The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 5 Rescue and Relief

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Eric Gasco, and you're listening to the
Distorted History podcast and program. I didn't give you many nails,
and I a blunder, and look I'm raling. I'm not

(00:24):
the Arrah. A long struggle for freedom, it really is
a revolution. When last we left the Daughter Party, seventy
of the original fifteen members of the ill fated Snowshoe
expedition that would come to be known as the Forlorn Hope, had,

(00:46):
after a main Maria's thirty three day journey that involved
both murder and cannibalism, at long last or ride to
the Johnson Ranch, where they put out word that there
were still more people in the mountains in desperate need
of rescue. Indeed, little did they know how bad things
were getting up in those mountains, as on the twenty
second of January, five days after the Forlorn Hope's arrival

(01:08):
at Johnson's Ranch, yet another blizzard descended upon the mountains
and the Daughter Party's camps, with Patrick Breene noting in
his diary that this was quote the most severe storm
we experienced this winter, which was saying something. This storm, then,
like the authors they had experience, lasted for days nine hours,
stopping only for brief occasions to then resume with a fury.

(01:30):
It was during the storm that only twenty fourth of January,
the Keysburg's infant Sun Lewis Junior, who had just been
born months earlier back in August, as the group drested
by the Great Salt Lake, took his last breath, which
means the child who had been born while in the
Hastings cutoff would never make it to California because of it. Meanwhile,
by the thirtieth of January, things were becoming increasingly desperate

(01:52):
intents in camp, to the point that Elizabeth Graves laid
claimed to the various hides and other goods that Elizabeth
Reid had left behind, declaring that she would only return
them months Margaret paid her back for the meat that
her husband alone to her when they first became trapped
in the mountains. Meanwhile, Levena Murphy, in her own increasing desperation,
went to beg Peggy Breen for some meat to try

(02:13):
and revive her dying son John. Peggy, who herself had
to worry about her own seven children and seeing that
they were fed, still could understand Levina's plight, and so
she gave her a small bit of meat. The ailing
mother then gave her seventeen year old son the meat
she had procured. He ate it and then fell asleep,
never to awake again. As January came to an end,

(02:34):
then they had been trapped in the mountains for three
months and things were only getting worse, and they had
no reason to hope that rescue was coming, as they
knew nothing of what had happened to the Snowshoe Expedition
other than the belief was as they set off it
would only take them days to reach assistance, and it
was now nearing two months since they left. The second
of February then brought yet another death, as one year

(02:56):
old Harry McCutcheon, unbeknownst to either of her parents, died
as both her mother and her father were currently in
California after having departed separately to Sea Gaide, with her mother, Amanda,
having been part of the Snowshoe Expedition, while her father,
big Bill, had been a part of Charles Stan's original mission,
only to fall so ill that he was forced to
remain behind in Sutter's Fort. He had though since been

(03:19):
working independently and with James Reid to get aid to
the beleaguer Daughner party, and in particular his wife and daughter.
Little Harrod's death there will be equal parts sad and merciful,
as the baby girl had been tortured by lice for weeks,
if not longer, as their painful bites caused her to
cry constantly, to the point that Patty Reid years later
would know that she could still hear quote the terrible

(03:40):
screams of that poor little one. Then, just two days
after poor little Harriet's death, another infant, Margaret Eddie, also died,
likely due to the fact another mother, Eleanor, could no
longer physically produce milk to feed the little girl. Indeed,
Eleanor herself wasn't long for the world, as she, in
her overwhelming grief, lasted only if a few days more.

(04:01):
John breen Than buried both mother and child together in
the snow, being Maudy potentially less tragic note. The following day, AUGUSTA. Spitzer,
who had been accused by Joseph W. Reighthart of murdering
Jacob Buffinger for his gold, would die as well, after
more and less being ignored and left to his fate.
Once the accusation had been made by his alleged co conspirator. Indeed,

(04:21):
when Spitzer begged for just a small morsel from Peggy
Brain so he could die in peace, she reportedly ignored
him and went back to sleep. Death would visit the
Mountain camp set again when, on the ninth of February,
the twenty eight year old teamster for the Reeds, Milt Elliott,
could not get out of bed. Now, Milt was more
than just a hired hand. He was beloved by many
in the party, especially among the Reeds, who considered him

(04:44):
to be a part of their family. Indeed, Milt would
call Margaret Ma, and in his decline he just wanted
to be near those who he called family. Patrick Breen, however,
recognizing that Milt was dying, would not welcome him into
his cabin like he had the Reeds, as he did
not want his children to see you death. Milt then
would dine in the Murphy cabin, at which point Virginia
and Margaret Reid took charge of his body, giving him

(05:07):
the best burial that they could in these circumstances. As
Virginia would later write, quote, when Milt Elliott died, our
faithful friend who seems sulen like a brother. My mother
and I dragged him out of the cabin and covered
him with snow commencing at his feet. I padded pure
white snow down softly until I reached his face. Poor Milt,
it was hard to cover the face from sight forever,

(05:28):
for with his death, our best friend was gone. Life
in those cabins, the lonely truncky lake in the Alder
Creek was becoming increasingly tenuous by the day. Yet at
long Laster was homecoming. But these relief efforts would unfortunately
be filled with their own heartbreaking tragedy, as it would
be no easy task to ascend those snowy peaks to
bring aid and rescue. Yet, before we go any further

(05:51):
into this, the final episode of the Tell of the
Dinner Party. First, like always and want to acknowledge my
sources for this series, which primarily are Michael wass Is
The Best Land under Heaven, The Donner Party in the
Age of manifest Destiny, Daniel James Brown's The Indifferent Stars Above,
the horroring Saga of the Donner Party, and Dee Brown's
Wonders Times at the Frontier America during the eighteen hundreds

(06:13):
and like always, a full list of these and any
other sources like websites that I use will be available
on this podcast Bluesky and Covey pages Plause. For anyone
who doesn't want to be bothered skipping through commercials, there
is always an ad free feed available to subscribers at
patreon dot com slash Distorted History. And with all that
being said, let's begin now. You may be wondering why
the arrival of the ill fated Stawshi Party was what

(06:35):
finally raised the alarma about the Donner Party being trapped
in the mountains and what started the process of organizing
relief efforts to save them. When James Reid had been
in California this entire time and was very much aware
this family had not made it and more likely in
desperate need of assistance. While after failing at his initial
attempt to bring suppose to the trapped members of the
Donner Party, James Reid, on Sutter's advice, had traveled to

(06:58):
yeerbur Buena which would soon be redubbed San Francisco to
speak with Joseph B. Hull, the senior military authority there.
Reed's attempt, however, would be delayed because he San Francisco's
side of the bay was occupied by Mexican forces, whose
territory this still technically was. During this delay, Read then
shifted his attention to scanning the area as a prospective
hoone for his family. He then found numerous claims and

(07:20):
petitions to purchase land in his name and in the
names of his friends and relatives by forging their signatures. Meanwhile,
Reid was also basically conscripted to fighting the ongoing war
against Mexico, as he had promised to do so once
he had been given the opportunity to go and rescue
his family, which he had granted It hadn't been successful,
but the head of the US volunteers in the region,

(07:40):
one Captain Joseph Marier Weber, would insist, quote, you must fight.
If you don't, it will be murder. You have been
in the Blackhawk War and you understand fighting. Besides, unless
you help us, you'll never reach Yobubuena alive. James Reid, then,
who never actually saw conflict during the Blackhawk War, was
then made a lieutenant of then a milley band of
mounted riflemen. Reed and his men then were tasked primarily

(08:04):
with scouting the region, during which time they lived off
the land, potentially at the cost of the people who
already called the territory home as volunteer bands like his
would develop a reputation during this time for essentially just
stealing cattle and horses from the locals, claiming as they
did that it was necessary for the war effort. In fact,
it was such actions by some American sailors that led

(08:25):
to the Battle of Santa Clara that Reed and his
men would take part in, as some American sailors were
captured and taken hostage by the locals as a way
of protesting these ongoing thefts. The resulting clash was just
a small battle that resulted in four deaths and six
wounded before a treaty was signed, with this dust up
seemingly being the last one of its kind in Alta, California.

(08:46):
For his part, Reads seemed to be quite excited to
have taken part in this conflict, as he would write
through John Sutter quote, I am heartily glad that I
had such an opportunity to fight for my country. Reid
would also be rewarded for his service, as he was
I wanted to be the officer in charge of the
Mission San Jose, where he would soon make a deal
with Padre Jose Moriosares de reality San Jose Mission in

(09:08):
which they would share the profits of the valuable orchards
and vineyards they lay on the mission's grounds. Then, in December, Reid,
who had already foiled a number of claims for lands
near the mission, and listed the help of a paaraman
to start planning crops to further strengthen his claim to
set lands. Which is to say that James Reed was
well on his way to setting himself up for quite
a profitable new life in California. As for the family

(09:31):
who he was setting all this up for, while Reed
could not organize a relief effort until he was officially
released from duty, which did not happen until the twenty
sixth of January, which was nine days after William Eddie
arrived at Johnson's Ranch carrying word to the Donner Party's
fate or learning the people of California to their desperate
need for aid. Reed be moll, unaware of this development,

(09:51):
sent off for year Babuena, which was about to officially
become San Francisco, intending to raise funds and recruit men
for a relief party from the five hundred er so
people who called the village home. Reid's first step was
to carry petition to the US military governor of the
California Territory, Commander Robert R. Stockton, pleading for the creation
of a Stowshoe expedition to go aid the trapped Donnor party. Stockton, however,

(10:14):
wasn't in his headquarters, so Reid when in search of
Captain Joseph B. Hull, who he had originally been dispatched
to meet with, presenting him with the petition and making
his case, at which point, according to Reid, Hall assured
him that quote he would do anything within reason to
further the object, meaning the rescue effort. However, quote, he
was afraid that the Department at Washington would not sustain

(10:35):
him if he made the general outfit. So, finding little
help from the government slash military, Reid set about trying
to garner more support. He was not alone in this
effort either. Indeed, one of the individuals most dedicated to
the cause was one Reverend James G. Dunlevy, who had
actually traveled with the Reeds and Donnersy previous year as
a part of the Al Russell wagon train, with Dunlevy

(10:56):
noun promising to use the skillus as a preacher to
aid Read in his request. Also volunteering to help in
this effort was one Washington Barlett, who called for a
public gathering on the third of February at the City Hotel,
a meeting which was reportedly attended by virtually every male
citizen in San Francisco, including the publisher of the California Star,
san Francisco's first newspaper. With everyone gathered, Read proceeded to

(11:19):
tell those in attendants about his family, lead Donners, and
the various others who had joined them on the trail
and who were now trapped in the Stowe's Here and
Evanas and in need of help. Reid was said to
have delivered a deeply emotional plea for assistance, in which
his voice cracked and he finally burst in the tears
before sinking into a chair, sobbing loudly, at which point
the Reverend Dunlevy took control of the meeting, relating his

(11:41):
own experiences traveling with the people who are now trapped,
as well as describing their current tragic state. Once dun
levy was done, those in attendants reportedly all rushed forward,
eager to hand over fistfuls of silver dollars so as
to fund the purchases supplies, horses and mules for the
relief effort. Some eight hundred dollars was raised in that
single night, and in the following days a number would

(12:01):
climb to over fifteen hundred. It was and It's Reid's
expedition was being organized that a letter around in San
Francisco telling the desperate till the fifteen members Stow Shoe
Party and the cannibalism that they had participated in to
reach Johnson's Ranch, and their subsequent plea for assistance. Also
accompanying this account, which was based upon William Eddie's letter
to John Sutter, was word of the relief party that

(12:22):
was already being organized in the ranch, and an encouragement
for Bartlett to organize his own effort, as it was
already understood it was going to take more than one
relief party to bring this tragic tale to an end. Now,
the news that the Daughter Party was in even more
serious trouble than reading the others had anticipated, and the
news at another rescue party was already underway, then reading

(12:43):
the others in San Francisco to delay their own mission
so as to recruit more men and acquire more food
and supplies. The rescue effort that was organized at Johnson's

(13:41):
Ranch thanks for the arrival William Etty and the other
survivors of the Stocio expedition, would come to be known
as the First relieve Now, to be clear, wall efforts
to start this rescue mission pretty much started right away.
The fact that the matter was there's simply warn't a
lot of people Johnson's Ranch and the nearest settlement was
some forty miles to the south, plus with some men
wrapped up in the war effort, it took them two

(14:02):
weeks to find enough people so as to make a
reasonable attempt to save those still trapped in the mountains. Finally, then,
only fourth of February, roughly two and a half weeks
since William Eddy arrived at the ranch, fourteen men would
set off on this first relief effort. Now, notably, not
a single member of this team was an experienced mountaineer,
but they were determined to do what they could. Leading

(14:23):
this group would be forty year old Aquilla Glover and
Reason Tucker, as they were well respected by the others
undertaking this mission. The two were then initially joined by
a pair of others from Sutter's Fort who had volunteered
for this mission despite there being no guarantee that they
would be paid for their efforts. This, however, was clearly
not enough men to go on this mission, so Sutter
eventually personally guaranteed to pay the members of the relief

(14:45):
expedition three dollars a day, even if the US government
failed to pay them. They promise that then resulted in
several more men joining the expedition, and all then seven men,
including Aquila Glover and Reason Tucker, had arrived at Johnson's
ranch leading a string of pack horses loaded with supplies. Then,
upon arriving, they also assisted in the butchering and drying
of the meat from the half dozen cows that William

(15:06):
Johnson had donated to the effort. Once this was done,
the first relief party, which consisted of a combination of emigrants,
sight the donners and whalers, would abandon their ships in
port set off. Notably, Also among this group was done
other than William Eddie, who was in no way recovered
from his ordeal, as he was still frail and feverish,
but he refused to be left behind, for as far
as he knew, his wife and two children were still

(15:29):
trapped up in the mountains, and he was determined to
get back to them, not realizing that his daughter Margaret
had just died and his wife Eleanor would soon join her. Now.
It was raining as he set off on the fourth
but they thought they could not wait any longer. The rain, though,
turned the Atlanta mud, which bogged down their heavily laden
pack animals, required them to on multiple occasions fully unload

(15:50):
the animals so they could pull them free of the
mud and then load them back up again. As a
result of these conditions, the first relief mission would only
travel twenty five miles over the course of their life
first three days, before spending the fourth day drying them
saws and their supplies out. The party was then further
delayed when they reached Depollo Creek, which, while only one
hundred feet wide, was twenty feet deep and had a

(16:11):
current that at the time was very swift and powerful.
As a result, when the men in the expedition were
able to cross using ropes, the horses and mules, which
were carrying their precious supplies, had a much harder time
of it, with the first pair of horses that they
tried to get across being washed downstream and nearly drowned
the process. They basically then had to use a system
of ropes to pull each of the animals across individually,

(16:34):
a process which took half a data complete. It was
in the ninth of February, five days at their first
setting off, that they reached the stone line. As they
now climbed further into the mountains, the expedition encountered stone
that was in some places four feet deep, which made
progress with horses all but impossible. It was decided at
this point then that they would set up a base

(16:54):
camp at a location known as Mules Springs. Here the
group constructed a shelter to store their supplies, at which
point they had William Eddie and another man lead their
various horses and mules back to Johnson's ranch, as they
had at long last convinced Eddie, who had been carried
by a horse as far and who was so weak
that he had to be assisted into the saddle, that
he was simply in no condition at the moment to

(17:15):
continue on, with Eddie and the other man heading back
in the two teenagers in the party, George Talker and
Billy Coon, being left at the mule create camp to
guard the supplies. The ten remaining men set off on
the next leg of their journey on the eleventh of February.
As they did, each member of this party carried their
own hatchet, tin, cup, and blanket, but most important was
the fifteen to seventy five pounds of dried beef and

(17:37):
flour in each of their packs. As they made their
way up the mountain without a guide, the members of
the first relief traveled in a single file line, walking
in each other's footsteps, with the man in the lead
having the most physically demanding job of breaking the trail,
a position that he would hold until he grew tired,
at which point the lead man would circle back to
the rear as the next man up would take over. Meanwhile,

(17:59):
as a win, the party made upon a sending fire
to every dead pine tree they came across, as a
way of marking the trail for the relief party they
expected to follow them, and as a way of signaling
any potential members of the daughter party who were attempting
to escape the mountain on their own. Now, as you
might expect, the further opt the mountain they went, the
harder it was to make progress because the stove grew

(18:20):
progressively deeper, which was batten off on its own, but
the stone, thanks to the sun beating down on it,
also grew increasingly wet and heavy, which made the party
stow shoes less effective, as the snow just tended to
clump and stick to them, thereby making each step that
much more difficult due to the added weight. The increasingly
demanding travel than served to not only sapped the rescue
party's energy, but their spirits as well. Plasa didn't help

(18:43):
matters when yet another snowstorm descended upon them, dumping even
more snow on their path and soaking the rescue party
in the process. This was such a boatom around that
the group then spent the entire day doing nothing but
sitting by their fires as they dried themselves and their
blankets out. Most importantly, though, three members of the ten
men party at this point announced they were giving up. Now,

(19:04):
it's hard to blame that Richie for coming to this conclusion,
as he was an older man who simply had not
realized how physically demanding this was going to be, so
he probably just physically could not go on. Meanwhile, a
man known as Greasy Jim declared that he had only
agreed to go as far as Bear Valley, which, regardless
of whether that was true or not, he now had
no interest in going any further. Then there was Jonathan Curtis,

(19:28):
the man who had been rescued by James Reed and
Big Bill Wilcutch in the previous winter when the instumble
crossed his in his wife's camp in the initial filled
rescue attempt. Curtis, then, it turns out, had only participated
in this journey to return to his campsite and retrieve
some of the goods he had left behind. They had
now reached his campsite, and upon finding his goods destroyed,
likely by wolverines, Curtis now had no interest in continuing on,

(19:52):
despite his and his wife's lives being saved by Rida Mukutchen.
In response reason, Tucker, one of the leaders of the
first relief, offered to personally anyone who completed this reskue
mission with him and an additional five dollars a day,
but all three refused as the three men departed, though
they left their packs of supplies at this location to
serve as a cachet for future parties and or returning survivors.

(20:14):
The seven remaining members of the now diminished First Relief
Mission then pressed on, but as they climbed higher, two
the members of their group, including one of their leaders,
of Quilia Glover, started experiencing altitude sickness. Then, as if
that wasn't enough, yet another snowstorm hit, which further slowed
their progress, which again was something they could ill afford,
as every moment lost put those still trapped in the

(20:36):
mountains that much closer to death. The First Relief Party
would then finally reach and cross over the someone only
eight to the February, at which point they could at
long last see their destination, Trucky League. They would then
arrive at the lake itself as night began the fall.
The camp, though was at the far end of the lake.
The thing was they were so close and so recognizing

(20:56):
that stopping now might prove to be the difference between
life and death, they pressed on, making their way round
the lake to the place where they had been told
the members of the Donner Party and made their shelters,
hoping as they did that they were not too late
and that there were stole people alive to be rescued. Yet,
as he approached the area where the camp was supposed
to be, there were no signs of life. Nothing was moving,

(21:16):
and no sounds could be heard. They didn't even see
any of the shelters that they had been told had
been built there. All they saw was snow that they
estimated to have been some eighteen seat deep. At this point,
Dan Rhoades, one of the members of the relief party,
would later describe the scene quote, we looked all around,
but no living thing but ourselves was in sight, and
we thought that all must have perished. The spirited, but

(21:38):
not about to give up completely, they called down, hoping
to get some kind of response, at which point, according
to Rhodes, quote, we saw a woman emerge from a
hole in the snow. As we approached her, several others
made their appearances in like men are coming out of
the snow. They were gone with famine, and I never
can forget the horrible, ghastly site they presented. The first
woman spoke in a hollow voice, very much agitated, and said,

(22:01):
are you men from California, or do you come from
Heaven now? The woman who asked this question was none
other than Levina Murphy, whose health had continued to deteriorate
and whose mind had continued to shatter from the stress,
especially since three people had died in her cabin in
the last three days alone. Her confusion on whether she
was actually seeing real people was understandable then, as was

(22:21):
the horror felt by the members of the relief party
as he looked upon the horrible state these people were in.
As these were people who had been trapped in the
mounds without adequate food for four months. They then were
obviously skeletal and draped and tattered unwashed clothes. Some couldn't
even get to their feet they were so weak from
malt nourishment, while others just stared off into the distance
with blank eyes as they seemingly whispered to themselves. There

(22:44):
shattered and deprived minds and took a few moments to
process what they were seeing as they crawled out of
their shelters. Once they did realize that at long lasting
rescue party had come for them. According to reason Tucker quote,
the sight of us appeared to put life into their
emaciated frames. Meanwhile, as the members of the relief party
began heading out small portions of food to these pitiful survivors,

(23:05):
they found themselves becoming just as emotional as the people
they were helping. With Reason Tucker later noting how he
and his fellows had quote cried to see them cry,
and rejoice to see them rejoice. Those who were helping, though,
were only a portion of the people known to be
trapped in the mountains. So Tucker personally sent off, traveling
half a mile to the northeast, where he could see
a calm of smoke rising up from what was the

(23:26):
Graves cabin, which that the rest of the structures built
by the Donner party was now covered by at least
a dozen feet of snow. Once he had arrived at
his destination, Reason again called out, and up from the
snow came Elizabeth Graves and her children. Upon seeing these
strange men appear in their camp, Elizabeth's first question was
to ask about her husband and daughters, who had departed
something like two months ago. At this point, now, Tucker

(23:48):
knew fall well that while her daughters had survived the journey,
her husband had not. He however, upon seeing the condition
that Elizabeth was in could not bring himself to tell
the truth, and so he told her that all had
arrived safely. The only thing was her feet had been
too frozen to join them in the return trip. For
her part, Elizabeth did not believe this tale, as she
knew that only something truly terrible could have prevented her

(24:11):
Franklin from returning to her and their children. She did
not press the issue, though, and so here again reason
carefully doned out small portions of food, knowing that it
was possible that people who had been without food for
so long could literally eat themselves to death. The rescue
party would then make camp at Trucky Lake for the night,
before pressing on the following morning to head down to
Alder Creek, where the daughter family was huddled. The scenely

(24:34):
found here in their tetor tents was, if anything, even
more desperate than the one they had just left, as
with the death of Jacob Donner and the young men,
and with George Donner's arm only getting worse as his
infected limbs sees to become gangrenous, Mothers Tamsen and Elizabeth
Donner had been left to watch their twelve children age
three to fourteen slowly starve, which is a slight correction

(24:55):
from a previous episode where I had stated that each
daughter brother had five children, which was technically while also
not making note of Elizabeth's Donner sons from a previous
marriage who still bore their father's name. Regardless, the mothers
had overseen their camp with only the help of three
teenage boys ge Baptist Trudeau, Noah James, and Solomon Hook
to aid them in shoving snow off the tents and
cutting wood for the fires that it kept them alive

(25:17):
in this frozen environment. The thing was for as much
hope as the men of the first relief brought to
the members of the Donner party, they did not bring
true salvation, as they were only able to carry enough
supplies with them for a few days after having been
forced to leave behind much of what they had carried
and the various camps they had set up along the way,
with the idea being these supplies would either be carried

(25:38):
forward by subsequent relief parties or they would provide aiden
sustenance to any who they were able to bring out
with them on their return trip to that and they
began asking for anyone who was strong and healthy enough
to join them in hiking back over the mountains. Now,
this was no easy choice for their surviving mothers, for
as much as they wanted to get all their children out,
the reality was many were too young to make such

(25:59):
a hike on their w as they were simply not
enough adults to carry them all out. For the Donner children, Elitha, Leanna,
George Junior, and William were then selected to go, while
the rest had to stay behind with their mothers. Notably,
Tamson was noted by the rescuers as being fit enough
to make the trip back herself, but she would not
abandon her husband or her three youngest daughters. As for

(26:20):
those who were going, Tamson would make sure to hug
her older step daughters, Leanna and Aletha, telling them to
never speak of what they had seen and gone through
during their time in the Sierras. Also departing from the
Auder Creek camp or widow Doris Wolfinger and the sixteen
year old teamster Noah James. However, Solomon Hook, Elizabeth's Donner son,
would stay, as would teamster Jean Baptist Trudeau, because someone
had to be there to help the women cut what

(26:42):
of their fires to aid in this lonely members of
the rescue party chopped down a large pine tree as
a way of getting him started. Meanwhile, back by the
trucky lake, Elizabeth Graves had the same impossible choice to make,
ultimately choosing to send twelve year old Lavina and fourteen
year old Eleanor with the rescue party while she stay
back in the cabin with her infant daughter Elizabeth, five
year old Franklin Junior, seven year old Jonathan, and eight

(27:05):
year old Nancy. Now. Elizabeth also initially wanted her seventeen
year old son Billy to stay in chop wood for her,
but he was insistent on leaving so he could bring
back food to feed her and his youngest siblings. Elizabeth
then would agree to let Billy go after he chopped
the whole stack of firewood for her, and because she
wanted someone on the other side looking out for her
and the children since she was convinced her husband was

(27:26):
dead despite what the rescuer said said. She then wanted
someone in California capable and willing to fight to make
sure her and the children were rescued. Both Peggy Breen
and Leven and Murphy would also make similar choices to
the other mothers, as they too selected their oldest children
to accompany the members of the First Relief, while they
remained behind with the youngest. There was, however, one exception

(27:47):
to this general rule, and that was two year old
Naomi Pike, whose infant sister Catherine had died just days
earlier in the arms of their grandmother Levina Murphy. In
the line of this tragic death, it was a side
that she should literally being carried out of the mountains
and brought down to her widowed mother, who had survived
the snowshoe expedition and it was now recovering down at
the Johnson ranch. Indeed, the men of the First Relief

(28:10):
made a point of promising Lebanon that they would carry
Naomi the entire way. Meanwhile, Philippin Keyesburg, who had already
lost one child in these frozen waist was resolved to
save for lone remaining child, three year old Ada, so
she would personally carry Ada out, leaving her husband Lewis
here to continue nursing his wounded foot. Margaret Reid would
also make the same basic decision, as while she had

(28:31):
not lost any of her children. The fact that the
matter was she had no supplies of her own, so
she decided that she and all of her children were
going to join this attempt to get out or die trying.
As for those who were to remain behind, they were
each left with a couple of flower, two small biscuits,
and some thinly sliced dried beef, with the hope being
this would be enough to sustain them until more relief

(28:52):
parties arrived. Having done everything that they could in these circumstances,
the members of the first relief mission sent off on
the twenty second of February, heading back over the mounds
from Wednesday came. Joining them were seventeen of the thirty
four people who had survived this long in the Sierras.
There were then twenty two people and all taking part
in this return trip. However, it was at long before

(29:12):
became clear that two of the number would not be
able to make the journey, as three year old Thomas
Reid and eight year old Patty Reid both liked the
strength to make such a long trip in those conditions.
The heartrenning decision was then made to leave them behind
in the Breen cabin with Patty telling her mother quote,
well may if you never see me again, do the
best you can In exchange, that left all the men

(29:33):
in the party in tears. But again, there was nothing
to be done at the moment, as it was agreed
the two children would not be able to survive the trip. Now,
to be clear, this is not so much a decision
made by Margaret Reid as it was made by Quea
Glover and Reason Tucker, the leaders of the relief party.
As when it was realized that the two children did
not have the strength to carry on and no one

(29:54):
had the strength to carry them, Margaret wanted to return
to camp with all of her children. Glover and Tucker, however,
would not let her do that, as they insisted that she,
along with her children Virginie and James, all press on.
Glover even promised Margaret that he would personally head back
for Thomas and Patty as soon as he got the
rest of them to safety. That all being said, the
breeds were not exactly happy to have even more hungry

(30:16):
mouse to take care of, but Glover was finally able
to convince them to look after the two children by
leaving behind some extra food for them, notably In doing so,
the members of the first Relief of those who were
taking out with them would have LUs to survive upon
until they reached their camp sites and the supply as
they had left there on the other side of the mountain,
a notable decision given that even those deemed fit enough
to make this attempt to struggle mightily, as keep in mind,

(30:39):
every single one of them was not only extremely weak
for malnutrition, but they were also stiff and weak from
being cramped up in their little shelters for four months,
which all made walking in the sots something that was
already a tiring exercise, extra difficult that first day out.
Then they would only make it to the other side
of Trucky Lake before making camp, and it would take
them the better part of the following day to ascend

(31:00):
to the pass through the mountains. As they went, the
members they First Relieved and everything they could to keep
the exhausted and malnurse survivors going through these harsh conditions,
encouraging them on as they went with the promise of
more supplies just on the other side of the pass. Indeed,
little six year old James Reed Junior, who was struggling
through the deep Snow was said to have pressed on
because he knew that every step brought him closer to

(31:21):
his father end quote something to eat. It was especially
crushing then when they reached the camps line on the
other side of the pass, only to find that their supplies,
which they had left hanging in rawhide sacks high up
in trees from the ends of branches so as to
keep them out of the reach of bears, had been plundered. Nonetheless,
as apparently something like a pine martin or a wolverine
had managed to climb the tree and crawl into the

(31:42):
high branches, where they then chewed through the raw high ties,
dropping the supplies down to the ground, where they were
then subsequently rated by the local wildlife a loss. It
was especially not good considering that their next stash of
supplies was some twenty miles away, which was a good
four days travel, and there was no guarantee that that
had been similarly rated by the wildlife. So to try

(32:03):
and alleviate these problems, Tucker had dawned on the twenty
fourth of February sent four of his men ahead, with
the idea being that by setting off early, and by
being in far better shape than the survivors, these men
will be able to reach the next supply stash well
ahead of the others. Then, provided said stash and not
suffered the same fate, they were to bring back as
much as they could carry to assist those still on

(32:24):
the trail. In the meantime, it would fall to Tucker
and the remaining members of the first relief to do
their best to keep the survivors alive and moving until
these men made it back to them. When it was
the survivor's turning to set off that day, though they
barely made it any distance before it became obvious that
John Den was struggling to keep up even with the
other survivors. Now. Den hailed from Sheffield, England, and had

(32:46):
served as one of the Donners teamsters. He was also
apparently well liked by the other members of the Donner party,
but the twenty eight year old was exhausted from lack
of food and was now suffering from stone blindness. As
a result, Den basically collapsed in a Tucker arms when
he finally caught up with the others. Denton, then, recognizing
that he was holding the others back and endangering their
lives by doing so, insisted on being left behind, asking

(33:09):
only that if they encountered another relief party that they
be directed toward him. According to Daniel Rhodes, one of
the members of the first relief mission, Denton quote trying
to keep up a hopeful and cheerful appearance, but we
knew that he could not live much longer, understanding that
he was basically sacrificing himself for the others. They then
did their best to make him comfortable as a Quote

(33:30):
made a platform of saplings, built a fire on it,
cut some bows for him to sit upon, and left
him reason. Tucker then made a point of leaving den
with a bit of food, and also made sure that
the additional firewood was all stacked within arm's reach. He
then wrapped the Englishman in a cover lid, a type
of blanket to try and give him some extra protection
against the snow. They all then said their goodbys, fully

(33:53):
understanding what this meant, and then pressed on, leaving Denton behind. Still,
though even without Denon they struggled to make much progress
due to their malnutrition and because they now increasingly sank
into the sun warm snow. Meanwhile, with Detton now left behind,
the survivor who was having the most difficult time of
it was Philippine Keysburg, who was carrying her lone remaining child,

(34:14):
three year old Ada. Philippine then had to make frequent
stops just to catch her breath and reposition Aida, as
the little girl was even weaker than her mother was
and could not walk for any distance on her own
at this point. Then, after spending the entire day struggling
and trailing behind the others, Philippine's lone remaining child would
dine in her arms as she slept. Upon awaking and

(34:34):
finding her precious daughter dead, Philippine was understandably inconsolable as
she refused to let Ada go. Yet, for its understandable
as her grief was, the fact still remained that they
could not remain here and have any hope of survival.
The others then said off all reason. Tucker worked to
convince Depoor, twenty three year old mother who had just
lost her third child, to hand Ada over to him.

(34:56):
In doing so, he reminded Philippine that she was still
a young woman with her he whole life ahead of her,
and she had to carry on for her own sake
and for her husbands. Between this and reasons promised to
carry Ada for her. Philippine finally let go of the
corpse and join the others. Then, according to reason quote,
after she was out of sight, Rhodes and myself buried
the child in the snow as best we could. Her

(35:17):
spirit went to Heaven, her body to the wolves. As
tragic as this was, he twenty sixth of February also
brought relief in the party and counted a pair of
men on the trail. These were two of the men
who had been sent ahead to the next supply cash,
and they hoped that it hadn't been rated by wildlife
that the first one had been, And as it turns out,
they were luck as these men carried with them a
much needed supply of dried beef, which greatly relieved the survivors.

(35:42):
As for the other two men had been sent ahead.
After reaching the attack supply cash and sending the others
back to aid the survivors, they pressed on, intending to
reach the next cash to get more supplies and also
see if they could get any information on if there
were other relief parties being organized. The pair would actually
get the answer to this question the day answer the
others brought the much need of supplies to the survivors,

(36:02):
as he spotted a group of ten men heading up
the mountain in the direction. This group would come to
be dubbed as the Second Relief and they were led
by none other than James Reed. Upon meeting these two
men from the first relief mission, Reid probably asked about
the fate of his family and was much relieved to
learn that all had survived so far, and that his
wife and two of his children were curently behind them

(36:23):
on the trail. That being said, these men had much
harder news for Big Bill McCutchen, as, even though his
wife was one of the few survivors of the Forlorn
Hope Snowshoe expedition, his baby girl, who had been left
in the care of Elizabeth Graves, had tragically died three
weeks earlier. Bill then was crushed by this news and
this awesome meant that he had no one left in
the mounts to save. However, despite having no personal familial

(36:46):
ties to anyone left trapped in the sierras, he would
remain committed to rescuing everyone that he could. Moving back

(37:21):
in time of bed when James Reid had learned about
the arrival of the forlorn Hopestoshoo expedition at Johnson's Ranch
and the fact that a relief mission was already being
organized there. He delayed his own relief mission, as with
one relief party already poised a set off, the need
for speed was not as pressing, which is not to
say they could delay too long, but he could use
this opportunity to raise additional funds for supplies to make

(37:45):
this effort as impactful as possible. While reading his eyes
were busy raising funds for supplies, eighty three year old
trail guide Caleb Greenwood was making his own round seeking
volunteers for the rescue mission, with his experience in the
wilderness proving valuable in these recus efforts. The efforts of
the second Relief bissue would also be aided by the
likes of Naval Commander Joseph Hall and Marianna Vallejo, an

(38:07):
influential political and military leader in California, who would donate
hundreds of dollars to the efforts, in addition to a
number of meals and horses from his ranch. Yet all
this was thinn due to some bad weather or at
least one man's response to the weather. As Midshipman Sealem Woodworth,
who had been put in charge of the Navy's relief efforts,
did not arrive at the boat carrying all the valuable

(38:28):
supplies to ferry raiding the others across the Sacramento and
Feather rivers. The boat, with its barrels of flour and pork,
one hundred pounds of sugar, tins of coffee and cocoa,
not to mention blankets and wool clothing for the survivors,
was nowhere to be seen as raiding the men of
the second relief a ride at the rivers in question
because Woodworth apparently feared these strong winds, winds that did

(38:49):
not seem to bother the other boat that came to
ferry the men across the rivers. As the group was
being ferried across, both James Reed and Big Bill McCutcheon,
who had simply been busy running up aid, rode ahead
the others as they headed for Johnson's ranch, whereupon arriving
they spoke with William Johnson, who, after learning who these
two men were in their plans for a second relief mission,
offered up as many of his cattle as needed. Five

(39:11):
cattle were then killed, and, with the help of Johnson
and as Native American workers, Reading mccutcheen set abound butchering
and drying the meat so was ready to be packed
up the following morning when the rest of their men arrived. Meanwhile,
the Johnson Ranches Native American workforce also labored through the
night to ground an additional two undred pounds of flour,
all of which proved to be necessary as all the
supplies that had been gathered in San Francisco remained on

(39:33):
Woodworth's boat that still had not yet arrived. Reading mccutcheen, however,
had no interest into laying any longer, and so they
set off on the twenty second of February, the same
day that the members of the first Relief Mission and
the survivors they were taking with them departed from the
Trucky League camp on their return journey. Joining these two
men on this mission was John Turner, who was just
as large as Big Bill and was also considered to

(39:55):
be one of the best trappers west of the Rockies,
in addition to also being the owner of the Folll's Mouse.
As he was known to swear to the degree that
he could put experienced sailors to shame. There were also
notably accompanied by Hiram Miller, a blacksmith from Springfield, Illinois,
who had actually worked as a teamster for the Donners
during part of their journey. Miller had escaped the fate
of the others so because he was one of these

(40:16):
single men who had written the head using pack mules
to carry the belongings. He had then arrived safely. But
upon hearing what had happened to the Donners, and especially
their children, who he was fond of, Miller immediately set
off for the Johnson Ranch, looking to offer his assistance
in any relief efforts being undertaken. Meanwhile, as they said off,
Reid made a point in leaving word with William Johnson,
the owner of the ranch, that Midshipman Woodworth, upon arriving,

(40:39):
was to move on as quickly as possible to bring
the supplies up the trail so they could reach the
people they were meant for, which brings us back to
the moment where reading the members of the second relief
expedition encountered the two men who had been sent ahead
of the first relief to bring back supplies. James Reed
then stayed up late that night baking fresh bread and
sweetcakes for his family and the other survivors, who they

(40:59):
were told were on the trail heading down the mountain.
Once he was done, Reid trying to sleep, but found
that he couldn't. He then awoke the others early the
following morning, insisting that the gift started as soon as
possible so as to make as much progress before the
afternoon sun melted the stone, making them going more difficult.
It then wasn't more than a few hours into the
day when the two relief party saw shapes moving in

(41:20):
the distance. Both groups knew instantly what this meant, as
no one but other relief groups would be up in
the still frozen in desolate territory. When the two groups
came together, Virginia read as tired and as worn out
as she was to have found the strength to rushed
through the snow to meet her father, only a trip
at the last moment, and fall into his waiting arms.
Her mother, Margaret, meanwhile, upon at last laying eyes on

(41:41):
her husband five months after setting them off on a
potential deathcendence, collapsed to her knees in the snow. Reid
then gathered up Virginia, James Junior and his wife, embracing
all three, showing as much emotion as Victorian standards allowed. Yet,
for as relieved as he was to see them alive,
their condition and that of the other survivors accump the
first relief mission halted. Read as he would write later

(42:03):
that day, quote, I cannot describe the deathlike look that
they had. Bread bread, bread, bread was the begging of
every child and grown person. I gave to all what
I dared and left for the scene of desolation. Read then,
like the other members of these relief parties, seems to
have been a worthy dangers of feeding people recovering from
starvation too much, a warning that was imparted to all

(42:25):
the survivors as well, but one that was easier to
say and believe in when you weren't one of those
trying to recover for months without adequate food. As a result,
when the first relief company laid down for the night,
William Hook, Jacob Donner's twelve year old step son, could
not rest, especially when he knew that there was a
store of food hanging from a nearby tree. Hook then
waited for the others to fall asleep, then Upon seeing

(42:46):
his chance, the twelve year old climbed the tree and
managed to liberate the supplies William Hook and a couple
of the other survivors and spent the night filling their
empty stomachs, with Hook, in particular, effectively gorging himself in
a manner that they had all been warned would endanger
the life of a starving person. Upon waking the following
morning and finding Hook in this condition, the members of
the First Relief tried to induce vomiting with a cup

(43:09):
of tobacco juice, but this would prove to be insufficient. Indeed,
Host's condition was so bad that while the others who
had joined him the previous night would eventually recover, he
would die quietly kneeling in the snow after his heart
gave out. Meanwhile, his Hook and the others were forced
to remain at the camp. The other survivors pressed on
as they continued to make their way down the mountain.

(43:29):
Upon reaching the supply camp and meal springs, the members
of the First Relief were surprised to find midship in
Woodworth and the four hundred pounds of supplies that he
was supposed to have brought for James Reid's second relief
mission just sitting there, as Woodworth had apparently decided that,
instead of carrying the supplies further up the mountain as instructed,
he would just wait at this base camp to hand
out supplies to those who were almost out of danger,

(43:51):
a decision that the members of the first relief attributed
to cowardice as much as anything else, given the fact
that they witnessed Woodworth laying on his back drincking brandy
while two of his stable underlings rubbed ice on his feet,
because for whatever reason, that was the accepted method of
curing such preventing frostbite. As for the survivors who had
accompanied the members of the first Relief this far, the

(44:11):
worst was now over, as after being further revitalized by
some of the more than ample supplies in the Mule
Springs camp, they also wouldn't have to walk any further
as they finally reached the edge of the stone line,
where they would be able to ride the rest of
the way to Johnson's Ranch, pausing briefly there to meet
with the survivors of the Stow Shoe party to update
them on everything had happened since they left the mountains

(44:32):
before leaving to make the rest of the journey on
to Sutter's Fort. Upon reaching the fourth the survivors were
provided with a hot bath, fresh clothing, as well as
warm food and drink. Yet, while Margaret Reid would be
glad to see her children, Virginia and James Junior begin
to visibly recover from their terrible ordeal, she still could
not help but worry about her remaining children and her
husband who were still up there in the mountains. Worries

(44:54):
had only increased when the first week of March was
marked by a sudden drop in temperature and a steady
cold rain, a combin nation that potentially yet even more
stow up in the mountains, which brings us back to
read in a second relief expedition. As following his brief
family reunion, he and the others pressed on, determined to
reach those who are stout trapped on the other side
of the mountains. To that end, they made the chose

(45:16):
to rest during the afternoon, when the sun warned the
air sufficiently to melt the snow, thus making progress more difficult. Instead,
opted to travel through the nighttime hours when the stowe
refroze with the hard crossed overtop, making travel easier. During
the second of these night time travels through the young
men volunteered to go on ahead while the others paused
for a brief rest. It was at this point then

(45:36):
that the trio came across the frozen body of John Den,
still sitting up against a tree where he had been left.
There would be no saving him, but there was still
hope for those left in the camps, and so they
continued on, eventually making it through the mountain pass, where
they spotted a band of Native Americans. Fearing that this
band had attacked their survivors in the lake camp and
that they might do the same to them, the young

(45:57):
men huddled down for the rest of the night without
a fire, lest he lad and smoke give away their position.
The following day, the first to march, the three men
in the advanced party cautiously approached the area where they
knew the survivors had made their camp, and were relieved
to find that they had in fact not been attacked
by the band of Native Americans and scene. The three
men then went around to the cabins to inform the

(46:18):
survivors that another relief party had survived while handing out
bits of dried meat as they did. Then, around noon
of that same day, James Reid and the remaining members
of the second relief party arrived, at which point Reid
headed straight for the Green Cabin, as that was where
he had been told that his two remaining children had
been left. He then was both delighted and relieved to
find both his son Tommy and his youngest daughter, Patty,

(46:40):
both still alive, although young Tommy did not recognize his
father at first due to the heavy beard he was
now sporting and how tanned his skin was from his
journey through the snow. As Reed then set about making
a big pot of stew to feed the survivors, he
gave little Patty a bunch of biscuits that he had cooked,
giving her the mission to go around and hand them
out to the other survivors. Mean male, Reid would learn

(47:01):
from Patrick Breen that while no one had dined any
lakeside campany time in between the first and second relief
he believed that some had resorted to cannibalism to make
it through, and he feared the same was true in
the dinner's camped down by Alder Creek. As he increasingly desperate.
Lebana Murphy, following the departure of the first relief expedition,
had actually told Patrick Breen that she intended to quote

(47:22):
commence on Milt, the reeds beloved teamster, if more relief
did not come immediately, a choice made not just because
they were starving, but also because it could increasingly hear
wolves howling in the distance, and she wanted to make
use of these bodies before the wolves discovered them. And indeed,
Reid would later find the dismembered body of his loyal
friend and teamster Milt, whose corpse clearly showed indications of

(47:43):
where flesh had been carved away. Now Notably, while relating this,
Breen was quick to assure Reed that none in his cabin,
including Reed's oone children, had taken that step. They had,
after all, from the star had been better situated than
the rest, as they had more supplies and had an
already constructed structure to move into. In contrast, conditions in
the Murphy cabin in particular and seriously deteriorated since the

(48:06):
departure of the first Relief, largely because eleven of Murphy's
physical and mental collapse. The thirty seven year old widow,
ever since becoming ill on Christmas night, had just physically
broken down and was now plagued by fits of laughter
and open sobbing. While she had for a time continued
to strive on doing her best to care for the
children she had been left with, lately it seems that

(48:26):
she could no longer care for herself, much less the
children who she was supposed to be looking after. Only
three adolescents in her care. Her eight year old Simon
was in the best shape, as he was able to
look after himself to some extent. The same, though was
not true of two year old George Foster and three
year old James. Eddie. Read and mccuncheon then made true
to feed the boys and then carefully bathe them all.

(48:48):
Read even saw to the needs of Lewis Keysburg, he
made who a clash with frequently on the trail, a
situation that greatly humiliated Keysburg, but he was in desperate
need of care as he wasn't able to move about
due to his stay injured. Foot conditions in the Graves
cabin mean, while don't sound like they were as bad,
but Elizabeth Graves and her remaining children were all nearly
unrecognizable after having lost so much weight due to this

(49:11):
whole ordeal. Then, once they had seen to un fed
the survivors at the Trucke Lay camp, Reading McCutcheon made
upon a finding the body of Bill's infant daughter Harriet.
Together then the two fathers sought out a place where
the snow had melted, where they then dug a shallow
grave for the little girl. The following day, then, as
some of the members of the second Relief started prepping
those who they had chosen to make the return trip,

(49:32):
Reading three others headed down to the Donner's camp at
Alder Creek, where they two, in their desperation and need
to survive, had begun consuming the corpses of their companions,
who they had buried in the snow. In doing so, they,
unlike the other members of the Donner party, had been
forced to consume the flesh of their relatives because for
some time Jacob Donner's body was the only one that
they could find. This was, to be clear, a heard

(49:55):
renting decision for the adults to make, but one that
they chose to do so is to keep the children
with them them alive. As we see again, the choice
to engage in cannibalism was less about one's individual survival
and more about the need to keep others alive, or
to stay alive to help others. Indeed, it seems that
the children in the Donner's camp were in better condition
than the adults, as they were the ones who had

(50:16):
been primarily fed this meat to guarantee their survival. As
a result of these acts and the estimation on the
members of the Second Relief expedition, all the Donners and
their children were fit enough to leave, with the main
exception being Georgia Donner, who's infected and now gangrenous arm
held him firmly at death's door. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Donner, Jacob's widow,
was also too weak to make the journey, so she

(50:38):
had to stay behind and decide which, if any of
her children should leave with threed in the others. Elizabeth
then opted to send Salomon Hook, her fourteen year old
son from a previous marriage, seven year old Mary, and
five year old Isaac with the men of the Second
Relief while she would keep her youngest son, Samuel and
Lewis with her. As for Tamsen Donner and her children,
even though they were all judged to be fit enough

(50:58):
to depart, Tamson would reas refused to leave her husband's
side while he yet lived. Indeed, no matter how much
the others pleaded whether to leave, tams would not budge
a choice that definitely feels tied to the loss of
her first husband to an influenza epidemic. Now, James Reed
might have forced this issue and insisted that Tamson go
with them, but instead of forcing her to leave with

(51:18):
six year old Francis Eustace, four year old Georgie A
and through year old Eliza, Reid relented, allowing all for
to remain behind, as he believed that Midshipman Woodworth and
the naval men under his command should be right behind
him bearing the ample supplies that raided raised in San Francisco,
Believing then that they were in no serious danger. As
more relief for sure to arrive any day, Reed left

(51:40):
Jean Baptiste Trudeau behind a care for the remaining doughters,
a fate that Trudeau didn't exactly appreciate, but at least
this time he would have assistants. As Reid also left
behind two members of his relief expedition, Nicholas Clark and
Charles Caty. The pair were then left with nine pounds
of dried beef and eleven pounds of flour to ration
out to the survivors, an amount of food that they

(52:01):
believe should last them a week, which they again believed
to be sufficient, as Shirley Woodworth was not more than
a week behind them, he surely hadn't stopped at their
base camp and moved no further despite request orders and
promises to do otherwise. Also left behind were Lewis Keysburg
and Levina Murphy who were in no shape to travel,
Keysburg because of his injured foot, and Levina because she

(52:22):
was so weak and frail at this point that she
looked much older than her thirty seven years. Before departing, though,
Reidwood promised a pair that he would return in two
weeks so as to carry them over the mountain himself. Meanwhile,
Simon Murphy and the young Foster and any boys would
also be left behind, with Charles Stone, who was being
left behind by the rescue party to watch over the
survivors at the Trucky Lake camp. With all this in

(52:45):
place and the help of more relief to come shortly,
the second relief party departed on the third of March
in all Read and the members of his group lotd
to evacuate seventeen individuals from the mountains, fourteen of whom
were children, with most of them being younger than ten
years old, who had to be carried by the adults. Now,
Elizabeth Graves also intended to have one of their rescuers
carry her hidden stash of coins that represented the entirety

(53:07):
of her family's wealth, which they intended to use to
start over in California. However, upon overhearing a pair of
the men joke about stealing the coins, Elizabeth insisted on
carrying the bag or salty next morning, at which point,
after allowing the rest of the party to go on
ahead for a bit, Elizabeth, with the help of her
older children, dug a hole behind a large rock and
buried the coins, intending to return later to dig them up.

(53:29):
With the stun She gathered up her children and her
son in law, Jay Faustik's fiddle that she intended to
return to him, not knowing that he, like her own husband,
had died before reaching safety. Now, as you might expect,
as they set off on the return trip, the second
relief expedition, moved solely due to having to carry the children,
and because all the survivors were so weak they tired
out quickly. Indeed, after two days of travel, the second

(53:52):
relief had not yet made it over the pass, which
was worrying as at this place they were going to
run out of food before reaching their next supply care.
Reid then had three of their experienced mountaineers go on
ahead to the next cash, at which point one would
bring back some of the supplies while the other two
proceeded on to the next beam. All Finally, after their
third day of travel, the relief expedition and their seventeen

(54:13):
charges managed to make it to the other side of
the mountain. As they did, even the rescuers were starting
to tire due to the exertion and the fact that
they were on half rations. Most notably, however, as a
main camp the night, ominous clowns started to gather overhead,
striking fear in the hearts of all the party. This
was likely the same weather system that so filled Margaret
Read with dread, and indeed, that night the temperature plummeted

(54:36):
as yet another powerful storm descended upon the Sierras, a
storm that Reid would call a quote perfect hurricane, as
he and the men of the secreman Leaves spent the
entire night building fires to find off the bitter cold.
It was during this ordeal that fourteen year old John
Breen collapsed, and in doing so, almost fell into the
deep pit that had formed as result of the stone

(54:56):
melting from their fires. The others, though, just managed to
go grabbed the boy in telling him to keep it
from tumbling dangerously into the pit, and which point his mother, Peggy,
managed to force a lump of sugar into the unconscious
boy's mouth, which brought him back around. Now, the storm
that had to send him upon them during the night
would keep blowing and snowing throughout the following morning, So,
despite now being out of food after eating their last

(55:18):
spoonful of flour, the members of the Second Relief and
the people they were attempting to rescue would remain in
camp that day, huldble around their fire. As they did.
Both Peggy Breen and Elizabeth Graves held on too, and
constantly checked upon their infant daughters to make sure they
were stone breathing. Then, as night fell and the storm
continued to rage, the now snow blind James reed while

(55:39):
taking me first watch, collapsed passing out. This then left
no one attend the fire, and so it began to
die down, which would be a potentially fatal turn of
events in those conditions for the compound In this issue
was the fact that the improvised platform that they laid
atop the snow began to collapse into the hole that
had been created for the melting snow underneath them, which

(56:00):
turn essentially extinguished the remaining fire. This sudden loss of
a heat source then brought the others awake manning the group. Then,
after all they had been through, thought this was at
long last, how they were going to die. Some then
just collapsed and started praying. Big Bill mccotton and fellow
member of the second and leief Hiram Miller, though and
none joined them instead choosing the leap into action. According

(56:21):
to Bell, in fact, as he saw the others sake
into despair, quote, I'm damn them, telling them that it
was not time to pray, but to get up, stir themselves,
and get wood, for it was a matter of life
and death to us. In a few minutes, the fire
was nearly out, the stone falling off the trees and
nearly extinguished it before discovered it was only rekindled by
the exertion of mister Miller and myself. The two men

(56:43):
were then able to get the fire going again, at
which point they sent about reviving reed Bemill. In the
midst of all this, no one realized that during the night,
five year old Isaac Donner, Jacob and Elizabeth's son, had
quietly died in his sleep, a lost and grayly affected
his sister Mary, daughter, who had been sleeping right next
to him and had not known that he had died,
nor in fact, that she realized that one of her

(57:05):
severely frostbitten feet had slipt into the fire and been
burned badly. Yet forrest disastrous as the storm had been,
the following dailies brought some leaf as the wind and
stone finally tapered off by noon, at which point Reid
declared his intentions to press on, which was a hard
ask for a group that had not had anything to
eat for two days and had been essentially starving for

(57:25):
months prior to this. The Breens and the Grays in particular,
could barely move at this point. In fact, Patrick Breen
would flatly refuse to leave from the spot. Read then
tried to explain to Patrick that if they remained behind,
they were sure to die, but Breen refused to listen,
and which point Read, in his frustration, called upon the
others to witness as he declared that if any members

(57:46):
of the Breen family died, their deaths were on Patrick's head,
not his. The Breen and Gray's families would then both
opt to stay where they were, hoping that another relief
party would reach them in time to save their lives.
In doing so, they would also joined by Mary, daughter, who,
despite trying to leave the others, fell down when she
tried to walk on her badly burned foot. Before leaving, then,

(58:07):
Red and the others made sure to cut as much
fire wood as they could, enough to last for several
days so as to keep the Breens and Graves somewhat
warm as they waited. Meanwhile, as he rested, the second
relief pressed on little Patty, Reid would not allow her
weakened father to carry her. However, when the little girl
started to fall behind and started mumbling about seeing something beautiful,
Reid realized that his daughter was hallucinating, which was a

(58:30):
bad sign as it meant that she was freezing to death.
Reading the others and acted swiftly by wrapping Patty in
blankets and rubbing her hands and feet to help with circulation.
These desperate, frantic efforts would, much to everyone's relief, managed
to raise the little girl's body temperature from that point on.
Then Reid carried his daughter's stone, wrapped in blankets on
his back as they made camp that night, the members

(58:52):
of the Second relieve would have some strange and unexpected visitors.
Instead of the return of the men they had sent
ahead to retrieve supplies, or even the arrival Midshipman Woodrow
and his Stavile men who should have been coming on
their own relief effort. Arriving in camp the night were
two of the men they had left behind to take
care of the remaining survivors at the Truckee Lake in
Alder Creek Camps. Reading. The others were baffled then as

(59:13):
Charles Katy and Charleston arrived, having inexplicably abandoned their duties
after apparently deciding that their fellow member the Second Relief
Nicholas Clark and teamster g. Maptize Trudeau, could handle things
on their own. Worse still, they had not carried a
single child out with them when they abandoned the survivors
to their fate. In fact, it would later be discovered
that tams and Daughner, after overhearing the two men making

(59:35):
plans to abandon them, and upon seeing the signs of
the oncoming storm, begged Katy and Stone to take her
daughters Francis, Georgia and Eliza with them, as she feared
they would not surviving another storm. Tamson had even reportedly
paid the pair her five hundred dollars to take her
children to their older sisters and Sutter Fort. The men
then agreed to this deal, and even took along with
them some silver spoons and a bundle of silk that

(59:57):
was meant to service collateral to pay for her daughter needs.
Upon reaching the fort, the two then took the three
children off the trucky lake with a pause for the night,
leaving the three Donner children in the Murphy cabin with
the completely broken down Loving and Murphy, her eight year
old son Simon, two year old grandson George Foster, and
most notably the bearded and frightening to behold Louis Keysburg Meanwhile,

(01:00:18):
after leaving the three girls in those conditions, the two
men that spent the night in the now empty green cabin,
at which point the aforementioned storm blew in a turn
of events that just seemed to further reinforce what they
likely already wanted and intended to do so. Deciding that
they could not carry the children over the pass in
these conditions, the two men then sent off that morning,

(01:00:39):
walking into the teeth of the storm, and in doing
so on bandoning their duties and the children, while at
the same time still carrying these silver spoons, silks, and
other valuables that Taanzan had given them to ensure that
their daughters were provided for. As the two greedy cowards
made their way through the mountain pass and began descending
down the other side, they eventually spotted the spoke coming

(01:01:00):
out of the pit where the Breens and Gray's families
huddled around their fire. The two then, upon seeing the
condition they were in, decided to not stop and help them,
but instead just continued on until they finally caught up
with reading the others. Katie and Stone then took advantage
of their fire and never said a word about what
they had done and who they had left behind regardless
of reading the rest said off. The following day they

(01:01:21):
found some relief in the form of a package of
food hanging from a tree limb that had been left
for them by the three men they had set on ahead,
with the delay in getting these supplies back to them
being the result of these storm and the fact that
the first cash had suffered the same fad as he
first released first supplies TASH, meaning it had been liberated
and rated by some local animals who were small enough
to scale the tree and get out to the limbs

(01:01:43):
where these supplies had been suspended from. In fact, their
second supply cash had also been rated by wildlife, but
at least this time some supplies remained, which the advanced
group then split amongst themselves before one of them brought
the rest back the leaf or reading the others these
supplies and gave reads group an strength to press on,
and the following morning they managed to reach a well

(01:02:04):
supplied camp that was strangely barely above their base camp
at Mule Creek, a camp where there were shocked to
find Woodworth in his group not conducting their own relief
effort as planned. The outrage read, then confronted Woodworth, insisting
that he and his men at the very least bring
supplies up to the Breen and Greece families who were
on this side of the mountain before proceeding on to

(01:02:24):
bring relief to those who are still dropped on the
other side. Woodworth, however, refused, despite having previously signed a
written pledge to quote not return until all the people
are in camp. Woodworth's action zen wor a betrayal and
beyond outragis to read. Who knew fullball that the people
he had left behind and not had the luxury of time.
They needed aid, they needed food, and they needed it now.

(01:02:47):
After all, so much of what they had done in
choosing to leave people behind was predicated on the idea
that more relief was just days away. Thankfully, others in
the camp did not share Woodwort's reluctance, as will Eddie
and William Foster, the only ment to have survived the
Forlorn Home mission, had recovered somewhat by this point and
were determined to head back into the mountains as their

(01:03:08):
sons were stole trapped up there, a shared mission that
was enough for them to set aside their past disagreements
and distrust that had mainly stemmed from Foster's murder of
their two Native American guides. Now, as you might recall, way,
Matty had attempted to join the first relief mission, but
it quickly discovered that he was physically not up to
the task. After some more rest and recovery, though, Eddie

(01:03:30):
was now ready, as was Foster. So the two had
left the Johnson ranch, and, upon arriving at the Mule
Creek camp, had tried urging the mid shipmen to actually
make a rescue attempt. Now, Woodworth, at their urgings, actually
started heading up the mountain. According to legend, though they
had traveled until Woodworth grew tired of carrying his own blanket,
at which point he ordered them to stop and would

(01:03:51):
go no further. Eddie and Foster then, upon talking with
Threed and learning about the state of the others he
had left behind the sona to undertake their own relief mission.
The two survivors and asked for volunteers from among wood
Worse Men, but none showed any more inclination than their
leader to go help those still chapped in the mountains.
Eddie and Foster then offered to pay the men, but
still none moves, likely suspecting that neither of these two

(01:04:14):
had the money to actually back up their promises. Seeing this,
James Reid stop fourd promising to cover whatever it took
to get the men to go on this mission with him,
and still none budged. Foster and Eddie then were ready
to press on by themselves regardless, but Reid would manage
to talk them down, as such an approach was suicidal
and would not help anyone. It was, and some time

(01:04:34):
after this, at Woodworth, despite still refusing to go himself,
was convinced to at Lease use some of the government
funds that had been provided with to offer any men
who joined the Third Relief Party three dollars a day
for their time and an additional fifty dollars to carry
out a child who was not his own. This then
was finally enough to attrack some volunteers. Five men then
would agree to join William Eddie and William Foster on

(01:04:56):
their mission to aid and rescue those who had been
left behind by the previous relief missions. Both Hiram Miller,
who had just come back as the part of the
second relief mission, and Charles Stone, one of the men
who had abandoned the daughter children would accept the promise
of payment to head back into the mountains. Joining them
were the lives of William Thompson, who had been recruited
by Reid previously, Howard Oakley out of San Francisco, and

(01:05:17):
John skoll Stark, a large, powerfully built young man who
had previously traveled for a time with the Graves family.
The Third release first destination then would be the location
where the Breen and Gray's families had been left, a
location that has since become known as the Starved Camp.
Upon arriving at this location, the members of the Third
Relief would find eleven on the thirteen individuals who had

(01:05:38):
been left there still alive, huddled miserably around a fire
as the night after reading the Second Relief departied. Elizabeth
Grays and her five year old son had died the
rest and had survived by eating the remains of Elizabeth
Graves while also being protected from the worst of the
wind and the cold due to them being in the
pit that had formed underneath their platform due to the
snome melting from their fires. No Peggy Breen had been

(01:06:01):
the main force that had kept the others especially the
five Breen children, the now three orphaned Graves children, and
Marry Donner alive. To do so, she had brewed tea
with the small amount of tea leaves and sugar that
she had, which, even though it didn't really nourish them
all that much, did serve to keep them warm, which
was important as hypothermia, more than starvation, was what was
the most likely cause of death among the Donner party.

(01:06:24):
Peggy also had a few remaining seeds that she had
doled out carefully to the various children. After several days
oh with no help in sight despine promises of more
relief missions that should have been right behind Reid, the
decision was made to consume the dead in an effort
to keep going with the home, being that somehow would
eventually come in doing so, the Breeds had kept themselves

(01:06:44):
in these seven children under their karre alive for the
five days it took for rescue to finally reached them,
axe that notably would not have been necessary had Woodworth
actually led a relief party, as he had sworn he would.
Still the fact that the matter was the main mission
of this group was to return to the Trunky Lake
in Alder creek camps. Indeed, the two men leading the
Third Relief, William Eddie and William Foster, both had sons

(01:07:07):
trapped in those camps that they were determined to rescue.
The focus of the Third Relief was then on continuing
to the mountain pass, and beyond not getting these people
to safety, a situation that was set in stone when
Eddie and Foster held a vote among the members of
the Third Relief and it was decided they would press on,
leaving the Brains and the others where they were, which
is where John Stark, the large, bear like young man

(01:07:28):
who had the previous year traveled with the Grace family,
comes in. As the young man, who was said to
have been incredibly strong, declared quote, I will not abandon
these people. I am here on a mission of mercy,
and I will not have to do the work. He
then essentially volunteered to escort the eleven survivors of the
starf camp down the mountain to safety. Now Stark was
apparently perfectly willing to do this task by himself, but

(01:07:51):
William Eddie believed this to be too much to ask
a single man, regardless of how strong he was. Eddie
then asked Howard Oakley and Charlestone, who had notably a
bean and the Donner children to join Stark on this mission,
which was perfectly fine with the two men, as we
get their fifty dollars bonus for carrying children out, all
without having to endanger themselves any further. By crossing over
to the other side of the mountains. Stone then picked

(01:08:13):
up the one year old Elizabeth Grays, while Oakley carried
out Mary Donner and her burn foot. The two men
then started down, not waiting for Stark in the rest,
and fairly quickly made it back to Woodworth's camp and
the Johnson ranch. John Stark was then left with the
nine remaining survivors, unlike the others, though he was not
about to leave anyone behind. Indeed, James Breeny was just
a little boy at this point, but who would go

(01:08:35):
on to become a prominent attorney in Superior Court. Judge
would later say a Stark quote to his great body
strength and unexcelled courage, myself and others owe their lives.
There was probably no other man in California at that
time who had the intelligence, determination and what was absolutely
necessary in that emergency. The immense physical powers of John
Stark onnus brown shouldersy carried the provisions, most of the blankets,

(01:08:59):
and most of the timely weaker children. In regard to this,
he would laughingly say that he could carry them all
if there was room on his back, because they were
sot a life from starvation. Stark then basically shuttled the
children down the mountain, carrying two of them aways on
his back before setting them down and returning for the
next two while Patrick limped along on his own and
Peggy carried their baby Isabella. It was and through this

(01:09:21):
manner that Stark managed to get the entire Green family
and the two remaining Graves children to the safety of
the Johnson ranch. Sadly, though, Elizabeth Graves Junior, who was
just a baby, would die on the first of April,
even after being carried by Stone down in the Sutter's Fort,
ass remaining members of the Third Relief, Eddie, Foster, Miller,
and Thompson would press on, finally reaching the Trucking Lake

(01:09:42):
camp on the thirteenth of March. William Eddie and William Foster,
upon arriving, immediately had astray for the Murphy cabin, where
they had last seen their sons back in December. As
the two fathers called out, however, they received no response.
The two then entered the cabin, where they found Levina
even further broken, deteriorated, and nearly blind. When they asked
her where their sons were, she had only one word

(01:10:03):
to reply, dead, both through your own. James Eddy and
two year old George Foster had perish following the departure
of the second relief expedition, dying due to the fact
that the third relief party that was believed to have
been right behind James Reid's group never actually existed due
to Midshipman Woodwort's actions. Where still, as Lemino would confess,

(01:10:23):
the survivor's out of necessity, had consumed the flesh of
the two boys. The thing was. According to Levana, it
was even worse than that in the case of George Foster,
as she accused he hated Lewis Keyesburg of strangling the
two year old, as he had been unwilling to wait
for the little boy to die so he could eat
him now. For his part, Keyesburg would deny these accusations,
saying that he had simply taken the boy to bed

(01:10:44):
with him to try and keep him warm, but he
had died during the night of natural causes. Both William
Eddie and William Foster were understandably enraged upon hearing Lebna's
retelling of events, but they also could not entirely trust
her word given the state that she was in. That
being said, well, five year old Georgia Donna would not
remember anything unusual happening on the night that George Foster died.

(01:11:05):
She did remember Keyesberg taking the boy's corpse and casually
hanging it on a hook in clear sight of everyone
in the cabin, like it was just another piece of meat.
Given the uncertainties around this case, then neither man would
kill Keesburg now, but William Eddie would swear that if
he ever saw him again, he would not show such restraint.
The fact that the mattered for Eddie in that moment, though,

(01:11:26):
was his entire family. His wife, his daughter, and now
his son were all dead. Yet despite this devastating personal loss,
he still had a job to do, namely, they were
going to get Simon Murphy eleven is nine year old
son and the three daughter sisters Francis, Georgia, and Eliza
at of there. Now it's unclear if the members of
the Third Relief had any intention of going down to
the Alder Creek camp to see if there was anyone

(01:11:48):
else there they could save, But the question soon became meaningless,
as in that moment none other than Tamsen Donner would
stumble into the Trucky Lake camp deeply worried about the
fate of her three little girls, after learning from nay
Killis Clark, who had been left alone and looking after
the survivors, then his companions from the Second Relief, whom
Tamsen had begged and paid to take her children in
safety and left them behind in the Murphy Cabin. Tamsen then,

(01:12:11):
upon entering the Murphy Cabin, was swarmed by her daughters.
After this emotional reunion, Tamson then informed Eddie and Foster
about what it transpired down in the Otter Creek camp
since the Second Relief had departed, namely, three year old
Lewis daughter, the son of Jacob and Elizabeth, had died
during the subsequent snowstorm, and his mother, Elizabeth daughter, had
not lasted much longer. As for the remaining survivors, they

(01:12:34):
had free time lived off the meat of a bear
cub that Clark had managed to hont down before altimate
being forced to resume the eating of the flesh of
their own dead. Tamsen then begged Eddie and Foster to
come down to the Otter Creek camp so they might
take little Samuel Donner out with them and maybe do
something about her husband's gangrenous arm. Eddie and Foster, though,
who remember had been trapped in the mounds like all

(01:12:55):
the others and who had survived the forlorn home mission,
very much feared the rival of another snowstorm. They could
either trap them here or potentially cause them to get
lost in the trail back, a fate that both men
desperately wanted to avoid experiencing again, especially since with such
a small and hastily put together team, they had not
been able to carry a lot of supplies with them. Thus,

(01:13:17):
they wanted to head back out immediately and not spend
time hiking down to the Alder Creek camp. Upon being
rebuff tams And shifted gears and began begging the two
men to at least get her daughters out, offering any
large amounts of money to do so, much like she
had Charles Katy and Charles Stone Eddie, though he poortedly
told the frantic mother to keep her money as you
would quote save her children or die in the effort. Thankful,

(01:13:40):
but stonlewared about those back in alder Cree. She then
tried reminding them of Nicholas Clark and gene Baptiste Rudeau,
who were stole back there and would be of help.
Eddie and Foster, though, responded that those who can make
the trip out themselves and take young Samuel with them. Meanwhile,
they urged Tamson to join them and her daughters in
leaving immediately, as while they could do nothing for the

(01:14:00):
thirty seven year old loved and Murphy, who now looked
to be twice her age and was too weak to leave,
or Lewis Keysburg due to his still injured foot in
the Journal of Fact, that Noah lecd her trusted him. Tamson,
in contrast, while clearly weakened from this ordeal, still appeared
fit enough to make the journey. Tamson, however, would once
again refuse rescue, insisting the stay by her dying husband's side.

(01:14:22):
With these decisions made, Tamson once again said goodbye to
her children, hugging and kissing them for what she likely
suspected was the last time. Tamson then departed, heading back
down for the Alder Creek camp as Eddie and Foster
prepared the children for the journey ahead. Then, when it
came time to leave, Lebanon was said to have lain
down on her bed facing the wall, seemingly recognizing that

(01:14:44):
her days had come to an end, now that she
had kept as many of the children alive as she
could given these circumstances. As the third relief group sent off,
each of them taking care to carry one of the
children away from this nightmare, they were surprised when, after
crossing the still frozen Trucky Lake, they encountered Nicholas Clark
and Jean Baptiste Trudeau, neither of whom it was noted,
were carrying little Samuel Donner. Nicholas Clark Calver was carrying

(01:15:07):
a heavy bag of valuables, which he claimed that Tamsen
had given him for safe keeping, a story that really
didn't make any sense given that the two men had
to have left the Alder Creek camp while Tamson was
still up at Trucky Lake. Upon being further questioned as
to why he was carrying out a bag of valuables,
and not little Samuel Donner. Clark claimed that the baby
boy had died before they left, a claim that the

(01:15:28):
others would only later learn was a flat out lie,
as Samuel would not die until a full week after
these events. Yet, for as suspicious as the rest of
the members of the Third Relief might have been, there
was nothing that they could realistically do at this point,
as they couldn't exactly stop the two men from leaving,
and they did not feel like they had the time
to go back and check on their story. As it

(01:15:49):
turns out, though, the going was relatively easy for the
members of the Third Relief as the whether for a
change cooperated. The three Donner girls, meanwhile, even got some
new cloaks that they wore proudly for their journey down
the mountain when the group found the pack of valuables
that Katie and Stone had been given by Tamsen to
provide for her daughters. Because as it turns out, not
only had the men opted to abandon the girls, but

(01:16:11):
they had also been forced to abandon the pack as
well when Katie found it could no longer carry it
due to his feet swelling from frostbite. Upon finding the back.
William Thompson, one of the members of the Third Relief
were actually rescuing the Donner girls, fashioned some of the
silk dresses within the pack and the cloaks so as
to keep the little girls warm. It was then, after
a brief stop at the Johnson Ranch where they spent

(01:16:33):
the night with the Reeds, that the three young Donner
girls were brought to their half sisters, Elitha and Leanna
at Sutter's Fort. Now, plans for another relief mission were
made by some of the men who had taken part
in the second and third, but when the group set
out in late March, bad storms once again swept in
and prevented them from getting out of Bear Valley. After
this and then became harder to assembly a team of

(01:16:54):
men who were willing to endanger their lives and well
being when there was most likely at best only two
people left the Lively Mountains, Tamsen Donner and Louis Keysburg.
As it was highly likely by this point that George
Donner had died from his infected arm, and Levin and
Murphy had died just from everything she had been through. Then,
when it came to the two who were potentially still alive.

(01:17:15):
No one was all that concerned about Louis Keysburg, while
Tamsen was looked upon us, having seemingly chosen her own
fate by refusing to leave with the rescuers on three
separate occasions. Come April, though, a so called fourth relief
mission would be assembled. However, unlike the others, this one
was less about rescuing and bringing back survivors and more
about salvaging what valuables could be recovered from their nightmarriage

(01:17:38):
winter camps. To that end, Johnson Claire, who was an
alcalde effectively a mayor, acted on behalf of the Donner children,
as he drew up a contract where a mountain man,
William o Fallon and the six men who went with
him would receive half of what they recovered on behalf
of the daughters, with the other half going to the
estate for the children, and a special indendum that should

(01:17:58):
they find either Tamson or George Donner still alive, they
would negotiate with them the terms of the recovery for
their valuables. Upon arriving at the Lakeside cabins on the
seventeenth of April, the members of the fourth Relief found
these scattered remains of dismembered corpses, but no signs of
life until they started heading for the Arter Creek camp.
As Along the way they found some fresh footprints in

(01:18:19):
the stow that had clearly been made by boots and
not moccasins, meaning they were not likely to have been
made by some member of a local Native American tribe. Then,
when the members of the Fourth Relief reached the Arter
Creek camp, they found the budget remains of Georgie Donner
in what was presumably some human flesh sitting inside a
large iron kettle, but no signs of tamsen. The group

(01:18:40):
then set about their business recovering any valuables they could
find at the Arter Creek camp, where the Donners had
lived and died the previous winter. Their efforts uncovered some
bales of fabric, but frustratingly, they could not find the
money that they had been told would be there. They would, however,
discover some trunks that had been broken into The now
frustrated members of the Fourth Relief then returned to Trucky Lake,

(01:19:02):
where they were surprised to find Lewis Keysburg sitting beside
a pan of water that contained a human liver and lungs.
The members of the fourth relieve then proceeded to interrogate Keysburg,
as it very much seemed like he had been hiding
from them when they had first come through, which they
found to be suspicious behavior to say the least. Keyesburg, though,
would claim that he had simply been out scavenging and
had only just returned. The group's greatest concern, however, was

(01:19:25):
what had happened to Tamson, who by all accounts, had
been relatively healthy given these circumstances. Keyesburg then related what
had happened since the third relief party had left, or
at least his version of events. According to Keyesburg, then
Lemna had died just a few days after the second
relief party had departed, at which point he remained alone
in the cabin, eating the fleshly dead. All the wild

(01:19:47):
wolves scratched at the door. Then, one night, Tamson arrived,
telling Keysburg of how her young nephew Samuel and her
husband George had both died, meaning they were the last
two left alive on the mountain. Now, according to Keyesburg,
Tamsen having cold and wet when she arrived, as she
had apparently fallen into a creek on the way there. Tamsen,
though despite not being able to stop crying, was determined

(01:20:08):
to head over the mountain passed by herself, intent on
seeing her children. According to Keysburg, though, it was too
late to even think of making such an attempt, so
he wrapped Tamson in a blanket in an effort to
warm and calm her down. When he awoke the following morning,
he was then stunned to find her dead. Keysburg would
then admit that he had eaten Tamson's remains, but denied

(01:20:28):
the accusations that he had murdered her and then stolen
the dunner's money invaluables. The members of the Fourth Relief, however,
did not believe Keysburg, and so they repeatedly pressured him
to confess. Despite this, Keyesburg stuck to his story until
William O'Fallon, the head of the Fourth Relief, threatened to
hang the German immigrant right then and there if he
didn't tell them the truth, at which point Keesberg handed

(01:20:50):
over two hundred and seventy three dollars that he claimed
that Tamson had left to him to give to her children,
which was definitely suspicious. Notably, though, this was a far
cry from monthy men of the so called Fourth Relief
Expedition expected to recover. They then also reportedly ripped open
a bundle in the cabinet found within Silk's jewelry and
a pair of pistols belonging to George's daughter, which cast

(01:21:11):
even further down on keysburg claims of intending to hand
over the money to the Donner children. Additionally, one account
also references finding two hundred and fifty dollars worth of
gold coins concealed on Keyesburg's person, which I'm not sure
if that is an additional money or a reference to
the two hundred and seventy three dollars he handed over. Regardless,
the group would then depart from camp on the twenty
first of April, carrying packs of valuables that weighed at

(01:21:33):
least one hundred pounds each. And coming along with them
despite their mistrust of him, was Lewis Keysburg, who, on
the trip back, would experience his own moment of visceral tragedy,
as during one rest he happened to spunny piece of
fabric sticking out of the stow. Recognizing the fabric, Keysburg
approached and pulled at it. In doing so, Keyesberg was
stunned to uncover the body of his baby daughter, Eda,

(01:21:54):
who he had all this time believed to have been
saved along with her mother by the first relief expedition.
In the end, it took two months and four relief
parties to get all the survivors of the Donner Party
out of the mountains. Of those who had gone on
the ill fated Hastings cut Off, forty seven had died,
while forty six made it out alive. Notably, men had
died at a higher rate than women had, an outcome

(01:22:15):
than has been attributed to the fact that women tend
to have a higher proportion of fat than men do,
which tended to be located just underneath the skin, a
biological quirk that meant the women had more reserves for
their bodies to burn through and a degree of more
insulation against the cold. Additionally, more muscular men woul due
their physiology going to naturally burn through calories at a
quicker rate. Plus, it has to be said that they

(01:22:37):
were not helped out by everything they had been through
on the Hastings cut Off. Cutting their way through the
Washtetch moounts had been hard and exhausting work, after which
they then crossed the Great Salim Desert, which had only
further weakened them before they ever reached the Sierra Nevadas.
In many ways, then they were doomed even before winter
it set in. From the very beginning, the story of

(01:23:25):
the Donner Party was a popular one to tell, as
not only were the accounts of cannibalism attention grabbing, but
it was also the tale of a group of people
driven by manifestocity to quote unquote civilize the wild and
untamed West, only to themselves fall into so called barbaric acts,
acts which seemingly belonged in some different era. As keep
in mind, this frontier horror story was playing out while

(01:23:47):
the Industrial Revolution was wellund away, both in Europe and
in the cities of the eastern United States. Indeed, even
as the members of the Donner Party were freezing, dying,
and committing cannibalism in the Sierra Nevadas, over in the
eastern parts of the country, there were busy city streets
lit by gaslight lamps for those resigning in such cities.
What happened to the Donners seemed to be a story

(01:24:07):
from another agent time. After all, just two years prior
to this tragic tale, Samuel Morse had made his first
transmission through the telegraph lines that ran between Baltimore and Washington,
d c. While in the same decade also saw Richard
Wagner composing operas in Germany and Edgar Allan Poe writing
notable works like The Murders in the Room, Morgue and

(01:24:28):
The Gold Bug. Yet, instead of questioning the forces that
drove the Donner parted to the brink of death, be
it people like Lansford Hastings, John Sutter, Jim Bridger and
his partner Pierre Luis Vasquez, or even the concept of
manifest destiny itself, the popular narratives seemed to focus on
blaming the victims of this tragedy. For example, during the
time when James Reid was gathering supplies and mena for

(01:24:50):
the second relief mission, a story was appearing in the
California Star. Now the author of this piece was one
Georgie McKinstry, who had actually traveled with the Donners and
the Reeds. George, though, had avoided the fate of the others,
as he had been among the group of single men
who had set off ahead of everyone else using mules. Then,
in addition to having first hand contact with some of
the principles involved, McKinstry also gleaned some additional details from

(01:25:13):
individuals who had spoken with Read after his arrival. The
story that McKinstry woe, though, was filled with half truce
and misconceptions, as while the peace rightly suggested that had
they taken the normal route, they would have arrived in
early September, McKinstry instead of blaming the delay on the
half big lives of Lansford Hastings, which were tied to
the schemes of John Sutter and Jim Bridger, men who

(01:25:33):
looked a profit off of both ends of this journey,
he instead claimed that their delay was because the quote
men would not work a quarter of the time. Indeed,
the paper's editor would note that, in the opinion of
the writer, who was well qualified to make such a judgment,
the quote whole party might have reached the California Valley
before the first no fel if the men had exerted
themselves as they should have done. Nothing but a contrary,

(01:25:56):
contentious disposition on the part of so many men belonged
to the party prevented them from getting in as soon
as any of the first companies. This blaming the so
called laziness of the Donner Party for what had happened
to them then became the focus of many who read
the story, as they seemingly ignored the whole part about
taking an unproven trail to instead start a whole new
set of rumors based upon this misleading interpretation of events,

(01:26:19):
rumors unlikely also helped to fuel the subsequent sensationalist accounts
of the Donner Party and the cannibalism that had taken place, like,
for example, one published in the Monterey Californian that claimed
that quote mothers possessing portions of their dead companions refused
to divide it with their own children while alive, and
when the children died, actually devoured the bodies of their offspring,

(01:26:40):
something which never even remotely happened. Indeed, all the mothers
in the Donner Party made sacrifices to save their children,
and none who did die or ever cannibalize while the
mothers were still alive. Notably, one of the sources for
this and other similar horror stories about the Donner Party
was none other than Midshipman Salem Woodworth, the naval man who,
rather than braving the stone to aid the trap survivors

(01:27:01):
like he had sworn to do, opt to do Stainley
Base Camp with his supplies, yet to spin his actions
being responsible for much of the suffering that had occurred
during and after the Second Relief, Woodworth would escape any
kind of criticism from the California press, likely due to
this cozy relationship he had with them, as he was
a ready source of information, regardless of its accuracy, about

(01:27:21):
the Daughter Party. Indeed, the California Star would actually go
so far as to declare that Woodworth had quote accomplished
more than could have been expected under these circumstances, which
again was demonstrably not true, much like the information he
provided to the California papers. Putting aside the lines, both
the Read and Breen families managed to make it through
this diamond without losing anyone. Indeed, Isabella Breen would be

(01:27:44):
the only infant for the party to survive into adulthood
and would only be the final member to die, doing
so in nineteen thirty five at the age of ninety.
In contrast, all the Donner children were made orphans as
both sets of parents, George and Tamsen and Jacob and Elizabeth,
had all perished in the mountains. William and Simon Murphy
were also offered after the death of their widowed mother,
Lebanon Murphy. Meanwhile, William Eddie had lost his entire family,

(01:28:07):
while William Foster and his wife Sarah had lost their
only child. Then there was Lewis Keysburg, who had lost
both of his children and was forever branded as a thief,
a killer, and a willing cannibal, in contrast to the others,
who were seen as only having committed the act and
of a desperate need for survival. How true any of
these accusations are I can't say. Now. It does seem
pretty fair to say that he attempted to steal money

(01:28:29):
and other valuables from the Donners. Yet even then he
was far from alone in attempting to steal from them.
He just seems to have been the only one to
have lived with that stigma. Indeed, as far as again tell,
nothing seems to have been done to reproach men like
Charles Katy Charleston and Nicholas Clark, who also at the
very least trying to rob the Donners and who also
abandoned the Donner children to their fates. As for the

(01:28:50):
accusations of murder, it's impossible to say really, while he
was accused of such acts, Levana was reportedly not in
a right mind by the time she made those claims.
Plus also seems like a fair amount of the hatred
directed toward him was a result of the fact that
he was a German immigrant and hadn't exactly been popular
before they had gotten trapped, Although the fact that he
was getting called out for the way he treated his

(01:29:11):
wife in the eighteen forties probably indicates that he wasn't
a great guy. The thing is, at the end of
the day, Keysburg would never be charged with any crimes.
In fact, he would finally suit to stop the further
publishing of scandalous stories about him, a case which he
won was only awarded a dollar by the court. Louis
Keysburg and his wife Philippine would then reunite and go
on to have eight more children together. He would though

(01:29:34):
outlive them all, while his temper and reputation would do
him no favors. As Lewis Keysburg would dine in the
eighteen nineties, penniless and a hospital for the poor. The
surviving Graves children, meanwhile, had lost a brother in both
of their parents. This and left Sarah, who had also
lost her husband, effectively in charge of caring for her
younger siblings, having to do so without any of the

(01:29:55):
money they had brought with him to start over with,
as that was now lost to Barrie's summer in the
the location having died with their mother. Meanwhile, Sarah was
so distraught over the loss of her beloved husband Jay
that she could not bring herself to write to his
parents to tell them the news. It was that her sister,
Mary Anne, who took up the hard responsibility of informing
Jay's parents of his death, noting as she did that

(01:30:18):
he had remained the quote idol of his loving wife.
Mary then finished her letter by imploring Jay's parents to
stay where they were, as they lived in a quote
good place where if sick, you are not in dangerous
starving to death. As in addition to all they had
been through, the surviving Graves children now found themselves in
a land where quote rogues were more plentiful than in

(01:30:38):
any place she knew of. To try and help her
siblings out, Mary Anne would accept a proposal of marriage
from one Edward Powell Junior, who had assisted in providing
logistical support for the relief missions. Now this is not
the young man's first attempted marriages. Powell, knowing how few
single women there were in California, had previously proposed a
thirteen year old Virginia Read after rescuing her, and then

(01:31:00):
try it again with mary Anne, meanwhile, a minst trying
to start a new life for themselves in this strange land.
The survivors would be haunted by everything they hadn't been through.
Sarah and mary Anne's little sister, Nancy, in particular, would
be haunted by those final days in the starving camp,
where she was kept alive by eating the flash of
her own mother, something which she had not realized at
the time, but upon learning the truth of what she

(01:31:22):
had done, would be haunted by it and filled with guilt. Indeed,
for quite some time after they finally settled in California,
it said that Nancy just regularly burst into tears. She
would be running around, playing and laughing like all the
other children one moment, and in the next she would
just start crying for no discernible reason. Now for us
It's clear that she was likely suffering from PTSD, but

(01:31:43):
they had no name for it, much less therapy to
at least understand what she was going through. That being said,
without even having a name for the people the time,
given what they knew about what had happened to the
lamentable daughter party as a game to be known, could
sympathize with the little girl. It's quite likely, in fact,
that many of the survivors of the Donner Party experience
some form of PTSD. As While on average twenty five

(01:32:05):
percent of people who experience a traumatic event developed PTSD,
then number jumps to fifty nine percent for people who
survive disasters. Additionally, women and children are more likely to
develop it, and the chances of developing PTSD also increase
due to factors like anticipating further suffering Mike, for example,
knowing that you were trapped and things are only going
to get worse with each passing day. Meanwhile, exposure to

(01:32:28):
dead bodies, seeing loved ones die, having your own life
in danger, and the trouble lasting for an extended period
of time all are also factors and increase the chances
of developing PTSD, and are things that the survivors of
the Donner party surely experienced during their winter trapped in
this eras now, we obviously don't know the extent to
which the survivors experienced the symptoms of PTSD, as was

(01:32:49):
not a known thing back then, and thus there really
was no attempt to document, much less treat, whatever issues
that survivors dealt with. However, in addition to Nancy graves
bounce of sobbing, Mary and Grace would also later in
life write quote, I wish I could cry, but I cannot.
If I could forget the tragedy, perhaps I would know
how to cry again, a statement which very much hints

(01:33:10):
at some common symptoms of PTSD, like emotional numbness and
reoccurring memories on the traumatic experience. Additionally, fifteen year old
Mary Murphy, just months after escaping the mountains, would write quote,
I hope I shall not live long, for I am
tired of this troublesome world, and I want to go
to my mother. Adding on top of everything they had
been through the previous winter was the fact that the

(01:33:31):
orphan children of the Grays and Donner families now not
only found themselves on their own and an unfamiliar land
without any relatives to rely upon or any means to
support themselves. But they also found that they were in
debt to John Sutter for the various mules and supplac
he had sent to them. To try and alleviate this
burden on herself and her siblings, Sarah Grays would the
help of local official Johnson. Claire began negotiations with James

(01:33:55):
Read through the mail as their parents, while trapped in
the mountains, had sold two heads of oxen to Mark Read,
with the promise that the Graves family would be paid
back double upon arriving in California, a debt that Reed
most certainly could afford to repay after getting himself well
established in California while all the others were starving in
the mountains. Indeed, it wasn't long before Reed made himself

(01:34:15):
a fortune in real estate and gold, and even became
the type of prominent citizen that he always saw himself
as being. In doing so, he also remained wildly arrogant,
even going so far as to write back to his
friends in Illinois in eighteen forty seven quote, our misfortunees
were the result of bad management, and I remained with
the company. I would have had the whole of them
over the mountains before the stolle would have caught them,

(01:34:37):
and those who have got through have admitted this to
be true, which is just frankly some truly delusional stuff.
As the fact of the matter was he was generally
held to blame by the others for being the leading
voice and taking the Hastings cut off, which again was
the main cause for their suffering. So no, his quote
unquote leadership would not have gotten them over the mountains

(01:34:57):
in time. If anything, his leadership is one put them
in that position in the first place. Plas, that doesn't
even get into the fact that the reason Money was
kicked out of the party was because he had murdered
a man reads arrogance and self aggrandizing aside, though he
won in August, send Sarah the four dollars that she
was owned for the ox and her parents assaulted the
Reed family money, which would do one year own Elizabeth

(01:35:20):
and siven year old Jonathan Graves no good, as despite
making it out of the mountains, both would never recover
and would join their parents by the end of that summer. Meanwhile,
the remaining Orphan and Graves siblings were taken in and
aided by the people who had aided them and escaping
the mountains as the Ritchie family took them in for
a time and then later reason Tucker invited Sarah and
Eleanor Graves to move to the Napa Valley, a Bucolic

(01:35:42):
location which was full of opportunities. In particular, the community
of new emigrants who had settled in the valley had
a number of children in need of a teacher, and
reason Tucker, one of the leaders of the first relief,
knew that Sarah Graves was educated and also in desperate
need of work to support her siblings, so he was
quick to recommend her for the position. Also, after a

(01:36:02):
year aggrieving Jay, Sarah would agree to marry William Dill Ritchie,
the son of Matthew Ritchie, who had taken her and
the other survivors of the Forlorn Hope expedition. In additionally,
William had helped with the logistical support for the various
relief missions, and so while he was three years younger
than Sarah and barely more than a boy, she still
decided to marry him. The two would then settle on

(01:36:23):
Napa Valley together were in addition to her work as
a schoolteacher. The couple would have three sons. Matthew, though,
had a bad habit of wandering off. It was and
during one of these vanishing acts, that Matthew would be
found with two stolen mules that he claimed he had
won in a bet. Yet, despite this defense, Matthew would
be found guilty of theft and hanged. The now choice

(01:36:44):
widowed Sarah would a year and a half later, Mary again,
this time wedding won Samuel Spires, a three seven year
old widower with two children, who was reportedly a good
and kindly man. Samuel and Sarah would have four children
to gather, two boys and two girls. Unfortunately, if Sarah
was at long last truly happy with this arrangement, it
did not last very long, as she would dine in

(01:37:05):
eighteen seventy one at the age of just forty six
as their heart just gave out. Her sister Mary Anne
would then take in Sarah's youngest daughters and raise them
along with their own children, with the help of her
second husband, after Edward Pyle had been murdered not all
that long after they were married. Meanwhile, it wouldn't be
until eighteen ninety one that a prospector named Edward Reynolds

(01:37:26):
uncovered the statue of coins that Elizabeth Graves had hidden
before her death at the starving camp. Upon Billy Graves
confirming that they were indeed the coins his mother had buried,
based upon the marks off behind on some of them
by one of the children who had been teething at
the time, half were given to Reynolds, when the rest
were split between the remaining Graves family. As for the Breens,
would all survive the winter in the mountains, they went

(01:37:48):
on to become a prominent family in what is now
San Benito County. Meanwhile, it would be James Breen's attempt
to subscribe to the Trucky Republican that would result in
the first book on this tragic tale, as editor Charles mclashan,
upon learning that the young man was a survivor of
the Daughter Party, would be inspired to begin researching the
story and would eventually write a book simply titled The

(01:38:09):
History of the Daughter Party. As for the now orphan
Donner children who had survived that terrifying winter, the younger
daughters would be adopted by other families, for example, Mary Donner,
one of Jacob and Elizabeth's daughters, whose feet had been
burned trapping her in the Star of Camp, would be
taken in by the Reed family, along with Francis daughter,
her cousin and daughter of George and Tamsen Mean, while

(01:38:30):
the girls, fourteen years in older, much like Mary Anne Graves,
would soon be married upon reaching California, likely just so
they would have some form of support. Ultimately, though, all
of George and Tamson's daughters would live full lives and
have families of their own. William and Amanda mccutch and
meanwhile would mourn the death of baby Harriet. William would
then go on to become the Sheriff of Santa Clara Valley,

(01:38:51):
but Amanda would die in childbirth in eighteen fifty six. Meanwhile,
orphan fifteen year old Mary Murphy would marry William Johnson,
the owner of Johnson's Ram. He was, however, in Mary's
own words, a quote drunken, sot and abusive, so much
so in fact, that she was able to divorce him
in eighteen forty eight. Mary, though, would eventually marry again,

(01:39:12):
this time winning a man who, while fifteen years her senior,
was a much better man than Johnson. Together, than the
pair would have five children together and do well in
the gold Brush. She would, however, die at just age
thirty seven. As for her brothers, William Murphy would become
a lower and prominent citizen in California, while young Simon
Murphy would serve in the Union Cavalry during the Civil

(01:39:33):
War before dying in Tennessee in eighteen seventy three. Then
there was William Eddie, who had lost everything in those mountains.
He though, would eventually remarry and start a new family.
That being said, for a time, Eddie was consumed with
the thought of hunting down Lewis Keysburg, the man who
might have eaten his family members and who might have
been responsible for murdering some of the members of the

(01:39:54):
Donner Party. James Reid, however, would manage to talk him
out of it. In general, then most of the fans
Musuitz survived this ordeal never saw one another again. Now,
some would admit to having been forced to commit cannibalism
as a matter of survival in a desperate situation, while
others would refuse to admit that any cannibalism ever took place.
As for Lanceford Hastings, he would never feace any direct

(01:40:17):
consequences for contributing to this tragedy, Although he would receive
death threats, he also never would achieve his grand dreams
of both fame and political power that he'd hoped to
gain for bringing more sellers to California via his cutoff.
In the years to come, then, Hastings would attempt to
practice law in San Francisco, only to abandon that to
try striking it rich in the gold fields. He however,

(01:40:38):
would fail at that along with several other ventures. At
which point, apparently not learning his lesson, Hastings would try
another scheme in which he intended to send goods from
San Francisco to the rapidly expanding Mormon community by the
shores of the Great Salt Lake. To do so, he
planned to use the Colorado River to transport said goods,
without ever checking the sea of the Colorado River was

(01:40:59):
actually navigable through the Grand Canyon, which sat authort his
plan route. As a result, much like his brilliant shortcut,
When this game was actually tested in the real world,
it was proven to be a terrible idea, as the
river was not in fact navigable through the Grand Canyon.
The Civil War though, Hastings believed provided him with yet
another opportunity to achieve the fame and glory he so desired,

(01:41:23):
as he proposed a plan where he would lead an
army and season the Arizona Territory for the Confederacy, which
never happened. Still not done, though, Hastings, following the war,
looked to repeat the plan he had originally tried with
California as he looked to establish a colony of Confederate
soldiers in Brazil. Indeed, he would even look to repeat
his success with The Immigrant's Guide to Oregon in California

(01:41:44):
by publishing The Immigrants Guide to Brazil. Lanceford Hastings, though,
would dine in Brazil in eighteen seventy before this scheme, too,
could fail. In the end, a combination of factors hand
doomed the Donner Party at the cor Though it was
their decision to take the Hastings cut off. Had they
not done so, they likely would have crossed the mounds
safely and made it into California along with the others

(01:42:05):
who they had traveled along with. It was and their
decision to try and save time so as to avoid
getting trapped in the mountains. Then ensured that's exactly what happened. Meanwhile,
they also would have been far better off if they
had stained back in the trucky meadows instead of trying
to push through the mountains after losing so much time.
With how exhausted they and their animals were, as back there,
these stoves wouldn't have been as bad, and their likely

(01:42:27):
would have been more game. Plus, in the meadows, more
of their various oxen and cattle would have likely survived
and been in better condition. That being said, there were
also forces beyond their control working against them, like, for example,
the fact that these stoves that year came unusually early. Meanwhile,
even though it doesn't seem like they experienced more storms
or snow than average, it has been theorized that it

(01:42:48):
might have been unusually called that year, which means that
when it did stone, the stone was lighter and thus
stacked higher than normal, bearing the party and their shelters
in the process. Plus, it seems that their choice of
campsite only meant the situation worse, as the mountain peaks
they were surrounded by created a kind of bowl that
captured the stove. Notably, though this bowl also had an
opening to the west, which only served to funnel the

(01:43:10):
storms coming in off the Pacific ran into where they
were huddled. And finally, making the situation even worse, was
the warwith Mexico that had been motivated by these same
forces that had sent them on this westward journey in
the first place. As without this manifest destiny inspired conflict,
chances were there would have been more able body men
available for James read the rally to make attempts to

(01:43:31):
get back to those who were trapped in the mounts
to affect a rescue. As it was, though, manifest destiny
not only set them on their course, but it also
ensured they would remain trapped throughout that night maarish winter.
And it is with that funnel note that it will
end this tragic tale of frontier survival. Join me next time, though,
as we turned back the clocks to the fifteen hundreds,

(01:43:51):
a time before the even English colonies in the Americas,
as it will tell you the story of Spanish conquisad
Or Cabeza de Vaka and his horroring journey survival across
the Southwest and the people he and his companions encountered
along the way. But like always that for now will
have to remain a story for another time. Thank you

(01:44:15):
for listening to Distorted History. If you would like to
help out, please rate and review the podcasts and tell
your friends if you think they'll be interested. If you
would like ad forree in early episodes, I set up
such a feed over at patreon dot com slash Distorted History.
By paying ten bucks a month, you will gain access
to the special ad free feed available on Spotify or
likely through your podcast app as long as it uses

(01:44:36):
an RSS feed. I will continue to post sources on
koffee and Twitter, though, as it's just a convenient place
to go to access that information regardless. Once again, thank
you for listening, and until next time in manator

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The Tragedy of the Donner Party Episode 5 Rescue and Relief

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