History of the Donner Party by CF McGlashan - HTML preview

PLEASE NOTE: This is an HTML preview only and some elements such as links or page numbers may be incorrect.
Download the book in PDF, ePub, Kindle for a complete version.

pointedly described in a letter written by C. T. Stanton to his brother,

Sidney Stanton, now of Cazenovia, New York. The incident alluded to is

the unfriendliness and want of harmony so liable to exist between

dierent companies, and between members of the same company. From one

of Mr. Stanton’s letters the following extract is made:

”At noon we passed Boggs’ company on the Sweetwater; a mile further up

the river, Dunlavy’s; a mile further, West’s; and about two miles beyond

that, was Dunbar’s. We encamped about half way between the two latter.

Thus, within five miles were encamped five companies. At Indian Creek,

twenty miles from Independence, these five companies all constituted

one, but owing to dissensions and quarreling they became broken into

fragments. Now, by accident, we all again once more meet and grasp the

cordial hand; old enmities are forgot, and nothing but good feeling

prevails. The next morning we got rather a late start, owing

to a dierence of opinion arising in our company as to whether we

should lie by or go ahead. Those wishing to lie by were principally

young men who wished to have a day’s hunting among the bualoes, and

there were also a few families out of meat who wished to lay in a supply

before they left the bualo country. A further reason was urged that

the cattle were nearly fagged out by hard travel, and that they would

not stand the journey unless we stopped and gave them rest. On the other

side it was contended that if we stopped here the other companies would

all get ahead, the grass would all he eaten o by their thousand head

of cattle, and that consequently, when we came along, our cattle would

starve. The go-ahead party finally ruled and we rolled out.”

As will presently be seen, the dissension existing in the company, and

the petty dierences of opinion and interest, were the fundamental

causes of the calamities which befell the Donner Party.

When the company was near Fort Bridger, Edward Breen’s leg was broken

by

a fall from a horse. His mother refused to permit amputation, or rather

left the question to Edward’s decision, and of course, boy-like, he

refused to have the operation performed. Contrary to expectation, the

bone knitted, and in a month he walked without a crutch.

23

At Fort Bridger, which was at this time a mere camp or trading post, the

party heard much commendation bestowed upon a new route via Salt Lake.

This route passed along the southern shore of the Lake, and rejoined the

old Fort Hall emigrant road on the Humboldt. It was said to shorten the

distance three hundred miles. The new route was known as the Hastings

Cut-o, and was named after the famous Lansford W. Hastings, who was

even then piloting a small company over the cut-o. The large trains

delayed for three or four days at Fort Bridger, debating as to the best

course to pursue. It is claimed that but for the earnest advice and

solicitation of Bridger and Vasquez, who had charge of the fort, the

entire party would have continued by the accustomed route. These men had

a direct interest in the Hastings Cut-o, as they furnished the

emigrants with supplies, and had employed Hastings to pilot the first

company over the road to Salt Lake.

After mature deliberation, the party divided, the greater portion going

by Fort Hall and reaching California in safety. With the large train,

which journeyed the old road, this narrative is no longer interested.

Eighty-seven persons, however, took the Hastings Cut-o. Their names

are included in the ninety mentioned in the preceding chapter, it being

remembered that Mrs. Sarah Keyes had died, and that Lewis and Salvador

were not yet members of the party. For several days the party traveled

without much diculty. They reached Weber River near the head of the

well-known Weber Canyon. At the first crossing of this river, on the

third of August, they found a letter from Hastings stuck in the split of

a stick, informing them that the road down the Weber Canyon was in a

terrible condition, and that it was doubtful if the sixty-six wagons

which L. W. Hastings was then piloting through the canyon would ever

succeed in reaching the plain. In the letter, Hastings advised all

emigrants to avoid the canyon road, and pursue over the mountains a

course which he faintly outlined. In order to obtain further

information, and, if possible, to induce Hastings to return and act as

guide, Messrs. Reed, Stanton, and Pike were sent forward to overtake the

advance company. This was accomplished after a fatiguing trip, which so

exhausted the horses of Stanton and Pike that these gentlemen were

unable to return to the Donner Party. Hastings was overtaken at a point

near the southern end of Great Salt Lake, and came back with Reed to the

foot of the blus overlooking the present city of Salt Lake. Here he

declared that he must return to the company he was piloting, and despite

the urgent entreaties of Reed, decided that it was his duty to start

back the next morning. He finally consented, however, to ascend to the

summit of the Wahsatch Mountains, from which he endeavored, as best he

could, to point out the direction in which the wagons must travel from

the head of Weber Canyon. Reed proceeded alone on the route indicated,

taking notes of the country and occasionally blazing trees to assist him

in retracing the course.

Wm. G. Murphy (now of Marysville, Cal.) says that the wagons remained

in

24

the meadows at the head of Weber Canyon until Reed’s return. They then

learned that the train which preceded them had been compelled to travel

very slowly down the Weber River, filling in many irregular places with

brush and dirt; that at last they had reached a place where vast

perpendicular pillars of rock approached so closely on either side that

the river had barely space to flow between, and just here the water

plunged over a precipice. To lower the wagons down this precipice had

been a dreadful task.

The Donner Party unanimously decided to travel across the mountains in a

more direct line toward Salt Lake. They soon found rolling highlands and

small summit valleys on the divide between Weber River and Salt Lake.

Following down one of the small streams, they found a varying, irregular

canyon, down which they passed, filling its small stream with brush and

rocks, crossing and recrossing it, making roads, breaking and mending

wagons, until three weeks’ time had expired. The entire country was

heavily covered with timber and underbrush. When the party arrived at

the outlet of this stream into Salt Lake Valley, they found it utterly

impassable. It was exceedingly narrow, and was filled with huge rocks

from the clis on either side. Almost all the oxen in the train were

necessary in drawing each wagon out of the canyon and up the steep

overhanging mountain. While in this canyon, Stanton and Pike came up to

the company. These gentlemen encountered great hardships after their

horses gave out, and were almost starved to death when they reached the

train.

Instead of reaching Salt Lake in a week, as had been promised, the party

were over thirty days in making the trip. No words can describe what

they endured on this Hastings Cut-o. The terrible delay was rendering

imminent the dangers which awaited them on the Sierra Nevada. At last,

upon ascending the steep rugged mountain before mentioned, the vision of

Great Salt Lake, and the extensive plains surrounding it, burst upon

their enraptured gaze. All were wild with joy and gratitude for their

deliverance from the terrible struggle through which they had just

passed, and all hoped for a prosperous, peaceful journey over pleasant

roads throughout the remainder of the trip to California. Alas! there

were trials in the way compared with which their recent struggles were

insignificant. But for the fatal delay caused by the Hastings Cut-o,

all would have been well, but now the summer was passed, their teams and

themselves were well-nigh exhausted, and their slender stock of

provisions nearly consumed.

Chapter III.

A Grave of Salt

Members of the Mystic Tie

25

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 Emigrant’s Silent Logic

A Cry for Relief

Two Heroic Volunteers

A Perilous Journey

Letters to Capt. Sutter.

Near the southern shore of great Salt Lake the Donner Party encamped on

the third or fourth of September, 1846. The summer had vanished, and

autumn had commenced tinting, with crimson and gold, the foliage on the

Wahsatch Mountains. While encamped here, the party buried the second

victim claimed by death. This time it was a poor consumptive named Luke

Halloran. Without friend or kinsman, Halloran had joined the train, and

was traveling to California in hopes that a change of climate might

eect a cure. Alas! for the poor Irishman, when the leaves began to

fall from the trees his spirit winged its flight to the better land. He

died in the wagon of Captain George Donner, his head resting in Mrs.

Tamsen Donner’s lap. It was at sundown. The wagons had just halted for

the night. The train had driven up slowly, out of respect to the dying

emigrant. Looking up into Mrs. Donner’s face, he said: ”I die happy.”

Almost while speaking, he died. In return for the many kindnesses he had

received during the journey, he left Mr. Donner such property as he

possessed, including about fifteen hundred dollars in coin. Hon. Jas. F.

Breen, of South San Juan, writes: ”Halloran’s body was buried in a bed

of almost pure salt, beside the grave of one who had perished in the

preceding train. It was said at the time that bodies thus deposited

would not decompose, on account of the preservative properties of the

salt. Soon after his burial, his trunk was opened, and Masonic papers

and regalia bore witness to the fact that Mr. Halloran was a member of

the Masonic Order. James F. Reed, Milton Elliott, and perhaps one or two

others in the train, also belonged to the mystic tie.”

On the sixth day of September they reached a meadow in a valley called

”Twenty Wells,” as there were that number of wells of various sizes,

from six inches to several feet in diameter. The water in these wells

rose even with the surface of the ground, and when it was drawn out the

wells soon refilled. The water was cold and pure, and peculiarly welcome

after the saline plains and alkaline pools they had just passed. Wells

similar to these were found during the entire journey of the following

day, and the country through which they were passing abounded in

luxuriant grass. Reaching the confines of the Salt Lake Desert, which

lies southwest of the lake, they laid in, as they supposed, an ample

supply of water and grass. This desert had been represented by Bridger

26

and Vasquez as being only about fifty miles wide. Instead, for a

distance of seventy-five miles there was neither water nor grass, but

everywhere a dreary, desolate, alkaline waste. Verily, it was

”A region of drought, where no river glides,

Nor rippling brook with osiered sides;

Where sedgy pool, nor bubbling fount,

Nor tree, nor cloud, nor misty mount

Appears to refresh the aching eye,

But the barren earth and the burning sky,

And the blank horizon round and round

Spread, void of living sight or sound.”

When the company had been on the desert two nights and one day, Mr.

Reed

volunteered to go forward, and, if possible, to discover water. His

hired teamsters were attending to his teams and wagons during his

absence. At a distance of perhaps twenty miles he found the desired

water, and hastened to return to the train. Meantime there was intense

suering in the party. Cattle were giving out and lying down helplessly

on the burning sand, or frenzied with thirst were straying away into the

desert. Having made preparations for only fifty miles of desert, several

persons came near perishing of thirst, and cattle were utterly powerless

to draw the heavy wagons. Reed was gone some twenty hours. During this

time his teamsters had done the wisest thing possible, unhitched the

oxen and started to drive them ahead until water was reached. It was

their intention, of course, to return and get the three wagons and the

family, which they had necessarily abandoned on the desert. Reed passed

his teamsters during the night, and hastened to the relief of his

deserted family. One of his teamster’s horses gave out before morning

and lay down, and while the man’s companions were attempting to raise

him, the oxen, rendered unmanageable by their great thirst, disappeared

in the desert. There were eighteen of these oxen. It is probable they

scented water, and with the instincts of their nature started out to

search for it. They never were found, and Reed and his family,

consisting of nine persons, were left destitute in the midst of the

desert, eight hundred miles from California. Near morning, entirely

ignorant of the calamity which had befallen him in the loss of his

cattle, he reached his family. All day long they looked and waited in

vain for the returning teamsters. All the rest of the company had driven