During the 1840s, many American settlers emigrated to the Central Valley of what was still Mexican-controlled California, seeking to claim the area's fertile farmland. The first major American settlement along the Stanislaus River was founded in January 1847 by about 30 Mormon colonists under the direction of Samuel Brannan. Stanislaus City, alternately called "Mormon Ranch" or "New Hope", was established on the north bank of the river not far from its confluence with the San Joaquin. The settlers constructed a sawmill and began to plant the area in wheat and vegetables. Brannan envisioned Stanislaus City as the center of the LDS church in California, eventually to attract thousands of Mormon emigrants. However the settlement did not grow significantly, ultimately dissolving the next year. At least one factor in its decline was a massive flood that winter; William Stout, one of the town's founders, wrote that the Stanislaus was "three miles wide" in January 1848.