Donner Pass Faced with one last push over mountains that were described as much worse than the Wasatch Range, the Donner Party had to decide whether to forge ahead or rest their cattle. It was October 20 and they had heard at
Sutter's Fort that the pass (now known as
Donner Pass) would not be snowed in until the middle of November. William Pike was killed when a gun being loaded by William Foster was discharged negligently, an event that seemed to make the decision for them; family by family, they resumed their journey—first the Breens, then the Kesebergs, Stanton with the Reeds, Graves, and the Murphys. The Donners traveled last. After a few miles of rough terrain, an
axle broke on one of their wagons. Jacob and George went into the woods to fashion a replacement. George Donner sliced his hand open while chiseling the wood but it seemed a superficial wound. Snow began to fall. The Breens made it up the "massive, nearly vertical slope" to Truckee Lake (now known as
Donner Lake), from the pass summit, and camped near a cabin that had been built two years earlier by members of the
Stephens–Townsend–Murphy Party. The Eddys and the Kesebergs joined the Breens, attempting to make it over the pass, but they found snowdrifts and were unable to find the trail. They turned back for Truckee Lake and within a day all the families were camped there except for the Donners, who were —half a
day's journey—below them.
Winter camp Sixty members and associates of the Breen, Graves, Reed, Murphy, Keseberg and Eddy families set up for the winter at Truckee Lake. Three widely separated cabins of pine logs served as their homes, with dirt floors and poorly constructed flat roofs that leaked when it rained. The Breens occupied one cabin, the Eddys and the Murphys another, and the Reeds and the Graves the third. Keseberg built a
lean-to for his family against the side of the Breen cabin. The families used canvas or
oxhide to patch the faulty roofs. The cabins had no windows or doors, only large holes to allow entry. Of the 60 at Truckee Lake, 19 were men over age 18, 12 were women, and 29 were children, six of whom were toddlers or younger. Farther down the trail, close to
Alder Creek, the Donner families hastily constructed tents to house 21 people, including Mrs. Wolfinger and the Donners' drivers: six men, three women and twelve children in all. It began to snow again on the evening of November 4—the beginning of an eight-day storm. Desperation grew in camp and some reasoned that individuals might succeed in navigating the pass where the wagons could not. In small groups they made several attempts, but each time returned defeated. Another severe storm, lasting more than a week, covered the area so deeply that the cattle and horses—their only remaining food—died and were lost in the snow. Patrick Breen began keeping a diary on November 20. He concerned himself primarily with the weather, marking the storms and how much snow had fallen, but gradually began to include religious references in his entries. Life at Truckee Lake was miserable. The cabins were cramped and filthy, and it snowed so much that people were unable to go outdoors for days. Diets soon consisted of oxhide, strips of which were boiled to make a "disagreeable" glue-like jelly. Ox and horse bones were boiled repeatedly to make soup, and they became so brittle that they would crumble upon chewing. Sometimes they were softened by being charred and eaten. Bit by bit, the Murphy children picked apart the oxhide rug that lay in front of their fireplace, roasted it in the fire and ate it. After a party set out on makeshift snowshoes in an attempt to cross the mountain pass, two-thirds of those remaining at Truckee Lake were children. Mrs. Graves was in charge of eight, and Levinah Murphy and Eleanor Eddy together took care of nine. Migrants caught and ate mice that strayed into their cabins. Many were soon weakened and spent most of their time in bed. Occasionally one would be able to make the full-day trek to see the Donners. News came that Jacob Donner and three hired men had died. One of them, Joseph Reinhardt, confessed on his deathbed that he had murdered Wolfinger. George Donner's hand had become infected, which left four men to work at the Donner camp. Margret Reed had managed to save enough food for a Christmas pot of soup, to the delight of her children, but by January they were facing starvation and considered eating the oxhides that served as their roof. Margret Reed, Virginia Reed, Milt Elliott and the servant girl Eliza Williams attempted to walk out, reasoning that it would be better to try to bring food back than sit and watch the children starve. They were gone for four days in the snow before they had to turn back. Their cabin was now uninhabitable; the oxhide roof served as their food supply, and the family moved in with the Breens. The servants went to live with other families. One day, the Graveses came by to collect on the debt owed by the Reeds and took the oxhides, all that the family had to eat.
"The Forlorn Hope" The mountain party at Truckee Lake began to fail. Augustus Spitzer and Baylis Williams (a driver for the Reeds) died, more from
malnutrition than starvation. Franklin Graves fashioned 14 pairs of snowshoes out of
oxbows and hide. On December 16, a party of 17 men, women and children set out on foot in an attempt to cross the mountain pass. As evidence of how grim their choices were, four of the men were fathers. Three of the women, who were mothers, gave their young children to other women. They packed lightly, taking what had become six days' rations, a rifle, a blanket each, a hatchet and some
pistols, hoping to make their way to
Bear Valley. Historian
Charles McGlashan later called this snowshoe party the "
Forlorn Hope". Two of those without snowshoes, Charles Burger and 10-year-old William Murphy, turned back early on. Other members of the party fashioned snowshoes for 12-year-old Lemuel Murphy on the first evening from one of the packsaddles that they were carrying. The group became lost and confused. After two more days without food, Patrick Dolan proposed one of them should volunteer to die in order to
feed the others. Some suggested a
duel, while another account describes an attempt at a
lottery. Eddy suggested that they keep moving until someone simply fell, but a
blizzard forced the group to halt. Antonio, the animal handler, was the first to die; Franklin Graves was the next casualty. As the blizzard progressed, Dolan
began to rant deliriously, stripped off his clothes, and ran into the woods. He returned shortly afterwards and died a few hours later. Not long after, possibly because Murphy was near death, some of the group began to eat flesh from Dolan's body. Lemuel's sister Sarah tried to feed him some, but he died shortly afterwards. Eddy, Salvador and Luis refused to eat. The next morning, the group stripped the muscle and organs from the bodies of Antonio, Dolan, Graves, and Murphy. They dried them to store for the days ahead, taking care to ensure nobody would have to eat his or her relatives. After three days' rest, they set off again, searching for the trail. Eddy eventually succumbed to his hunger and ate human flesh, but that was soon gone. They began taking apart their snowshoes to eat the oxhide webbing and discussed murdering Luis and Salvador for food. Eddy warned the two men and they quietly left. Jay Fosdick died during the night, leaving only seven members of the party. Eddy and Mary Graves left to hunt, but when they returned with deer meat, Fosdick's body had already been cut apart for food. After several more days—25 since they had left Truckee Lake—they came across Salvador and Luis, who had not eaten for about nine days and were probably close to death. William Foster shot both men, thus realizing his plans from before they had left; their bodies were butchered and their flesh dried for consumption.