Born in 1854, Mary Jane Coon crossed the plains with her parents to Butte county at just 6 years old. In 1879 she married Pierce C. Richardson who had come from Iowa in 1866 and was living in Chico. Along with farming and raising stock in Durham on her father William Coon’s land, the Richardsons bought land and built a ranch north of Chico on Mud Creek. The Mud Creek land would later be developed into Richardson Springs. Mrs. Richardson had four children, Robert Bruce Richardson, Alonzo Allen Richardson of Chico, Orel Gilson Richardson and Nellie Richardson Henderson of Durham.