Truckee Prohibition


	THE STEPHENS-TOWNSEND-MURPHY PARTY While history remembers well the Donner Party, who are known for their failure and bad luck, too few remember the success of the first pioneer wagon train that made it over the Sierra Nevada in this area. This group left behind a story that encompasses many aspects of Truckee area history. 2004 marked the 160th anniversary of this historical event. Truckee's historical timeline really begins with this event. The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party was a well organized party consisting of ten families who were seeking a better future for themselves in California. The fifty member group left Council Bluffs, Iowa on May 22, 1844. They left with a larger group of Oregon bound settlers in a group of forty wagons. 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. He also had skills as a blacksmith. Dr John Townsend, his wife, Elizabeth, and her younger brother, Moses Schallenberger, were going west because he was a man of vision and wanted a chance at grand adventure and opportunity in California. He would become the first licensed physician in California. The largest family group in the party was headed by Martin Murphy, Sr. Their family was comprised of 23 members. Mr. Murphy was seeking religious, economic, and political freedoms in the West. Another member of the party who played a role in the western emigration as a guide was "Old" Caleb Greenwood. ON THE TRAIL They traveled across the plains with no major problems. They reached Independence Rock, Wyoming just before July 4, 1844. At that resting area, the party was increased by one as Mrs. James Miller gave birth to Ellen Independence Miller. In southwest Wyoming, they decided to try a shortcut. Unlike the shortcut that the later Donner Party tried, the Greenwood and Stephens guided party saved five days on the shortcut that would later become known as Sublette's Cutoff. At the time it was called Greenwood's Cutoff. Eighty year old Greenwood knew the route very well up to Fort Hall, Idaho, but beyond that, he knew little of the route. The trail to California had been traveled by only two wagon trains, and they had not sent back any information on the route. Neither had been able to get their wagons into California. The Stephens party left Fort Hall on August 15, after sadly parting with the Oregon bound pioneers. They were able to follow the faint tracks of the previous wagons through Nevada. CHIEF TRUCKEE At the Humboldt Sink, they were unsure which route to take. Caleb Greenwood talked by sign language to an old Paiute, who purported to knew the way west. Captain Stephens, Dr. Townsend, and Joseph Foster went with the Indian as a guide, and returned in three days to report that they had found an eastward flowing river out of the Sierra Nevada. The old Paiute was none other than the chief of the Paiute nation. He had already been befriended by pathfinder John C. Fremont on his earlier exploration of Nevada, and had been to California with Fremont. Since the language barrier complicated communication, the Chief was bestowed the name Truckee, by the emigrant party. As a result, the river that he guided them to was named the Truckee River. Our town of Truckee also comes from that interpretation of the Paiute word "tro-kay" that meant all right or very well. By the time they reached the present Truckee Meadows, where Reno is now, it was mid-October and they were concerned about the weather and the river canyon ahead of them. What now takes us a half hour by freeway took the Stephens Party most of a week to reach the junction of Truckee (Donner) Creek and the Truckee River. Snow had been increasing as they progressed up the mountain and now reached about a foot deep. More snow was falling and a quick decision was made. SPLITTING THE PARTY On November 14, they decided to split up the group. A small party on horseback would follow the Truckee River south, while the main group with the wagons would follow the creek, which seemed more promising for wagons. The plan was for the faster horseback party to reach Sutter's Fort first and send back fresh animals and supplies for the wagon train. The six members of the horseback party headed south up the Truckee River, into the unknown, as Chief Truckee had not told them much about the river route. This party consisted of four men and two women, all young, strong and well supplied. One of the women was Elizabeth Townsend, who went a separate route than her husband and brother. On the morning of the 16th they came to the shore of Lake Tahoe, the first Americans to actually set foot on the lake's edge. John Fremont had already spotted the lake in February of 1844 while crossing the Sierra south of Lake Tahoe. As snow continued to fall, the six moved as quickly as possible along the west shore and up McKinney Creek and over the crest. They descended to the Rubicon River and out of the snow. The lower canyon was so rough that they were forced to ride and walk down the riverbed. After many dangers and hardships, including almost losing one man to the raging river, they worked their way down the canyon to Sutter's Fort, arriving on December 10, 1844. The wagon train group was not as fortunate. Arriving at Truckee (now Donner) Lake, they explored the canyon west of the lake below Sierra Nevada (now Donner) Pass . They decided to leave six of the wagons at Truckee Lake, taking five with them. Fighting through two feet of snow, they found a way up the pass that forced them to unload the wagons, carry the contents up the hill, and then doubled the oxen teams for each wagon. OVER THE CREST At the mid point of the granite rock section, they came to a vertical ledge that seemed to stop all wheeled traffic. After a desperate search, they found a slot in the rocks that allowed the oxen to climb through the rocks single file. Once all of the oxen were around the cliff, the hooked up chains and ropes to the wagons and pulled them up over the rocks. The men pushed from below, using all their strength and willpower to get wagons up to the pass. The pioneer wagons of the party crossed Sierra Nevada Pass, the first to prove that the Truckee Branch of the California Trail could be traveled by wagons. The date was November 25, 1844. But their journey was far from done. Three of the men would return to Truckee Lake to watch the remaining wagons. One, Moses Schallenberger would come away with a story almost unequaled in history. Elisha Stephens led the party that crossed the summit on November 25, 1844. The snow continued to fall and on the South Fork of the Yuba River near the present Big Bend, the six wagons were forced to stop because of exhausted oxen & men. The remaining 42 members of the 51 who reached the Sierra, created a survival camp, built a small crude cabin, and butchered most of their cattle for food. SNOWBOUND CAMP Soon after stopping, Mrs. Martin Murphy, Jr. gave birth to a daughter, the second baby born on the trip, named Elizabeth Yuba Murphy. A very difficult and frightening decision was made to leave all of the women and children in the camp with two men to watch over them. Seventeen men took as few supplies as possible and started out down the mountain. Their plan was to go down to Sutter's Fort and bring enough supplies back for their families to survive. The rescue party left the survival camp on December 6. Some rode horses, while others walked, driving the few remaining cattle ahead of them. They followed the Yuba River out of the snow into present Bear Valley. They then followed the Bear River to the foothills and found their way to Sutter's Fort. John Sutter was involved in a revolution in Mexican ruled California, later referred to as the "Micheltorena War", named for the then Governor Manuel Micheltorena. He was being challenged by incoming Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado. Sutter had sided with Micheltorena and was overjoyed to find 21 well armed men who were coerced to join him on an expedition to Santa Barbara. Party Captain Elisha Stephens led the group as far as Monterey, then convinced Sutter that they were not needed, and returned to Sutter's Fort. They gathered supplies and headed back to rescue their families, leaving on February 20, 1845 for the Sierra. They were very concerned about their families plight up on top of the Sierra. MOSES SCHALLENBERGER Back in late November, after helping to get the main group over the summit, three men went back to the remaining six wagons at Truckee (Donner) Lake. Party co-leader Henry Townsend had left his brother-in-law Moses Schallenberger, Joseph Foster, and Allan Montgomery to guard the wagons until the snow melted and they could return to take them over the mountains. No one in the party knew the Sierra, and they thought the snow would quickly melt as it did in the east. Schallenberger and the two others threw up a twelve by fourteen foot cabin, roofed with hides and pine branches. A single opening served as the window and door. This shelter would be the same one that the Breen family would struggle survive in during the winter of 1846-47 as part of the Donner Party. The three men were extremely concerned that snow continued to fall. When the snow pack reached the roof line, they realized that the game they planned to live off of would have moved below the snow line. The few starving cows that had been butchered would not feed them for long. Facing starvation, Foster & Montgomery made snowshoes from wagon parts and rawhide. Unlike later snowshoes they had both the toe and heel strapped down, which tired the men out quickly as they moved through the deep snow up the Sierra Pass. Younger than the other two, Moses Schallenberger suffered greatly from leg cramps, and could not continue. They camped on the summit for the night, but slept little. Schallenberger's legs were so stiff, he could not walk more than a few steps without stopping. He decided to return to they cabin and live as long as possible on the leftover beef and then try to cross when the snow hardened or melted. ALL ALONE After a sad parting, Moses limped and crawled back to the cabin at Truckee Lake. His trip was made easier by a hardening crust on the snow. He made it back to the cabin, and faced his situation. Eighteen years old, alone and facing the unknown, he took an inventory of his supplies. He found books and newspapers to read, a quarter of beef, saws and axes to cut firewood, and traps to catch any game that might be around. Moses Schallenberger found the will to survive. He trapped both coyotes and foxes, but found that he could barely eat the tough coyote meat, due to its poor taste. He caught foxes and was able to almost enjoy the meat. He would slowly gain his strength, all the while staring at the pass, hoping for rescue. RESCUE Some twenty miles west, the women and children of the survival camp were running out of food. The butchered beef had run out and they were down to eating boiled hides. On about February 24, the men from Sutter's Fort arrived at the camp. The near disaster of starvation and death was averted just in time. Immediately they moved the women and children down the mountain to the snow line. They pushed fast as possible not knowing how long the good weather would hold. The snow had hardened and they quickly reached Sutter's Fort. One member of the rescue party, Dennis Martin continued on snowshoes over the pass to Truckee Lake, hoping to find Schallenberger. Martin found Schallenberger alive and overjoyed with his rescue. Making new snowshoes, the two men went back over the mountain. They caught up with the main party on the Lower Bear River. Moses Schallenberger had spent three months all alone on an isolated mountain, not sure if he would ever see his family and friends. Schallenberger Ridge on the south side of Donner Lake is named after him. He settled on a farm in San Jose and lived to be eighty-three years, dying in 1909. By June of 1845, the snow had melted and a party was formed to bring the wagons left at Truckee Lake. When the returning party arrived, they found that all of their possessions except the guns and ammunition had been taken by the Indians who summered there. The completion of the journey was uneventful. SETTLING CALIFORNIA The party of emigrants spread out through California. Elisha Stephens would settle in the San Jose area for awhile before moving to the Bakersfield area. Though misspelled, the Stevens Creek area is named for Elisha Stephens. Mount Stephens, located just north of Donner Pass, was dedicated ten years ago on September 24, 1994 in his honor. Dr. John Townsend would become the first licensed physician in California. He would serve as Alcalde of San Francisco, as well as councilman and school board member in San Franciso. Townsend street was also named for him. The Murphy family would spread out as well. The foothill town of Murphys is named after the two of Martin Murphy's sons. Other party members would play a part in California's settling and the Gold Rush era. Old Caleb Greenwood and his sons would work for John Sutter for awhile, then return to Fort Hall, Idaho, to guide more wagon trains to California. He would discover shorter, easier routes than the one taken by the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend party. The Old Greenwood resort community is named for him. Ultimately this same mountain pass would be successfully crossed by thousands of emigrants on their way to California. One party, the Donner's, would overshadow the success of the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend party. Some historians consider this pioneer group, not the Donner's, to be the single most important chapter in local Truckee history. This article written by Gordon Richards orginally appeared in the September 24 and October 1, 2004 Echos From The Past in the Sierra Sun.

	Truckee - Donner Historical Society All Rights Reserved Created by Dale Dilts