men
determined to see if they could not win their way over and send
back help. Out of the fifteen seven only survived and reached the
Sacramento Valley, and they were compelled to sustain life by eating
the flesh of those who had perished.

The second relief party was organized by Mr. Reed,--the banished
leader--and thirty-one of the party were still in camp at Donner Lake
when he arrived, with nine stalwart men to help, on March 1st. On the
3rd nine of them left, with seventeen of the starving emigrants, but
they were caught in a fearful snow-storm as they crossed the summit,
and ten miles below were compelled to go into camp. Their provisions
gave out, Mrs. Graves died, leaving an emaciated babe in arms and
three other children, one a five-year-old, who died the next day.
Isaac Donner died the third night. Reed and Greenwood, carrying Reed's
two children, Mattie and James Jr., with one of the survivors who
could walk, now struggled down the mountain in the hope that they
could reach help to go back and finish the rescue work. These met
Mr. Woodworth who organized the third relief party, of seven men, who
returned to "Starved Camp," to find the survivors begging piteously
for something to eat. This relief party divided into two parts--one to
go over the summit to give help to the needy there, the other to get
the "Starved Camp" remnant to safety. The first section succeeded in
their mission of mercy and a few days later caught up with the other
section from Starved Camp.

Mr. C.F. McGlashan, formerly editor of the _Truckee Republican_,
has written a graphic account, with great care and desire for
accuracy, of the complete expedition, which gives the heart-rending
story with completeness, and I expect to publish ere long the personal
story of Virginia Reed Murphy, who is still alive, one of the few
survivors of the ill-fated party.

[Illustration: The Steamer at the Wharf, Tahoe Tavern, Lake Tahoe]

[Illustration: Donner Lake, on the Automobile Highway from Sacramento
to Truckee and Lake Tahoe]

[Illustration: The Canyon of the Truckee River in Winter]

[Illustration: Automobiling along the Picturesque Truckee River,
on the way to Lake Tahoe]

Through privations and hardships untold the survivors were ultimately
enabled to reach Sutter's Fort, only to find the most vile and fearful
stories set in circulation about them. Four separate relief parties
were sent from California, and their adventures were almost as