History of the Donner Party. A tragedy of the Sierra ... Fourth edition, illustrated

Preface

. 9THE delirium preceding death by starvation, is full of J|. strange phantasies. Visions of plenty, of comfort, of j elegance, flit ever before the fast-dimming eyes. The final twilight of death is a brief semi-consciousness in which the dying one frequently repeats his weird dreams. Half rising from his snowy couch, pointing upward, one of the death-stricken at Donner Lake may have said, with tremulous voice: "Look! there, just above us, is a beautiful house. It is of costliest walnut, inlaid with laurel and ebony, and is resplendent with burnished silver. Magnificent in all its apartments, it is furnished like a palace. It is rich with costly cushions, elegant tapestries, dazzling mirrors; its floor is covered with Oriental carpets, its ceiling with artistic frescoings; downy cushions invite the weary to repose.

It is filled with people who are chatting, laughing, and singing, joyous and care-free. There is an abundance of warmth, and rare viands, and sparkling wines. Suspended among the storm-clouds, it is flying along the face of the precipice at a marvelous speed. Flying? no! it has wheels and is gliding along on a smooth, steel pathway. It is sheltered from the wind and snow by large beams and huge posts, which are bolted to the cliffs with heavy, iron rods. The avalanches, with their burden of earth and rocks and crushed pines, sweep harmlessly above this beautiful house and its happy inmates. It is drawn by neither oxen nor horses, but by a fiery, hot-breathed monster, with iron limbs and thews of steel. The mountain trembles beneath his tread, and the rocks for miles re-echo his roar."

PREFACE.

. If such a vision was related, it but indicates, prophetically, the progress of a few years. California's history is replete with tragic, startling events. These events are the landmarks by which its advancement is traced. One of the most mourn ful of these is recorded in this work — a work intended as a contribution, not to the literature, but to the history of the State. More thrilling than romance, more terrible than fic tion, the sufferings of the Donner Party form a bold contrast to the joys of pleasure-seekers who to-day look down upon the lake from the windows of silver palace cars. The scenes of horror and despair which transpired in the snowy Sierra in the winter of 1846-7, need no exaggeration, no embellishment. From all the works heretofore published, from over one thousand letters received from the survivors, from ample manuscript, and from personal interviews with the most important actors in the tragedy, the facts have been carefully compiled.

Neither time, pains, nor expense have been spared in ferreting out the truth. New and fragmentary versions of the sad story have appeared almost every year since the unfortunate occurrence. To forever supplant these' distorted and fabulous reports — which have usually been sen sational newspaper articles — the survivors have deemed it wise to contribute the truth. The truth is sufficiently terrible. Where conflicting accounts of particular scenes or occurrences have been contributed, every effort has been made to render them harmonious and reconcilable. With justice, with impartiality, and with strict adherence to what appeared truthful and reliable, the book has been written. It is an honest effort toward the truth, and as such is given to the world. C. F. McGLASHAN. Truckee, Cal., June 30, 1879. /*y <a. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

Donner Lake — A Famous Tourist Resort — Building the Central Pacific — California's Skating Park — The Pioneers — The Organization of the Donner Party — Ho! for California! — A Mammoth Train — The Dangers by the Way — False Accounts of the Sufferings Endured — Complete Roll of the Company — Impostors Claiming to Belong to the Party — Killed by the Pawnees — An Alarmed Camp — Resin Indians — A Mother's Death 15

Chapter II

Mrs. Donner's Letters — Life on the Plains — An Interesting Sketch — The Outfit Required — The Platte River — Botanizing — Five Hundred and Eighteen Wagons for California — Burning "Buffalo Chips" — The Fourth of July at Fort Laramie — Indian Discipline — Sioux Attempt to Purchase Mary Graves — George Donner Elected Captain — Letter of Stanton — Dissension — One Company Split up into Five — The Fatal Hastings Cut-off — Lowering Wagons over a Precipice — The First View of Great Salt Lake 24

Chapter III

A Grave of Salt — Members of the Mystic Tie — Twenty Wells — A Desolate Alkaline Waste — Abandoned on the Desert — A Night of Horror — A Steer Maddened by Thirst — The Mirage — Yoking an Ox and a Cow — "Cacheing" Goods— The Emigrants' Silent Logic— A Cry for Relief — Two Heroic Volunteers— A Perilous Journey — Letters to Captain Sutter CONTENTS.

Chapter IV

Gravelly Ford— The Character of James F. Reed— Causes which Led to the Reed- Snyder Tragedy— John Snyder's Popularity — The Fatal Altercation—Conflicting Statements of Survivors — Snyder's Death — A Brave Girl— A Primitive Trial— A Court of Final Resort— Verdict of Banishment — A Sad Separation — George and Jacob Donner Ahead at the Time— Finding Letters in Split Sticks— Danger of Starvation 41

Chapter V

Great Hardships — The Sink of the Humboldt — Indians Stealing Cattle — An Entire Company Compelled to Walk — Abandoned to Die — Wolfinger Murdered — Rhinehart's Confession — Arrival of C. T. Stanton — A Temporary Relief — A Fatal Accident — The Sierra Nevada Mountains — Imprisoned in Snow — Struggles for Freedom — A Hopeless Situation — Digging for Cattle in Snow — How the Breen Cabin Happened to be Built— A Thrilling Sketch of a Solitary Winter — Putting up Shelters — The Donners Have Nothing but Tents — Fishing for Trout. 51

Chapter VI

Endeavors to Cross the Mountains — Discouraging Failures — Eddy Kills a Bear — Making Snow-Shoes — Who composed the "Forlorn Hope" — Mary A. Graves — An Irishman — A Generous Act — Six Days' Rations — Mary Graves' Account — Snow-Blind — C. T. Stanton's Death — "I Am Coming Soon" — Sketch of Stanton's Early Life — His Charity and Self-sacrifice — The Diamond Breast-pin — Stanton's Last Poem 64

Chapter VII

A Wife's Devotion — The Smoky Gorge — Caught in a Storm — Casting Lots to See Who should Die — A Hidden River — The Delirium of Starvation —Franklin Ward Graves — His Dying Advice — A Frontiersman's Plan — The Camp of Death — A Dread Resort — A Sister's Agony — The Indians Refuse to Eat — Lewis and Salvador Flee for Their Lives — Killing a Deer — Tracks Marked by Blood — Nine Days without Food CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTER' VIII. Starvation at Donner Lake — Preparing Rawhide for Food — Eating the Fire-rug — Shoveling Snow off the Beds— Playing they were Tea-cups of Custard — A Starving Baby — Pleading with Silent Eloquence — Patrick Breen's Diary— Jacob Donner's Death — A Child's Vow — A Christmas Dinner — Lost on the Summits — A Stump Twenty-two Feet High — Seven Nursing Babes at Donner Lake — A Devout Father — A Dying Boy — Sorrow and Suffering at the Cabins 89

Chapter IX

The Last Resort — Two Reports of a Gun — Only Temporary Relief — Weary Traveling — The Snow Bridges — Human Tracks! — An Indian Rancherie — Acorn Bread — Starving Five Times! — Carried Six Miles — Bravery of John Rhodes — A Thirty-two Days' Journey — Organizing the First Relief Party — Alcalde Sinclair's Address — Capt. R. P. Tucker's Companions. 105

Chapter X

A Lost Age in California History — The Change Wrought by the Discovery of Gold — The Start from Johnson's Ranch — A Bucking Horse — A Night Ride — Lost in the Mountains— A Terrible Night — A Flooded Camp — Crossing a Mountain Torrent — Mule Springs — A Crazy Companion — Howlings of Gray Wolves — A Deer Rendezvous — A Midnight Thief— Frightening Indians— The Diary of the First Relief Party 113

Chapter XI

* Hardships of Reed and Herron — Generosity of Captain Sutter— Attempts to Cross the Mountains with Provisions — Curtis' Dog — Compelled to Turn Back — Hostilities with Mexico — Memorial to Gov. Stockton — Yerba Buena's Generosity — Johnson's Liberality — Titiful Scenes at Donner Lake — Noble Mothers — Dying rather than Eat Human Flesh —A Mother's Prayer— Tears of Joy— Eating the Shoestrings 12 1

Chapter XII

A Wife's Devotion — Tamsen Donner's Early Life— The Early Settlers of Sangamon County — An Incident in School — Teaching and Knitting CONTENTS. — School Discipline — Capt. George Donner's Appearance — Parting Scenes at Alder Creek — Starting over the Mountains — A Baby's Death — A Mason's Vow — Crossing the Snow Barrier — More Precious than Gold or Diamonds — Elitha Donner's Kindness 137

Chapter XIII

Death of Ada Keseberg — Denton Discovering Gold — A Poem Composed while Dying — The Caches of Provisions Robbed by Fishers — The Sequel to the Reed-Snyder Tragedy — Death from Overeating — The Agony of Frozen Feet — An Interrupted Prayer — Stanton, after Death, Guides the Relief Party!— The Second Relief Party Arrives — A Solitary Indian — Patty Reed and Her Father — Starving Children Lying in Bed — Mrs. Graves' Money still Buried at Donner Lake 148

Chapter XIV

Leaving Three Men in the Mountains — The Emigrants Quite Helpless — Bear Tracks in the Snow — The Clumps of Tamarack — Wounding a Bear — Blood Stains upon the Snow — A Weary Chase — A Momentous Day — Stone and Cady Leave the Sufferers — A Mother Offering Five Hundred Dollars — Mrs. Donner Parting from her Children — "God will Take Care of You" — Buried in Snow without Food or Fire — Pines Uprooted by the Storm — A Grave Cut in the Snow — The Cub's Cave — Firing at Random — A Desperate Undertaking — Preparing for a Hand-to-hand Battle — Precipltated into the Cave — Seizing the Bear — Mrs. Elizabeth Donner's Death — Clarke and Baptiste Attempt to Escape — A Death more Cruel than Starvation 163

Chapter XV

A Mountain Storm — Provisions Exhausted — Battling the Storm Fiends — Black Despair — Icy Coldness — A Picture of Desolation — The Sleep of Death — A Piteous Farewell — Falling into the Fire-well — Isaac Donner's Death — Living upon Snow Water — Excruciating Pain — A Vision of Angels— "Patty is Dying!"— The Thumb of a Mitten— A Child's Treasures — The "Dolly" of the Donner Party CONTENTS. 11

Chapter XVI

A Mother at Starved Camp — Repeating the Litany — Hoping in Despair — Wasting Away — The Precious Lump of Sugar — "James is Dying" — Restoring a Life — Relentless Hunger — The Silent Night Vigils — The Sight of Earth — Descending the Snow Pit — The Flesh of the Dead — Refusing to Eat — The Morning Star — The Mercy of God — The Mutilated Forms — The Dizziness of Delirium — Faith Rewarded — "There is Mrs. Breen." 183

Chapter XVII

The Rescue — California Aroused — A Yerba Buena Newspaper — Tidings of Woe — A Cry of Distress — Noble Generosity — Subscriptions for the Donner Party — The First and Second Reliefs — Organization of the *, Third — The Dilemma — Voting to Abandon a Family — The Fatal Ayes — John Stark's Bravery — Carrying the Starved Children — A Plea for the Relief Party 191

Chapter XVIII

Arrival of the Third Relief — The Living and the Dead — Captain George Donner Dying — Mrs. Murphy's Wrords — Foster and Eddy at the Lake — Tamsen Donner and Her Children — A Fearful Struggle — The Husband's Wishes — Walking Fourteen Miles — Wifely Devotion — Choosing Death — The Night Journey — An Unparalleled Ordeal — An Honored Name — Three Little Waifs— "And Our Parents are Dead." 199

Chapter XIX

False Ideas about the Donner Party— Accused of Six Murders— Interviews with Lewis Keseberg — His Statement — An Educated German — A Predestined Fate — Keseberg's Lameness — Slanderous Reports — Covered with Snow— "Loathsome, Insipid, and Disgusting"— Longings toward Suicide — Tamsen Donner's Death— Going to Get the Treasure— Suspended over a Hidden Stream— "Where is Donner's Money?"— Extorting a Confession CONTENTS. 216 247

Chapter XX

Dates of the Rescues — Arrival of the Fourth Relief — A Scene Beggaring Description — The Wealth of the Donners — An Appeal to the Highest Court — A Dreadful Shock — Saved from a Grizzly Bear — A Trial for Slander — Keseberg Vindicated — Two Kettles of Human Blood — The Enmity of the Relief Party — "Born under an Evil Star" — "Stone Him! Stone Him!" — Fire and Flood — Keseberg's Reputation for Honesty — A Prisoner in His Own House — The Most Miserable of Men

Chapter XXI

Sketch of Gen. John A. Sutter — The Donner Party's Benefactor — The Least and Most that Earth can Bestow — The Survivors' Request — His Birth and Parentage — Efforts to Reach California — New Helvetia — A Tuny Army — Uninviting Isolation — Ross and Bodega — Unbounded Generosity — Sutter's Wealth — Effect of the Gold Fever — Wholesale Robbery — The Sobrante Decision — A "Genuine and Meritorious" Grant— Utter Ruin— Hock Farm— Gen. Sutter's Death— Mrs. E. P. Houghton's Tribute 225

Chapter XXII

The Death List — The Forty-two Who Perished — Names of Those Saved — Forty-eight Survivors — Traversing Snow-belt Five Times — Burying the Dead — An Appalling Spectacle — Tamsen Donner's Last Act of Devotion — A Remarkable Proposal — Twenty-six Present Survivors — Mc- Cutchen — Keseberg — The Graves Family — The Murphys — Naming Marysville — The Reeds — The Breens 236

Chapter XXIII

The Orphan Children of George and Tamsen Donner — Sutter, the Philanthropist — "If Mother Would Only Come"— Christian and Mary Brunner— An Enchanting Home— "Can't You Keep Both of Us?"— Eliza Donner Crossing the Torrent — Earning a Silver Dollar — The Gold Excitement— Getting an Education — Elitha C. Donner — Leanna C. Donner — Frances E. Donner — Georgia A. Donner— Eliza P. Donner. . CONTENTS. 13 253