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Updated 07/24/10
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G. Andrew Miller is the author of a wonderful series of books called the Joseph R. Walker Frontier Adventure Series. Mr. Miller has consented to contribute some of his insights as to writing and researching some of the tales of the Old West. While talking with the Travelsos.net magazine's manager about the Joseph R. Walker Series, a suggestion was made that it might be interesting to know what goes into developing a story from clues and newspaper leads. I agreed to scratch out some notes and see if I could put something together that might help others in following clues and developing a story. The book New Trails to Coso & Mono Mines was not planned in the normal way, it was developed from the discovery of one event after another. I had just finished the Expedition against Mohave Indians and was wondering how Capt. Joseph Walker would return to the ranch at Manzanita. I was thinking about him riding back up through the San Joaquin Valley and realized he would have to pass through Visalia on his return. It hadn't dawned on me at this time, that he would have probably bought passage on the steamer from San Pedro to San Francisco. So I started by searching microfilm newspaper copies of the Visalia Weekly Delta, during the later part of 1859 through 1860. While doing this tedious work I found an article where the Delta's editor interviewed a Col. Walker. Studying the article closer, I became convinced that the Col. was none other than Capt. Joseph Walker. In the article the editor states, The Col. passed through this route the first time in the fall of 1834. This would be the Indian trail Zenas Leonard mentioned in his narrative. At the end of the article the editor printed, Walker's Pass as laid down on the map is incorrect. Using the article and topo maps, I tried to trace a route through the mountains that exited near Owens Lake according to the story. Around this time, I had made an appointment to meet with the director of collections of the Upper Mojave Desert Historical Society located at Ridgecrest, CA. While discussing the Walker Series with Lou Pracchia, I mentioned the newspaper article and told him what the editor wrote. Mr. Pracchia informed me that a Mr. Horst had also written a piece on the same article. Lou found the work and was kind enough to put me in touch with Bill Horst, the historian at Porterville, CA. After meeting with Bill and discussing our work, it wasn't long before we agreed to co-author a story on what I was calling Mono Lake Expedition. As the story developed further we changed the title to New Trail to Coso & Mono Mines. After weaving the two pieces together, Bill told me about the time he was shown, what was thought to be, the wagon wheels from the Walker - Chiles party and said they were at the museum at Independence, CA. After several letters back and forth an interview was scheduled with the director of the museum. When discussing the Walker Series with the director, I was allowed to look through the many files stored at the facility. While going through the files another newspaper article was found entitled: Round about the Museum, which was printed in February of 1965. The article describes a number of article donated to the museum by a Mr. Cooper and among the items were some wagon wheels which were found in a canyon many years ago behind the 'Way-station' at Dunmovin. The article then asked the question Could they be wheels from the wagon's left by the Chiles' Party? On the return trip back down Owens Valley, I examined the area behind Dunmovin and noticed it was a short distance from the entrance to Haiwee Canyon which leads to Haiwee Pass. On another field trip into the area, we learned of three more passes and Indian trails over the mountain heading in the direction of Walker's route, described by the editor of the Delta. A couple more field trips to interview old ranchers whose families have been in the valley since the 1860, resulted in more small pieces to our story. Bill Horst and I included the many references for future researcher to build on. The evidence and facts that we have found speak for themselves. Many more items were found, a good example would be the notes in Edward Kern's journal that speak of Walker's northern pass. G. Andrew Miller Email: SilverSpurBooks@aol.com |