L. Dow Stephens

L. Dow Stephens was the last of five children born to descendants of Welsh immigrants who settled in New Jersey. When he was a child, the family resettled in Illinois at the western edge of civilization. Being raised on a farm, young Dow learned the trades of farming and carpentry, but the greatest adventure of his life would not necessitate those skills.

Then twenty-one years old, Stephens left the relative security of his family and farm early in 1849 to try his fortune in the gold rush. On March 28 of that year, his mining party departed for California from Galesburg, Illinois, on an overland adventure that would include Stephens's attendance at a sermon given by Mormon leader Brigham Young at the fledgling Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It took Stephens a full year to reach the gold hunting grounds...