Many people know of Donner Lake, the principle encampment that long winter, but the two actual Donner families and their hired teamsters lived, isolated, on the Alder Creek meadows, which is about six miles north and slightly east of Donner Lake.


During the last three years of digging at the Alder Creek location, nearly 16,000 bone fragments were discovered. Virtually all of them are smaller than a fingernail in size. Forensic scientists have tested thirty of the 16,000 pieces; they were looking for human bones that had been boiled, indicative of cannibalism.

DNA analysis of the fragments is not a possibility due to the breakdown of the bone material that has been exposed to temperature extremes, soil acidity, and very wet--very dry (winter vs. summer) conditions at the site. Scientists did use scanning electron microscopes to study bone structure at the cellular level. The scientists were able to identify bones from horses, cows, deer and dogs. But no human bones were identified to date.

The media present at the conference immediately decided that the absence of human bones so far means no cannibalism occurred at the Alder Creek site. This is a premature conclusion. Stay tuned for more developments.

Mark McLaughlin is a weather historian who lives on the North Shore. He is a member of the Society of Historical Archeology.