August 12, 1970 (12 pages)

hace; —S. Oi pe ene et “te oe he te? Ye ee EPIC IN DESOLATION By the chance of topography, it fell to the land-of the Northern Mines to furnish the setting for the paramount tragedy of the western migrations which had their inception during the early . decades of the previous century, that of the Donner Party. The year of this writing, 1946, is the one hundredth anniversary of its inception. But time has served little to dull the vividness of the tales of an immigrant train overwhelmed in the vast snows of the Sierra Nevada. The heartaches of the disaster spread more than half way across the continent. During the ensuing decades the horrific aspects of it have stirred the imagination and colored the thought of multitudes of people. Since the stark drama of the Donner has been the theme of numerous books, countless articles, and even poetic treatments, it is not my purpose to recount in detail the scores of incidents which contribute to the narrative, It is sufficient, I believe, to relate the gripping story in bare outline. Early and late, a galaxy of professional writers have labored over the Donner theme. The first and chiefest was that strange and ebullient character, Charles Fayette McGlashan, who nearly seventy years ago, out of much travail, produced the parent book of the later progeny, "History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of-the Sierra." Moreover, the full account of the Donner Party contains material for several books and also for psychological studies in human conduct. The elements were heterogeneous in the extreme, In that large and unrelated company that fared out upon the trackless plains for a century ago, calmly ignoring or fatuously underestimating the hazards which lurked ahead, rode many things: Groups bound by family ties seeking a new life beyond the western horizon, adventurers, selfish and reckless, loyalty and ingratitude, the meek and the villainous, ¥ Nevada Co MINERS OF the past are shown here. The story reveals the history of the feelings and work miners performed in the days of the golden era of the Northern Mines. — — ¥ unt (PART THREE) . the benighand the sordid, age and youth, romance, pathos, heroism unexcelled, tragedy incomparable. On the stage of ‘the drama were many and divergent roles and actors. But, strangely, one factor was lacking, that of a strong and commanding personality, an authoritative leader. And that lack was to contribute mightily to the undoing of the Donner Party. The company of emigrants that came finally to be denominated the Donner Party (originally referred to as the Donner-Reed Party) left Springfield, Dlinois, on April 1, 1846, Independence, . Missouri, during the first week in May, celebrated the Fourth of July at Fort Laramie, sighted Great Salt Lake on September 3 (more than a month behind schedule)and were barricaded by snow at Donner (originally Truckey) Lake the last week in October. The disaster which overtook the Donners in present Nevada County territory. was directly due to a circumstance having all of the markings of an early-day commercial promotion scheme. The active leader was Lansford W. Hastings. His associates included the noted trapper and scout Caleb Greenwood and his two half-breed sons John and Britain, Jim Bridger, the trader, whose post was south of the main line of travel to Oregon and California, was concerned to the extent, at least, of giving misleading or unreliable information to the emigrants. The obvious purpose of the enterprise was to divert © a portion of the travel stream from the established emigrant routes in order to profit either by sales of supplies and services or to promote land settlements. Hastings, during that year, had met the emigrant columns at points east of the Continental Divide. He distributed a printed prospectus of a new and shorter route which had been given the name of the Hastings Cutoff. In addition he had a good line of what would now be termed sales talk. A train in advance of the (by then) mammoth Donner train had listened with favor ? . y2 9 8 8. BSD Fe Rae y Nugget to his offer of a personally coi (or some approximate route) fror Lake had been traversed by the . viously with Caleb Greenwood se! stance probably had its influence »* But the: sentiment of the Do: agreement could be reached, Thu: forked each wagoner made his ov ber kept to the right to follow th or to the upper Sacramento Valle turned to the left to proceed : -Cutoff,. the shorterroute to Cal three hundred miles, What they was ‘to oppose their feeble stren; able obstacle in the form of the 1 A brief rest-at the lake and ward into the oftentimes waterles River of Death, the Humboldt. Tt cruel blow thus far experience James F, Reed, the strongest teamster, Snyder was fatally st: raised a wagon pole for the han voiced and expulsion from the tr< prevailed. Reed was allowed his days he kept abreast of the tr: his family. Then: he pushed on Sutter's Fort and enacted a he ! the rescue efforts. The roster of the Donner . variously slated, but the averag seven individuals. Between the snow trap the ‘number. was re ments to approximately eighty. S

hace; —S. Oi pe ene et “te oe he te? Ye ee EPIC IN DESOLATION By the chance of topography, it fell to the land-of the Northern Mines to furnish the setting for the paramount tragedy of the western migrations which had their inception during the early . decades of the previous century, that of the Donner Party. The year of this writing, 1946, is the one hundredth anniversary of its inception. But time has served little to dull the vividness of the tales of an immigrant train overwhelmed in the vast snows of the Sierra Nevada. The heartaches of the disaster spread more than half way across the continent. During the ensuing decades the horrific aspects of it have stirred the imagination and colored the thought of multitudes of people. Since the stark drama of the Donner has been the theme of numerous books, countless articles, and even poetic treatments, it is not my purpose to recount in detail the scores of incidents which contribute to the narrative, It is sufficient, I believe, to relate the gripping story in bare outline. Early and late, a galaxy of professional writers have labored over the Donner theme. The first and chiefest was that strange and ebullient character, Charles Fayette McGlashan, who nearly seventy years ago, out of much travail, produced the parent book of the later progeny, "History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of-the Sierra." Moreover, the full account of the Donner Party contains material for several books and also for psychological studies in human conduct. The elements were heterogeneous in the extreme, In that large and unrelated company that fared out upon the trackless plains for a century ago, calmly ignoring or fatuously underestimating the hazards which lurked ahead, rode many things: Groups bound by family ties seeking a new life beyond the western horizon, adventurers, selfish and reckless, loyalty and ingratitude, the meek and the villainous, ¥ Nevada Co MINERS OF the past are shown here. The story reveals the history of the feelings and work miners performed in the days of the golden era of the Northern Mines. — — ¥ unt (PART THREE) . the benighand the sordid, age and youth, romance, pathos, heroism unexcelled, tragedy incomparable. On the stage of ‘the drama were many and divergent roles and actors. But, strangely, one factor was lacking, that of a strong and commanding personality, an authoritative leader. And that lack was to contribute mightily to the undoing of the Donner Party. The company of emigrants that came finally to be denominated the Donner Party (originally referred to as the Donner-Reed Party) left Springfield, Dlinois, on April 1, 1846, Independence, . Missouri, during the first week in May, celebrated the Fourth of July at Fort Laramie, sighted Great Salt Lake on September 3 (more than a month behind schedule)and were barricaded by snow at Donner (originally Truckey) Lake the last week in October. The disaster which overtook the Donners in present Nevada County territory. was directly due to a circumstance

having all of the markings of an early-day commercial promotion scheme. The active leader was Lansford W. Hastings. His associates included the noted trapper and scout Caleb Greenwood and his two half-breed sons John and Britain, Jim Bridger, the trader, whose post was south of the main line of travel to Oregon and California, was concerned to the extent, at least, of giving misleading or unreliable information to the emigrants. The obvious purpose of the enterprise was to divert © a portion of the travel stream from the established emigrant routes in order to profit either by sales of supplies and services or to promote land settlements. Hastings, during that year, had met the emigrant columns at points east of the Continental Divide. He distributed a printed prospectus of a new and shorter route which had been given the name of the Hastings Cutoff. In addition he had a good line of what would now be termed sales talk. A train in advance of the (by then) mammoth Donner train had listened with favor ? . y2 9 8 8. BSD Fe Rae y Nugget to his offer of a personally coi (or some approximate route) fror Lake had been traversed by the . viously with Caleb Greenwood se! stance probably had its influence »* But the: sentiment of the Do: agreement could be reached, Thu: forked each wagoner made his ov ber kept to the right to follow th or to the upper Sacramento Valle turned to the left to proceed : -Cutoff,. the shorterroute to Cal three hundred miles, What they was ‘to oppose their feeble stren; able obstacle in the form of the 1 A brief rest-at the lake and ward into the oftentimes waterles River of Death, the Humboldt. Tt cruel blow thus far experience James F, Reed, the strongest teamster, Snyder was fatally st: raised a wagon pole for the han voiced and expulsion from the tr< prevailed. Reed was allowed his days he kept abreast of the tr: his family. Then: he pushed on Sutter's Fort and enacted a he ! the rescue efforts. The roster of the Donner . variously slated, but the averag seven individuals. Between the snow trap the ‘number. was re ments to approximately eighty. S