One hundred and sixty-three years ago this week, the members of the Donner Party were in the deep throes of starvation and slowly dying.

After the last storm on January 28, a short period of fair weather dominated the region. Spring-like conditions with mild temperatures and lively, chirping birds in the pine trees around the cabins and lean-tos cheered the few emigrants still strong enough to climb out of their dark, windowless spaces.

Too Little (sun), Too Late
The warm sun settled the snow a little; pioneer, Patrick Breen, speculated that if the snow pack melted off somewhat, maybe the survivors could try to hunt some wild game. Unfortunately, any potential protein at this point would come too late for two of the children at the Donner Lake camp. During the recent storm, Louis Keseberg's son, one-year-old Louis, Jr., had died. A few days later, teenager, Landrum Murphy, died. For many members of the remaining Donner group of fifty-plus people, dead was just a matter of time.

Sutter's Fort
Down in the Sacramento Valley, the heavy winter storms had flooded streams and rivers and travel was exceedingly difficult. To spread the alarm that the Forlorn Hope snowshoe party had brought down from Donner Pass to Johnson's Ranch, a letter dictated by survivor William Eddy was dispatched via courier, John Rhodes, to Sutter's Fort; it was forty miles from Johnson’s Ranch to the Fort.

John Rhodes crossed the river on a raft. He took his shoes in his hand, rolled his pants up above his knees, and started for Sutter's Fort through water from one foot to four feet deep a good part of the way.

Suicide Mission?
Once the dire news of the trapped Donner Party at the top of the Sierra reached Sutter's Fort, relief operations were organized to rescue the pioneers trapped in the mountains. Due to the Mexican-American War, however, there were probably less than twenty men remaining in the southern Sacramento Valley. Most of them considered an attempt to reach the snowbound emigrants a suicide mission.

Captain Edward M. Kern, the military officer in charge of Sutter's Fort (now called Fort Sacramento), offered $3 a day for any man willing to go into the mountains. Three men stepped forward to volunteer, but others would be needed to carry food provisions and contribute logistical support. Some men were skeptical that the military would pay them; others demanded an exorbitant $5 per day.

Four more rescuers signed up when American ranch owner, John Sinclair, and John Sutter promised to be personally responsible for any wages earned by the volunteers. Sinclair and Sutter both agreed to supply food and horses. John Sutter also sent his launch, the Sacramento, downriver towards Yerba Buena (San Francisco) so his crew could alert residents there and request additional recruits and financial aid.

First Rescue Party of 1847
By the end of January, the seven men in the first rescue party had positioned themselves at the staging area at Johnson's Ranch and were equipped and ready to go up the hills. Help for the Donner Party was on the way.

On February 7 Patrick Breen, at Donner Lake, had dug his way out of his log cabin and climbed up onto the roof to shovel the snow pack that was threatening to bury his family. The day was mostly sunny and pleasant with a mild breeze from the southwest, but the snow was about thirteen feet deep. The weather was nice, but death was stalking the emigrants more quickly now. Harriet McCutchen, an infant who was left behind when her mother, Amanda, joined the Forlorn Hope, died on February 2. The Eddy's baby, Margaret, died two days later, followed by her mother, Eleanor, on Feb. 7.

On February 8, a bedridden Augustus Spitzer passed on, as did Reed's teamster, Milt Elliot, the following day. Elliot had been more than a loyal employee of the Reed family. Virginia Reed later wrote about Elliot’s death: "Our faithful friend seemed so much like a brother. My mother and I dragged him out of the cabin and covered him up with snow. Commencing at his feet, I patted the pure, white snow down softly until I reached his face. Poor Milt! It was hard to cover his face from sight forever, for with his death our best friend was gone."

Of the 81 people who had reached the High Sierra on October 31, fifteen had died and seven had reached safety in California. The remaining survivors, mostly children, were barely hanging on.

Editor's Note: This installment is #32 in an exclusive, weekly series tracing the actual experiences of the Donner Party as it worked its way into American history. Mark McLaughlin, a weather historian and photographer, who lives on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe, wrote the series for Tahoetopia. Copies of all the installments can be found by clicking on Donner Party.