The next day I went to Donner lake, scene of one of the epic tales of the emigrant trains in which all traits of human character were starkly laid bare: courage, endurance, sacrifice also selfishness, cowardice and treachery. The Donner-Reed party (named after the leaders) was a group 87 strong making for California by wagon in the summer of 1848. Leaving late in the year they had tried to take shortcuts , been sorely tested by desert and mountain crossings and forced to abandon much of their belongings. Reaching the Sierras they were trapped by early snows. While some organized escape and rescue parties enduring extreme cold , hunger and exhaustion in the mountains others with supplies of food kept them to themselves and refused to help. My personal hero is Charles Stanton a pint-size man who did escape to the warmth and comfort of California but though he had no family in the stranded party felt it was his duty to return with supplies. He did this but leading another escape party he was overcome by malnutrition, tiredness and snow blindness and could not go on. As the others in the party left camp one day he simply said, “I’m coming soon…” allowing them to leave without feeling they were abandoning him - but they never saw him again.
 In the end they were reduced to eating animal hides then to eating the dead. Finally only 3 people were left at the campsite, Lewis Keesburg, a still healthy Tamsen Donner and her dying husband who she refused to leave. When the snows melted they found Keesburg plump and well. He had been feeding on the body of Mrs. Donner for days despite animal carcasses having been revealed by the melt. The valuables left in the camp were missing and Keesburg confessed to stealing and hiding them only when lifted off the ground by a noose. A huge monument now stands on the location of the camp while traffic rushes by on the interstate making the journey to Sacramento in 3 hours. |
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