!...

Seven of the fifteen got through to the Sacramento Valley, among these
the young girl, Mary Graves, described as "a very beautiful girl, of
tall and slender build, and, exceptionally graceful character." The
story brought out by these survivors of the first party to cross the
Sierras from the starving camp set all California aflame. There were
no less than three relief expeditions formed, which at varying dates
crossed the mountains to the east. Some men crossed the snow belt five
times in all. The rescuers were often in as much danger as the victims
they sought to save.

And they could not save them. Back there in their tents and hovels
around Donner Lake starvation was doing its work steadily. There is
contemporary history also covering the details of this. Tamsen Donner,
heroine that she was, kept a diary which would have been valuable
for us, but this was lost along with her paintings and her botanical
collections. The best preserved diary is that of Patrick Breen, done
in simple and matter-of-fact fashion throughout most of the starving
winter. Thus:

"Dec. 17. Pleasant; William Murphy returned from the mountain party last
evening; Baylis Williams died night before last; Milton and Noah started
for Donner's eight days ago; not returned yet; think they are lost in
the snow.

"Dec. 21. Milton got back last night from Donner's camp. Sad news; Jacob
Donner, Samuel Shoemaker, Rhineheart, and Smith are dead; the rest of
them in a low situation; snowed all night, with a strong southwest wind.

"Dec. 23. Clear to-day; Milton took some of his meat away; all well at
their camp. Began this day to read the 'Thirty Days' Prayers'; Almighty
God, grant the requests of unworthy sinners!

"Jan. 13. Snowing fast; snow higher than the shanty; it must be thirteen
feet deep. Can not get wood this morning; it is a dreadful sight for us
to look upon.

"Jan. 27. Commenced snowing yesterday; still continues today. Lewis
Keseberg, Jr., died three days ago; food growing scarce; don't have fire
enough to cook our hides.

"Jan. 31. The sun does not shine out brilliant this morning; froze hard
last night; wind northwest. Landrum Murphy died last night about ten
o'clock; Mrs. Reed went to Graves's this morning to look after goods.

"Feb. 4. Snowed hard until twelve o'clock last night; many uneasy for
fear we shall all perish with hunger; we have but little meat left, and
only three hides; Mrs. Reed has nothing but one hide, and