Stevens and the West

For some reason, surprisingly many of the early explorers of the American west were named Stevens or Stephens.  It's probably just a coincidence.  Here's a partial list

Elisha Stephens (1804-1877) was one of the leaders of the Stephens/Murphy/Townsend party.  He seems to have been the one to have discovered Donner pass in 1844 and led the group of 50 to what is now the western part of Santa Clara county without any deaths--in fact two babies were born in route.  John C Fremont would put it on a map the following year, claiming to have discovered it, resulting in the incompetent Donner party attempting it in Nov 1846, losing 39 of 87 in the process.   Stephens would settle on the Arroyo de San Jose de Copertino, so named by the De Anza party, which had camped there in March of 1776.  Other settlers would rename the creek in Stephens honor (but misspelling it) and today, the biggest two streets in Cupertino are Stevens Creek Blvd and De Anza Blvd, which cross at Cupertino Corner.  Frustrated with how crowded Cupertino was becoming, he sold his land and moved to the area that would become Bakersfield in 1861.

John Frank Stevens (1853-1943) was a surveyor and engineer hired by James J Hill to plan and develop the route for the Great Northern Railroad, which he did with extraordinary skill.  Stevens Pass, which he discovered, is named for him.  He later would plan the route of the Panama canal and for a little while headed the whole project.

Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) (no relation) was the first governor of Washinton Territory from 1853-1857.  He was the one who chose Olympia as the Territorial Capital.  He forced the local native tribes all over the territory to sign restrictive treaties, leading to quite a bit of conflict but earning him good support from the White settlers at the time.  He was killed in action fighting for the Union in the Battle of Chanitilly in 1862.  Stevens County, WA, Lake Stevens, WA, and Fort Stevens, OR, were all named for him, along with numerous schools and streets, a county in Minnesota, and more.

John Lloyd Stephens (1805-1852) was an explorer of Central America.  He and his friend Frederick Catherwood rediscovered the ruins of the Mayan civilization in the 1840s and were the first to realize this was a great civilization that had disappeared for hundreds of years.  He was also the chief engineer of the Panama railroad, which was instrumental in building the Canal 60 years later.

John H Stevens (1820-1900) the first resident of Minneapolis west of the river.

James B Stephens (1806-1889) one of the earliest settlers of Portland, OR.