in Martinez, California . Several different places are named for Walker, including: [REDACTED]  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of

273-707: The American frontier , and Bonneville offered him an opportunity to join him in his expeditions. In 1832, Walker left from Fort Osage with Bonneville and 110 other men, traveling to the Green River in Wyoming . In 1833, Bonneville sent Walker in command of a party of men, including Old Bill Williams and Zenas Leonard, from the Green River to explore the Great Salt Lake and to find an overland route to California . They left on July 27 and eventually discovered

312-625: The Bartleson–Bidwell Party , led by Captain John Bartleson and John Bidwell , became the first American emigrants to attempt a wagon crossing from Missouri to California . In the winter of 1840, the Western Emigration Society was founded in Missouri, with 500 pledging to trek west into Mexican California. Members included Baldridge, Barnett, Bartleson, Bidwell and Nye. Organized on 18 May 1841, Talbot H. Green

351-597: The Cache Valley . On August 24, 1841, the party headed west and north around the Great Salt Lake , camping in the vicinity of the Hansel Mountains until September 9 while they scouted the route to Mary's River (known today as the Humboldt River ). By September 12 wagons and possessions were beginning to be abandoned. By October 9 they crossed Mary's River and headed west to Lake Humboldt , Humboldt Sink , and Carson Sink . On October 30 they passed through

390-537: The National Park Service . Roane County, Tennessee Roane County is a county of the U.S. state of Tennessee . As of the 2020 census , the population was 53,404. Its county seat is Kingston . Roane County is included in the Knoxville , TN Metropolitan Statistical Area . Roane County was formed in 1801, and named for Archibald Roane , the second Governor of Tennessee. Upon

429-884: The Green River, Walker and his men crossed the Wasatch Range to the Sevier Lake and traveled south to the upper Virgin River which they descended until reaching its confluence with the Colorado River . From the Colorado, they crossed the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles where Walker sold 417 pounds of beaver pelts to Abel Stearns , an American expatriate living in Los Angeles, who became Walker's business agent in purchasing horses. Walker left California with

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468-403: The animals and hunt, trying to stock dried meat for the trail. They were marginally successful, and being able to only acquire four head of cattle at Ft. Hall, Walker and Chiles decided to split the party in order to make best use of the remaining provisions. After leaving Fort Hall on September 16, Chiles took 13 men on horseback to Fort Boise for further provisions. If food was not available, he

507-726: The animals were unable to pull the wagons beyond Owens Lake where the wagons were abandoned along with a disassembled saw mill (see also Bancroft 1886:IV:392 395). The party proceeded on foot and crossed the summit of the Sierras on December 3, 1843. Thereafter they crossed the San Joaquin Valley (the southern half of the Central Valley) and the Coast Range and wintered pleasantly in Peachtree Valley on

546-526: The authorities and was granted permission to trade. As before, he left southern California with a herd of horses and mules in April 1844 along the Old Spanish Trail and overtook John C. Frémont's third military topographic expedition (his first to California) somewhere beyond Las Vegas . The two had met previously in 1842 at Independence, Missouri , when Walker declined Frémont's invitation to guide

585-541: The country, and started the first significant immigration to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports. Marsh's recommended route, the California Trail , was based on the prior experiences of Jedediah Smith , Peter Skene Ogden , and Joseph R. Walker . That route led southwest from Soda Springs along the Bear River and

624-834: The county has a total area of 395 square miles (1,020 km ), of which 361 square miles (930 km ) is land and 34 square miles (88 km ) (8.7%) is water. Three rivers— the Tennessee River , the Clinch River , and the Emory River — pass through Roane County. The Emory empties into the Clinch near Kingston, and the Clinch empties into the Tennessee just downstream from Kingston. The rivers in Roane are mostly part of Watts Bar Lake . Roane County straddles

663-406: The county. The population density was 150 people per square mile (58 people/km ). There were 25,716 housing units at an average density of 71 units per square mile (27/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 94.4% White , 2.7% Black or African American , 0.3% Native American , 0.5% Asian , 0.0003% Pacific Islander , 0.17% from other races , and 1.6% from two or more races. 1.3% of

702-631: The creation of the Southwest Territory in 1790, the territory's governor, William Blount , initially wanted to locate the territorial capital at the mouth of the Clinch River , but was unable to obtain title to the land from the Cherokee . Kingston, Roane's county seat, is rooted in Fort Southwest Point , a frontier fort constructed in the early 1790s. During the Civil War, Roane County, like many East Tennessee counties,

741-741: The current location of Lake Isabella in December while Frémont and a small group crossed the Sierra Nevada in the vicinity of Truckee River, eventually reaching Sutter's Fort (California). The two parties missed their planned rendezvous along the Kings River in the San Joaquin Valley but were reunited in February 1846. In 1862–63, Walker led a gold-hunting expedition of 34 men into the mountains of central Arizona , near what

780-446: The expedition. Walker's group traveled with Frêmont to Bent's Fort (Colorado) where they went their separate ways. In 1845, by prearrangement, Walker, with his wife and retainers, joined Frémont's third government expedition at White River (eastern Utah) bound for California and Oregon. Frémont had recruited Bill Williams and Kit Carson but Walker was appointed the chief guide. Walker and his followers had previously camped with one of

819-587: The first U.S. dragoon units to patrol the emigration trails and was described as follows by Captain Philip St. George Cooke: Walker led the main body of the expedition down the Humboldt River to Walker Lake where they met Frémont and a smaller group who had taken a more southerly route after leaving the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake. The party again divided, with Walker taking the main body to

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858-535: The geographical boundary between the Tennessee Valley and the Cumberland Plateau , with the latter's Walden Ridge escarpment visible from much of the county. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 53,404 people, 20,901 households, and 13,948 families residing in the county. As of the census of 2010, there were 54,181 people, 22,376 households, and 15,450 families residing in

897-706: The headwaters of a tributary to the Salinas River in the Salinas Valley (Bancroft 1886:IV:395). About the journey Gilbert states, "The overland caravan had done no true exploring but had laid down 500 miles of what was to become the California Trail". The trail segment referred to appears to extend from Fort Hall (Idaho) to the Truckee River (Nevada and California). After the expedition dispersed, Walker once again presented his passport to

936-591: The headwaters of the Stanislaus River and descended on the ridgeline north of the river canyon. They eventually made it to the river itself, then followed it down to the Central Valley of California . According to Walker's gravestone, he camped in Yosemite on Nov. 13 1833, though this is disputed. The approach to the Sierra via the Humboldt River route later became known as the California Trail ,

975-571: The lack of water. They went back west to the base of the Sierra and traveled north to the Humboldt Sink, then they traveled back to the Rocky Mountains the way they had come the previous summer. At some point in the ensuing years, Walker took a Shoshone wife. In 1840 Walker and a band of followers made the first known north to south crossing of the eastern Great Basin by Americans. Starting from Browns Park (Brown's Hole) along

1014-529: The late 19th century, northern investors established two planned cities in Roane County—; Cardiff and Harriman . Cardiff, located northeast of Rockwood, was planned as a company town to support several proposed mining industries in the area. Harriman was planned as a Temperance Town . Both ventures suffered critical setbacks as a result of the Panic of 1893 . Harriman survived, but never grew in

1053-667: The manner its planners had envisioned, while Cardiff failed altogether. During World War II, the federal government created the city of Oak Ridge as a planned community as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. As a result of the Project, both the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are located in the county. According to the U.S. Census Bureau ,

1092-700: The median income for a family was $ 41,399. Males had a median income of $ 32,204 versus $ 22,439 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 18,456. About 10.30% of families and 13.90% of the population were below the poverty line , including 18.80% of those under age 18 and 13.80% of those age 65 or over. The Census Bureau has defined the Harriman-Kingston-Rockwood area as a contiguous urban cluster . Several movies have been filmed in Roane County, including Boys of Summerville , That Evening Sun and October Sky . Roane County

1131-549: The missionary group, at Soda Springs on 11 Aug. The western Emigration Society had resolved to follow the route suggested by Dr. John Marsh . As early as 1837, Marsh realized that owning a great rancho was problematic if he could not hold it. The corrupt and unpredictable rulings by courts in California (then part of Mexico) made this questionable. With evidence that the Russians, French and English were preparing to seize

1170-435: The population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 22,376 households, out of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.8% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31% were non-families. 26.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size

1209-502: The primary route for the emigrants to the gold fields during the California gold rush . On February 14, 1834, Walker and his party of fifty-two men left on their return trip from California, crossing back over the Sierra Nevada through one of the southern passes. The group made it to Owens Valley on May 1, 1834, and traveled up it but became impatient to turn east. They crossed out of the valley on May 10 but soon became alarmed by

Joseph R. Walker - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-564: The province, he determined to make it a part of the United States. He felt that the best way to go about this was to encourage emigration by Americans to California, and in this way the history of Texas would be repeated. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, soil and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route." His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout

1287-405: Was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.88. In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.8% under the age of 18 and 18.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.9 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.85 males. As of the census of 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $ 33,226, and

1326-715: Was detained for a short while by Spanish authorities. He may have become one of the "Taos trappers" trapping beaver in the Spanish/Mexican territory of Alta California , then working on the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to Santa Fe with "Old" Bill Williams . He returned to Missouri and in 1827 was appointed sheriff of Jackson County . In 1830, Walker was driving horses to Fort Gibson in Oklahoma, where he met Benjamin Bonneville . Walker wanted to explore

1365-480: Was elected president, John Bidwell secretary, and John Bartleson captain. The group joined Father Pierre Jean De Smet 's Jesuit missionary group, led by Thomas F. Fitzpatrick, westward across South Pass along the Oregon Trail . That trail took them past Courthouse and Jail Rocks , Chimney Rock , Scotts Bluff , Fort Laramie , and Independence Rock . The Bartleson-Bidwell party separated from Fitzpatrick, and

1404-709: Was largely pro-Union. When Tennessee voted on the Ordinance of Secession on June 8, 1861, Roane Countians voted 1,568 to 454 in favor of remaining in the Union. In October 1861, Union guerrilla William B. Carter organized the East Tennessee bridge-burning conspiracy from a command post in Kingston. During the Knoxville Campaign in December 1863, a Union force led by General James G. Spears scattered

1443-507: Was the childhood home of actress Megan Fox , who lived in Kingston . She attended elementary school, took dance classes, and was on the swim team in Roane County. The 2010 film, Get Low , starring Bill Murray , Robert Duvall , and Sissy Spacek , was based on the true story of a Roane County man, Felix Breazeale. Breazeale was a local hermit who opted to throw himself a funeral while he was still alive. The funeral intrigued many, making it

1482-485: Was to cross the Sierra Nevada in the vicinity of the Truckee River, proceed to Sutter's Fort for food, and bring it across the Sierra to Humboldt Sink where Walker and the wagon train would be waiting. Once reunited they would proceed south through the Owens Valley, along the eastern scarp of the Sierra Nevada to a southern pass, possibly Oak Creek Pass where Walker believed the wagons could cross. The Chiles group

1521-453: Was unable to obtain provisions at Fort Boise and circumvented the Sierra Nevada far to the north, rather than crossing at the Truckee River. Chiles reached Sutter's Fort on 11 November. Walker's group left the Humboldt Sink about 1 November and traded horseshoe nails for fish with the Paiute at what would later be known as Walker Lake. Possibly because of inadequate forage (it was a drought year)

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