First Wagons Across the Sierra

The Stephens – Townsend – Murphy Party, with guidance from old Caleb Greenwood and Chief Truckee, brought their wagons up the Truckee River bed and on Nov. 25, 1844 191 days out of Council Bluffs, Iowa passed this point and crossed the mighty Sierra summit directly to the west, blazing the famous California Emigrant Trail for all who followed.