DONNER LAKE AND ITS TRAGIC HISTORY
Closely allied to Lake Tahoe by its near proximity, its situation on
the Emigrant Gap automobile road from Sacramento to Tahoe, and that
it is seen from Mt. Rose, Mt. Watson, and many Tahoe peaks, is Dormer
Lake,--lake of tragic memories in the early day pioneer history of
this region.
It was in 1846 that James T. Reed, of Springfield, Ill., determined to
move to California. This land of promise was then a Mexican province,
but Reed carefully and thoroughly had considered the question and
had decided that, for his family's good, it was well to emigrate. He
induced two other Illinois families to accompany him, those of George
and Jacob Donner. Thursday, April 15th, 1846, the party started, full
of high hopes for the future. The story of how they met with others
bound for California or Oregon, at Independence, Mo., journeyed
together over the plains and prairies to Fort Hall, where Lansford W.
Hastings, either in person or by his "Open Letter," led part of the
band to take his new road, which ultimated in dire tragedy, is well
known.
The Oregon division of the divided party took the right-hand trail,
while the other took the left-hand to Fort Bridger. It is the
experiences of this latter party with which we are concerned.
Misfortune came to them thick and fast from this time on. The wagons
were stalled in Weber Canyon and had to be hauled bodily up the steep
cliffs to the plateau above; some of their stock ran away, after
heartbreaking struggles over the Salt Lake desert; mirages intensified
their burning thirst by their disappointing lure; Indians threatened
them, and finally, to add despair to their wretchedness, a quarrel
arose in which Mr. Reed, in self-defence, killed one of the drivers,
named Snyder. Reed was banished from the party under circumstances of
unjustifiable severity which amounted to inhuman cruelty, and his wife
and helpless children, the oldest of them, Virginia, only twelve years
of age, had to take the rest of the journey without the presence of
their natural protector. Food supplies began to give out, the snow
fell earlier than usual and added to their difficulties, and before
they reached the region of the Truckee River they were compelled to
go on short rations. Then, under suspicious circumstances one of the
party, Wolfinger, was lost, and though his wife was informed that he
had been murdered by Indians, there was always a doubt in the minds of
some as to whether that explanation were the true one. On the 19th
of October, an advance guard that had gone on to California for food,
returned, bringing seven mules ladened with flour and jerked beef. The
story of this trip I have recounted more fully in the book _Heroes
of California_. Without this additional food the party never could
have survived. On the 22nd they crossed the Truckee River for the
forty-ninth time.
Heavy snow now began to intercept their weary way. They were finally
compelled to take refuge in an abandoned cabin near the shore of what
is now known as Donner Lake, and there, under circumstances of horror
and terror that can never fully be comprehended and appreciated, the
devoted men, women and children were imprisoned in the snow until the
first relief party reached them, February 19th, with scant provisions,
brought in at life's peril on snowshoes. A "Forlorn Hope" had tried to
force its passage over the snowy heights. Fifteen brave men and women
determined to see if they could not win their way over and send
back help. Out of the fifteen seven only survived and reached the
Sacramento Valley, and they were compelled to sustain life by eating
the flesh of those who had perished.
The second relief party was organized by Mr. Reed,--the banished
leader--and thirty-one of the party were still in camp at Donner Lake
when he arrived, with nine stalwart men to help, on March 1st. On the
3rd nine of them left, with seventeen of the starving emigrants, but
they were caught in a fearful snow-storm as they crossed the summit,
and ten miles below were compelled to go into camp. Their provisions
gave out, Mrs. Graves died, leaving an emaciated babe in arms and
three other children, one a five-year-old, who died the next day.
Isaac Donner died the third night. Reed and Greenwood, carrying Reed's
two children, Mattie and James Jr., with one of the survivors who
could walk, now struggled down the mountain in the hope that they
could reach help to go back and finish the rescue work. These met
Mr. Woodworth who organized the third relief party, of seven men, who
returned to "Starved Camp," to find the survivors begging piteously
for something to eat. This relief party divided into two parts--one to
go over the summit to give help to the needy there, the other to get
the "Starved Camp" remnant to safety. The first section succeeded in
their mission of mercy and a few days later caught up with the other
section from Starved Camp.
Mr. C.F. McGlashan, formerly editor of the _Truckee Republican_,
has written a graphic account, with great care and desire for
accuracy, of the complete expedition, which gives the heart-rending
story with completeness, and I expect to publish ere long the personal
story of Virginia Reed Murphy, who is still alive, one of the few
survivors of the ill-fated party.
[Illustration: The Steamer at the Wharf, Tahoe Tavern, Lake Tahoe]
[Illustration: Donner Lake, on the Automobile Highway from Sacramento
to Truckee and Lake Tahoe]
[Illustration: The Canyon of the Truckee River in Winter]
[Illustration: Automobiling along the Picturesque Truckee River,
on the way to Lake Tahoe]
Through privations and hardships untold the survivors were ultimately
enabled to reach Sutter's Fort, only to find the most vile and fearful
stories set in circulation about them. Four separate relief parties
were sent from California, and their adventures were almost as tragic
as those of the sufferers they sought to help. Bret Harte, in his
_Gabriel Conroy_, has told much--though in the exaggerated and
unjust form the stories were first circulated--of the Donner tragedy,
and it has been made the subject of much newspaper and other writing
and discussion.
An unusual trip that can be taken from Tahoe Tavern is down to the
foot of Donner Lake and then, turning to the left, follow the old
emigrant and stage-road. It has not been used for fifty years, but it
is full of interest. There are many objects that remain to tell of its
fascinating history. Over it came many who afterwards became pioneers
in hewing out this new land from the raw material of which lasting
commonwealths are made. Turning south to Cold Stream, it passes by
Summit Valley on to Starved Camp. The stumps of the trees cut down by
the unfortunate pioneers are still standing.
It was always a difficult road to negotiate, the divide between Mt.
Lincoln and Anderson Peak being over 7500 feet high. But those heroes
of 1848-49 made it, triumphing over every barrier and winning for
themselves what Joaquin Miller so poetically has accorded them,
where he declares that "the snow-clad Sierras are their everlasting
monuments."
This road is now, in places, almost obliterated. One section for three
miles is grown up. Trees and chaparral cover it and hide it from the
face of any but the most studiously observant. When the road that
takes to the north of Donner Lake was built in 1861-62 and goes
directly and on an easier grade by Emigrant Gap to Dutch Flat, this
road by Cold Stream was totally abandoned. For years the county road
officials have ignored its existence, and now it is as if it never had
been, save for its memories and the fragments of wagons, broken and
abandoned in the fierce conflict with stern Nature, and suggesting
the heart-break and struggle the effort to reach California caused in
those early days.