The rest of the party spent the winter in the upper Yuba River valley, until most of the men were enticed to fight with Captain John Sutter for Mexican California Governor Manuel Micheltorena, in exchange for promises of land grants.

[4] Then Martin sought and found gold on the Mokelumne and Stanislaus Rivers in partnership with Daniel Murphy, his transcontinental companion, and Charles Maria Weber, the founder of Stockton.

Quickly making his fortune in gold, Martin bought 1,500 acres of land north of San Francisquito Creek from his friend John Coppinger, the grantee of Rancho Cañada de Raymundo, for $1,500.

Then he purchased the wooded slopes of the creek he named for himself from the Rancho Corte de Madera including much of the modern day Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, the Ladera subdivision and the Webb Ranch.

[5] The creek's watershed includes the historic Thornewood House, a 1920s estate built by Julian Thorne and surrounded by 3.5 acres of landscaping and gorgeous valley views.

[4] Martin Creek drains second growth coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forest as it descends the northeastern slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

[12][13] According to local historian Dorothy Regnery's notes from her 1966 interview with Edgar H. Batchelder, who was 2 years old when his father became caretaker of Searsville dam in 1897, his "favorite place to fish for trout was in Dennis Martin Creek.