Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party

The Stephens Party is significant in California history because they were the first wagon train to cross the Sierra Nevada during the expansion of the American West.

Elisha Stephens was elected captain of the wagon train because he had spent several years as a mountain man and beaver hunter in the Pacific Northwest.

Six of the party, Elizabeth Townsend, her servant Francis, Oliver Magnan, and the siblings, Ellen (or Helen), John, and Daniel Murphy, set off on horseback following the Truckee River southward with the goal of reaching Sutter's Fort quickly and sending back help.

Three men, Joseph Foster, Allan Montgomery, and Moses Schallenberger, returned to the abandoned wagons with the intent of watching over them until the snow melted.

They set out after the party ahead of them on makeshift snowshoes, but after the first day, the youngest, eighteen-year-old Moses Schallenberger realized he could not press on and returned to the wagons.

[4] The rest of the party, after crossing the pass, continued until snow made it impossible to travel with wagons on the upper Yuba River valley.

Most of the men in the advance party were then enticed or coerced to fight with Captain John Sutter for Mexican California Governor Manuel Micheltorena in exchange for promises of land grants.

[5] Upon reaching the lake, Martin showed Schallenberger how to construct proper snowshoes and then the two crossed the Sierra successfully to the Central Valley.

Sons John and Daniel struck gold in the Sierra, then made a fortune selling dry goods to local miners and Native Americans.

Helen Murphy, the youngest daughter of Martin Sr., married Charles Maria Weber, the founder of the city of Stockton.

Dennis Martin also struck gold in the Sierra and purchased ranch properties from the grantees of Rancho Cañada de Raymundo and Rancho Corte de Madera which include much of the modern day back lands of Stanford University, including the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, the Ladera subdivision and the Webb Ranch.