one have been lost. Our milch cows
have been of great service, indeed. They have been of more advantage
than our meat. We have plenty of butter and milk.

"We are commanded by Captain Russell, an amiable man. George Donner
is himself yet. He crows in the morning and shouts out, 'Chain up,
boys--chain up,' with as much authority as though he was 'something in
particular.' John Denton is still with us. We find him useful in the
camp. Hiram Miller and Noah James are in good health and doing well. We
have of the best people in our company, and some, too, that are not so
good.

"Buffalo show themselves frequently. We have found the wild tulip, the
primrose, the lupine, the eardrop, the larkspur, and creeping hollyhock,
and a beautiful flower resembling the bloom of the beech tree, but in
bunches as large as a small sugarloaf, and of every variety of shade, to
red and green.

"I botanize, and read some, but cook 'heaps' more. There are four
hundred and twenty wagons, as far as we have heard, on the road between
here and Oregon and California.

"Give our love to all inquiring friends. God bless them.

"Yours truly, Mrs. George Donner."

By the Fourth of July the Donner Party had reached Fort Laramie. They
pushed on west over the old trail up the Sweetwater River and across the
South Pass, the easiest of all the mountain passes known to the early
travelers. Without much adventure they reached Fort Bridger, then only a
trading-post. Here occurred the fatal mistake of the Donner Party.

Some one at the fort strongly advised them to take a new route, a
cut-off said to shorten the distance by about three hundred miles. This
cut-off passed along the south shore of Great Salt Lake and caught up
the old California Trail from Fort Hall--then well established and well
known-along the Humboldt River. The great Donner caravan delayed for
some days at Fort Bridger, hesitating over the decision of which route
to follow. The party divided. All those who took the old road north of
Salt Lake by way of Fort Hall reached California in complete safety. Of
the original Donner Party there remained eighty-seven persons. All of
these took the cut-off, being eager to save time in their travel. They
reached Salt Lake after unspeakable difficulties. Farther west, in the
deserts of Nevada, they lost many of their cattle.

Now began among the party dissensions and grumblings. The story is a
long one. It reached its tragic denouement just below th