The seeds for the Ripon community were planted along the Stanislaus River following a short-lived settlement established in 1846 when a group of Mormons planted crops of wheat on land near the confluence of the Stanislaus and San Joaquin rivers that they named New Hope.Their party of more than 200 under the leadership of Samuel Brannan had sailed out of New York and landed in San Francisco. Twenty men led by William Stout headed inland to form New Hope. They were threatened by a flood in the Central Valley a year later causing them to abandon their encampment.