They arrived in Hangtown (Placerville) in August of 1850. His prospecting must have taken him over much of Northern California and he had some success in mining because he bought land for his cattle ranch in Shasta County before he went home to Missouri by sea. In 1861 he was wagon master on his wagon train and brought more family members to Shasta County. While he was living alone he heard from an Indian boy whom he had befriended that Indians were planning an attack. He and eleven friends withstood that attack by a large group of Indians.

Sarah Martha Heryford was born in Missouri April 10, 1848 to Clemens Reed and Nancy Ann Chambers Heryford. They crossed the plains with a family group -- her grandfather died shortly after they arrived at their ranch on Clover Creek and her grandmother returned to Missouri. Sarah was nine when she crossed the plains and she left a small account of this adventure.

Sarah tells of gathering wild fruit to make pies and buffalo chips for the fire to cook them. Occasionally, they could get supplies at a trading post. She, also, tells of crossing the Missouri on a "flatboat" and swimming the oxen across the Platte.

On December 24, 1865 Dan and Sarah were married and settled on Dan's Oak Run ranch which totaled between six and seven thousand acres to run their cattle. The couple had eleven children:
 

Sarah lived in their home in Millville another eleven years until her death October l4, 1932; she had survived all but four of their children. Both are buried in the Hunt Family Cemetery near the family home.

Source: Shasta Historical Society - Aug 2000