 On
October 5th at Iron Point, two wagons became entangled and
John Snyder, a teamster of one of the wagons began to whip his oxen. Infuriated by the teamster’s treatment of the oxen, James Reed ordered
the man to stop and when he wouldn't, Reed grabbed his knife and
stabbed the teamster in the stomach, killing him. The
Donner
Party wasted no time in administering their own justice. Though member, Lewis Keseberg, favored hanging for James Reed, the
group, instead, voted to banish him. Leaving his family, Reed was last
seen riding off to the west with a man named Walter Herron.
The
Donner
Party continued to travel along the Humboldt River with their
remaining draft animals exhausted. To spare the animals,
everyone who could, walked. Two days after the Snyder killing,
on October 7th, Lewis Keseberg turned out a Belgian man
named Hardcoop, who had been traveling with him. The old man, who
could not keep up with the rest of the party with his severely swollen
feet, began to knock on other wagon doors, but no one would let him
in. He was last seen sitting under a large sage brush,
completely exhausted, unable to walk, worn out, and was left there to
die.
The terrible ordeals of the caravan
continued to mount, when on October 12th, their oxen were
attacked by Piute
Indians, killing 21 one of them with poison tipped arrows, further
depleting their draft animals.
Continuing to encounter multiple obstacles, on October
16th, they reached the gateway to the Sierra
Nevada
on the Truckee River (present day Reno) almost completely depleted of
food supplies. Miraculously, just three days later on October 19th,
one of the men the party had sent on to Fort Sutter -- Charles
Stanton, returned laden with seven mules loaded with beef and flour,
two
Indian guides, and news
of a clear, but difficult path through the Sierra
Nevada. Stanton’s partner, William McCutchen had fallen ill and remained at
the fort. The caravan camped for five days 50 miles from the
summit, resting their oxen for the final push. This decision to
delay their departure was yet one more of many that would lead to
their tragedy.
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October 28th, an exhausted James
Reed arrived at Sutter’s Fort, where he met William McCutchen, now
recovered, and the two men began preparations to go back for their
families.
In the meantime, while the wagon
train continued to the base of summit, George Donner’s wagon axle broke
and he fell behind the rest of the party. Twenty two people,
consisting of the
Donner family and their hired
men, stayed behind while the wagon was repaired. Unfortunately,
while cutting timber for a new axle, a chisel slipped and
Donner
cut his hand badly, causing the group to fall further behind.
As the rest of the party continued to what
is now known as Donner’s Lake, snow began to fall. Stanton and the
two
Indians who were traveling ahead made it as far as the summit, but
could go no further. Hopeless, they retraced their steps where five feet
of new snow had already fallen.
With the Sierra pass just 12 miles beyond,
the wagon train, after attempting to make the pass through the heavy snow,
finally retreated to the eastern end of the lake, where level ground and
timber was abundant. At the lake stood one existing cabin and realizing
they were stranded, the group built two more cabins, sheltering 59 people
in hopes that the early snow would melt, allowing them to continue their
travels.
The 22 people with the
Donners were about six miles
behind at Alder Creek. Hastily, as the snow continued, the party
built three shelters from tents, quilts, buffalo robes and brush to
protect themselves from the harsh conditions.
At Donner Lake, two more attempts were made
to get over the pass in twenty feet of snow, until they finally realized
they were snowbound for the winter. More small cabins were
constructed, many of which were shared by more than one family. The
weather and their hopes were not to improve. Over the next four months,
the remaining men, women, and children would huddle together in cabins,
make shift lean-tos, and tents.
Meanwhile, Reed and McCutchen had headed
back up into the mountains attempting to rescue their stranded companions. Two days after they started out it began to rain. As the elevation
increased, the rain turned to snow and twelve miles from the summit the
pair could go no further. Caching their provisions in Bear Valley,
they returned to Sutter’s fort hoping to recruit more men and supplies for
the rescue. However, the Mexican War has had drawn away the
able-bodied men, forcing any further rescue attempts to wait. Not
knowing how many cattle the emigrants had lost, the men believed the party
would have enough meat to last them several months
On Thanksgiving, it began to snow again,
and the pioneers at Donner Lake killed the last of their oxen for food on
November 29th. The very next day, five more feet of snow
fell, and they knew that any plans for a departure were dashed. Many of their animals, including Sutter’s mules, had wandered off into
the storms and their bodies were lost under the snow. A few days
later their last few cattle were slaughtered for food and party began
eating boiled hides, twigs, bones and bark. Some of the men tried to
hunt with little success.
On
December 15, Balis Williams died of malnutrition and the group realized
that something had to be done before they all died. The next day
five men, nine women and one child departed on snow shoes for the summit,
determined to travel the 100 miles to Sutter’s Fort. However, with
only meager rations and already weak from hunger the group faced a
challenging ordeal. On the sixth day, their food ran out and for the
next three days no one ate while they traveled through grueling high winds
and freezing weather. One member of the party, Charles Stanton,
snow-blind and exhausted was unable to keep up with the rest of the party
and told them to go on. He never rejoined the group. A few
days later, the party was caught in a blizzard and had great difficulty
getting and keeping a fire lit. Antonio, Patrick Dolan, Franklin
Graves, and Lemuel Murphy soon died and in desperation, the others
resorted to cannibalism.
Continued
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