The year was 1844, and John and Daniel Murphy were part of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party, which was the first immigrant party to bring a wagons over the Sierra Nevada range. They were headed to Sutter’s Fort. As the gold rush heated up here in California, they earned a living as merchants and turned to prospecting as a lot of folks did. They headed from Sutter’s Fort south to an area which they called Murphy’s Old Diggings, and today is called Vallecito. From there they moved their camp to a new area, which they called Murphy’s Camp, and later the name was shortened to just Murphys.
Placer mining at this location was some of the best in Calaveras County, with miners given areas of only 8 square feet, which was enough to make those miners wealthy! It was easy to end a day with 16 ounces of gold in your pan. In a four acre area south of where the Murphys Hotel is located, $5,000,000, a huge amount of money for the times, was pulled from the ground. The Wells Fargo office shipped over $15,000,000 from their office between 1850 – 1860.
John and Daniel opened a trading post in town, and made their fortune there. In a day they would trade as much as $400 in gold dust for goods in a day. They also had their own mining rights. At the ripe old age of 23, John got along well with the local Indian tribe,the Miwok, and was able to get them to mine for him in exchange for goods. He even married the daughter of the Indian Chief! John Murphy left the town in 1849 and never looked back. He took with him $2,000,000 in gold and was one of the wealthiest men on the west coast!
Let’s go for a walk around town, shall we? I found this town to be quaint with the main street lined with trees, and an eclectic assortment of shops mixed in with remnants of days gone by.
Looking down Main Street
Another street view
Frogs can be found everywhere.
Frog Art
Gotta love them frogs!
As we walked through the town, we came upon the historic Murphys Hotel. Some notable folks stayed at this hotel. The list includes Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, J.P. Morgan and John Jacob Astor. Let’s start with a photo of the hotel that I was able to find courtesy of the Library of Congress. You might want to click on the photo so that you can see the detail.
Murphys Hotel back in the day
And here it is today.
Historic Murphys Hotel – Est. 1856
Side view of the Murphys Hotel
The Murphys Hotel carriage
There were many different things to see in this town, including a hydraulic cannon used in mining.
Hydraulic Water cannon used in mining
Here is a photo of one of the old buildings, all of which are loaded with character!
One of the many old buildings in Murphys
If you have the chance to visit, and I recommend that you do, you can find Murphys on Highway 4 just east of Stockton. Nearby the town is the Mercer Caverns, Columbia State Park, and Big Trees State Park.
Life in the Foothills 