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Volume 014-3 - November 1960 (2 pages)
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Page: of 2
family. Near the base of the tree, they scooped out a hollow for a fireplace. Then a crude,
semi-circular lean-to was constructed by propping poles against the lower branches over
which they hastily threw quilts, rubber coats, buffalo robes — anything thet was handy to
reach in the wagons. The Jacob Donners built a similar structure about 2C0 yards distant,
and the teamsters erected a sort of wigwam nearby.
In these 3 pitifully inadequate shelters 9 adults and 12 young children crowded together
for the first night, praying perhaps that the snow would abate by morning. But by morning
3 feet of snow covered the ground and weighed down the tent coverings. The snow continued
without ceasing for eight more days.
There has been, as some of you are aware, disagreement as to the exact place George
and Jacob Donner chose for their campsite. However, after careful examination of material
written on the history of the Donner Party, the chain of evidence seems to indicate that this
site is the place.
The evidence begins with C. F. McGlashan, author of the celebrated “HISTORY OF
THE DONNER PARTY” and contemporary of the younger Donners, who personally visited
this site on at least two occasions, accompanied by surviving members of the party.
On April 21, 1879, William C. Graves guided Mr. McGlashan to Alder Creek and pointed
out this site as that of the Donner camps. Graves had come to this area with members of the
first relief party on February 20, 1847. His identification should have been accurate.
Even more accurate identification was that of Nicholas Clark, who, in 1879, also led
Mr. McGlashan accompanied by other prominent Truckee residents here to Alder Valley.
Clark pointed out this area, where we now stand, as the location of the Donner camps. Clark
was even more familiar with the area than Graves. In March of 1847, he had come here
to lend a helping hand to Tamsen Donner, and he remained at the tents for 3 weeks. His
memory of the location at which he spent an extended time was bound to be accurate.
The threads of evidence are now interwoven by P. M. Weddell, who spent many
years identifying and marking Donner landmarks. Weddell was particularly interested in
pinning down the location of the Donner Family Camp, and on two occasions — 1921 and
1927—he visited Mr. McGlashan for this purpose. In the 1921 interview McGlashan described
these campsites with great care and accuracy, following which Weddell placed the George
and Jacob Donner camp markers. On July 15, 1927 McGlashan personally accompanied
Weddell here to Alder Valley. He identified the large forked pine and pointed out the tall
stumps in the meadow as the only relics still remaining. He further stated that this was
the area which had been shown to him by William Graves and Nicholas Clark in 1879 and
he verified it as the camp site of the Donner Camps. McGlashan also pointed out to Weddell
where the old emigrant trail came down the hill and entered the camp. The two men walked
up the hillside for quite some distance and McGlashan urged Weddell to mark the trail
as he had indicated and to continue it to Prosser Creek. Weddell later erected trail signs
in exact accordance with McGlashan’s instructions.
The final proof in the chain of evidence comes from George D. Oliver, then general
manager of the Hobart Company, whom Weddell visited in 1929. In Weddell’s personal
diary we find the following entry: “August 3, 1929 — Mr. Oliver said that he had been told
by a famous pioneer where the site of the Donner Family Camp is, that the name of this
old gentleman was W. B. Tiffony who died 25 years ago.”” Mr. Oliver then guided Weddell
on horseback to the place Mr. Tiffony had pointed out to him. Weddell stated that the
location which Oliver showed him was the same place which McGlashan had identified in
their first visit to the area in 1927.
The rest of the story of what befell the Donners here in Alder Valley is familiar to
most of you. Food was searce to begin with, for the party had certainly anticipated how
long the journey would take, and it is a tragic fact that they had too casually and too
thoughtlessly used up their food supply. So now they were forced to “make do” with what
provisions they had and that was little enough. After the meat of the oxen and horses was
gone, the families resorted to the skins, scorching off the hair and boiling the skin strips to
a gelatinous mass. This gruesome fare the younger children refused to eat, not realizing
that it was all that stood between them and death. In the desperate hours, the emigrants
snared field mice and ate these. Even an old buffalo robe was cooked, but according to
Vol (4m Me.3
the account of one survivor, its smell and taste were indescribable.
What with the ordeals of hunger, cold, and wetness (one of George Donner’s daughters
later recalled that her clothes and bedcovers were constantly wet for two weeks) and the
increasing difficulty of obtaining firewood, it is a wonder that any of the party survived.
The snow at Alder Valley eventually reached a depth of 12 feet, according to McGlashan
and Weddell — both of whom located and measured many stumps of that height in the area
some 40 yeais ago. Both men agreed that trees cut at the surface of the snow and leaving
stumps of that height were grim proof of the depth during that winter. Over the passage
of the years most of these original stumps have decayed and disappeared—but 2 you see
before you in the meadow have remained—bearing the original marks of the axe— and
attesting to the tragedy which occurred here more than a century ago.
In early December of 1846 the man who had dreamed of regained health in the
California sunshine—Jacob Donner—died. Within the space of the next few days, 3 of the
teamsters employed by the Donner brothers also died. All three were in the prime of life
in their young manhood. Relief parties dispatched from Sutter’s Fort arrived in February
and March. The five daughters of George and Tamsen Donner were taken safely across
the mountains. Three of Jacob's little sons were also sent with the parties, but they all
died before reaching safety. Elizabeth Donner might have gone with the relief party. but
her remaining 2 baby sons were too tiny to walk and she was too weak to carry them. By
the end of the first week in March, Elizabeth and her two babies were also dead.
George Donner lived in constant agony, for the infection in his hand had now spread to
his arm and shoulder. Realizing death was near, he repeatedly begged his wife to leave him
and save her own life. Tamsen steadfastly refused. George Donner died on March 28 or 29th.
the date is uncertain. Tamsen’s death remains a mystery. Some say she started out on the
journey over the mountains but succeeded only in reaching the Donner Lake campsites where
she collapsed and died. Others believe that she never left Alder Creek and met death by her
husband’s side. Regardless of the place and manner of her death, Tamsen Donner’s utter
selflessness and her unswerving devotion to her dying husband are shining examples of the
sort of spirit we are honoring here today.