J. F. Reed, and had reached her four score and ten years. Her aged frame
and feeble health were not equal to the fatigues and exposure of the
trip, and on the thirtieth of May they laid her tenderly to rest. She
was buried in a coffin carefully fashioned from the trunk of a
cottonwood tree, and on the brow of a beautiful knoll overlooking the
valley. A grand old oak, still standing, guards the lonely grave of the
dear old mother who was spared the sight of the misery in store for her
loved ones. Could those who performed the last sad rites have caught a
vision of the horrors awaiting the party, they would have known how good
was the God who in mercy took her to Himself.
Chapter II.
Mrs. Donner's Letters
Life on the Plains
An Interesting Sketch
The Outfit Required
The Platte River
Botanizing
Five Hundred and Eighteen Wagons for California
Burning "Buffalo Chips"
The Fourth of July at Fort Laramie
Indian Discipline
Sioux Attempt to Purchase Mary Graves
George Donner Elected Captain
Letter of Stanton
Dissension
One Company Split up into Five
The Fatal Hastings Cut-off
Lowering Wagons over the Precipice
The First View of Great Salt Lake.
Presenting, as they do, an interesting glimpse of the first portion of
the journey, the following letters are here introduced.
Pages:
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10
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