The toils and dangers of the way have been told so often that it is needless to repeat them here. That they were many we know; deep rivers had to be forded, roads made through almost impassable mountain fastnesses, vigilant watch kept to protect the train and its belongings from prowling savages and predatory animals. At Fort Hall, the train separated, those whose destination was the Northwest taking the Oregon trail; Mr. Murphy, his family and friends continuing to California. The difficulties of the route were augmented by the lateness of the season. Snow had fallen when they reached the Yuba, and further progress with wagons was impossible. Cabins for the accommodation of the families were erected, and there a number of the emigrants remained until March, 1845. Among those who wintered there were James Miller and family and Martin Murphy, Jr., and family. Mr. Murphy, his daughter Helen, his sons Daniel, John M., Bernard D., James, the latter’s wife and child, Dr. Townsend and wife, with others of the party, proceeded on horseback to Sutter’s Fort, where they were hospitably received by that grand old pioneer, J. A. Sutter. When Mr. Murphy reached California he found the country in a state of rebellion. “The native Californians had revolted against Mexican rule, seized the government arms and ammunition stored at the Mission of San Juan Bautista and marched upon the capital. The Mexican military force in the country was small and Governor Micheltorena, fearing defeat, called for aid upon John A. Sutter, who had been a foreign resident in the country since 1839. Sutter responded, and with one hundred mounted men, mostly foreigners, hastened to the rescue.” Mr. Murphy and his sons were of the number who journeyed southward, “making haste slowly” ’neath winter’s sun and showers through the fairest land on which the light of Heaven shone. They reached Los Angeles late in January or early in February, 1845. After the battle of Chauvenga and the overthrow of the Mexican administration, Mr. Murphy and his sons returned to Santa Clara valley. Here he found the glorious realization of his hopes in a soil of rare fertility and a climate equable and healthy, and here he made his home. He purchased the Rancho Ojo de Agua de la Coche, Rancho San Francisco de las Llagas, Rancho de las Uvas, that portion of the San Ysidro ranch now known as Ba Polka, and one-sixteenth of the Rancho de Las Animas, a stretch of country extending from mountain top to mountain top east and west, and from the vicinity of Madrone station in the North to the present town of Gilroy in the South.