354 JAMES O'MEARA
Because of his superior qualifications for the service, Jo Walker was engaged as guide to the survey; and although the project was, in direct sense, a failure, it served, never- theless, as the "breaking of the crust," as Walker himself characterized it, for the subsequent use and benefit of the caravans or trains which annually conveyed the merchandise and established the lucrative traffic that so long made synony- mous the term of "Santa Fe trader" and the acquisition of large fortune, and secured to Missouri the immense profits and great advantages of that golden gateway to the wild territory of the distant West, in which was bred and inspired so much of that spirit of adventure and enterprise which has ever since directed its fearless energies to the exploration and settlement of the vast region on this side of the continent, then almost an unknown wilderness and waste, so far as the white race was concerned.
So well had Walker acquitted himself in the survey em- ployment, that on his return to his home he was elected sheriff of Jackson County, and in that capacity he developed his foresight as a true pioneer by his selection of a site for the county seat.
He named it Independence, characteristic alike of his ster- ling patriotism and his own free nature, and by that name the town is still known.
It was long famous as the point of departure for trains and emigration bound for New Mexico, Utah, California, and Oregon, as well as for its having been the chief trading and military post of the far western frontier.
His first term of two years having expired, Walker was honored by a re-election, and again creditably served the dura- tion of the term. Upon retiring from office, Walker returned to his more congenial mode of life, and in the pursuit of his love of adventure, joined also the occupation of trader in live stock.
He made long journeys from Independence into Arkansas and contiguous territory, and Fort Gibson was one of his points of traffic.
