The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate

by Eliza Poor Donner Houghton, Kristin Johnson (Introduction)

George and Tamsen Donner and their children, among the very first to leave from Illinois, joined emigrants headed to California in the spring of 1846. Beyond Fort Bridger, Captain Donner led a large party through a much-advertised shortcut. Delays and difficulties caused them to be snowbound in the High Sierras, facing the grim specter of starvation and extreme suffering.

 

Though only four years old at the time of the expedition, the captain’s youngest daughter, Eliza Donner, would never forget the excitement of crossing the prairies—or the horror of that winter. Details impressed on her young mind were later substantiated by the recollections of her older sisters and other survivors. Her book, originally published in 1911, is an intimate and authoritative account of the Donner disaster. George and Tamsen Donner and those who shared their fate are fully humanized in the telling. Eliza also relates what happened to her and a sister after being rescued and what it was like to grow up in a world that turned the Donners into a grisly legend.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Classics, Biography, Historical, Memoir

460 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Eliza Donner Houghton (1843 - 1922) was the youngest child of George Donner, one of two Springfield, Illinois, brothers who organized the ill-fated California-bound emigrant party that bore their name.

She chronicled the early years of the state on October 10, 1861 in Sacramento, California. Eliza belonged to several organizations, including the Red Cross, the Native Daughters of the Golden West, the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was also active in her church. Her own book "The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate", was published in 1911, 65 years later.

Reviews

[Lesle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trying to understand was my demon in reading this story. I cannot tell you how many articles I read from different perspectives in trying to understand the why of it all.
Not overwhelmed by the writing style. Was hoping for more details of characters and enviroment. It is written almost as if it is an outline of the daily events.

Eliza and her sisters were remarkable people because no one could have gone through the struggles that she and her sisters endured. Their experience was horrendous, all because of their fathers choice. A man of means, 60 years old and in good standing with the community. Why would he leave a well established 240-acre farm and orchard in Illinois for a wagon train trip across the US? I would not take my family without knowing the consequences of such a hard journey. Maybe Eliza's father had more faith in who else was going than I would have. So many more women and children than men. When the Cowboys from south came up with the cattle drive they were single men on their journey to Montana on a dangerous trail full of hazards. This disturbing overland journey is more for young men, farmers, cowboys and rangers at the time. Not families. Not when you have all that and more that you leave behind like Mr Donner had.
Sorry this is the part I really do not understand that you would put your family in such an enviroment of weather, shortages of food and water, and predators whether animal or human for a dream.

The journey was a mistake that could not be undone or the loss reversed. There were many dangers and difficulties that arised because of taking the Hastings Cutoff through the rugged Wasatch Mountains, the route was worse than thought, Hastings himself had never traveled it, unknown, unproven...why? They had to carve a new road through thick trees and boulder strewn ground. The snow in the Sierras was astonishing deep. Tree stumps left behind by the Party were left standing at 22 feet in height. Trapping them for months in the mountains. The snow was their end. It came early, many many feet, it did not go away. They were trapped. This because of a unscrupulous trail guide breaking trail and making promises for the Party.

If only this cut off had been successful, if only a letter left behind from Mountain Man Jim Bridger warning them how rough the Cutoff was, if only they had gone on the other trail they would of been safe. If only...

The Donner Pass now represents the most important transmontane route (rail and highway) connecting San Francisco with Reno. It lies within Tahoe National Forest, and Donner Memorial State Park is nearby.

**Honesty Lines**
I gave it two stars as I cannot say the topic was an enjoyable read but I feel it needs to be understood that the pipe dream of one at the stage in his life he was, should have been content with what he had accomplished in life. I felt as if Mr Donner was selfish in regards to the concerns of his family surviving such an ordeal. Maybe he should have went on his own first.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite an interesting memoir, written by one of the Donner Party survivors. I care not to recount the story for anyone that isn't familiar with it, beyond saying that the Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who, in 1846-7, were snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and, in some instances, resorted to cannibalism to survive. The popular culture version of the story is much more grisly - a point this book takes great lengths to emphasise. And I confess that I myself was no less allured by the exaggeratedly gruesome story than most are when approaching it from former ignorance. I mean, hell, the only place I had heard of it was in The Shining, where it gets a very brief mention.

I am not a sucker for morbid horror like I used to be. I wasn't drawn to this story because of its true accounts of human cannibalism. Rather, I was thinking it would be a starkly horrifyingly, but at the same time humbling account of the depths to which human endurance can go before desperation sets in - something in the vein of In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, a modern book detailing the remarkable true story that inspired Moby Dick.

However, the book isn't either of those things. The unimaginable sufferings of the Donner Party are actually relegated to only about a third of this book, if even that. The rest follows the life of Eliza Donner following her survival. I personally found this to be a perfectly decent book, but disappointing all the same. The title is quite misleading. By no means did I want the sensationalist garbage that drove Eliza to tell the true story in order to vindicate the victims' legacy, but I was much more hoping for a larger focus on what transpired during that horrendous time in the mountains. I didn't care nearly as much about the rest of the story. I didn't choose to read The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate to learn about one of the survivor's experiences living with her grandparents. But that's just me.

So then, I could not possibly give this two stars, as it was in no way an unworthy book. But nor could I give more than three.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The memoir written by Eliza Donner, the youngest of the Donner children who lost their parents in the mountains. Eliza was four when her wealthy family set out from their comfortable home in Illinois to seek the new wealth in California. She remembers things in great detail, especially the time after they were rescued, and she and her sister Georgia were taken in by a German family, the Brunners, where they spent their childhood.

This memoir is less about the Donner Party, since the author was so young at the time, and more about her growing up years since, which coincided with the Gold Rush years, the many changes in the Sonoma Valley and Sacramento Valley, and the arrival of the first Pony Express to California.

Anyone interested in early California history will enjoy this book. Told simply, with intriguing detail, and the sweet feelings and clear imagery of a child's eyes, this is a real treasure. A wonderful "free" find on the Kindle, I have placed it in my "favorites to reread" category.

[Chrissie]

Free download available at Librivox.

Related books of interest:
*Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West 4 stars by Ethan Rarick
*The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride TBR by Daniel James Brown
*The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate TBR by Eliza Poor Donner Houghton

[Amy Layton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so so interesting.  Usually books that describe the events of the Donner Party spend little time recounting what happened after the recovery parties, and when it does recount what happened, it was mostly to share in the scandal of Keseberg's tarnished reputation and the gossip spread about this horrific event.  But what Eliza's account offers is a look at her time growing up in which her sisters were separated, her parents were dead, and she had to learn to grow up after being on starvation rations.  

As many other historians have noted, because the events of the Donner Party happened when she was so young, Eliza drew a large amount of information from other members of the party and their writings about what happened.  But what such drawing offers is then her own spin on it, her saying this happened and I do or don't remember it, and this is how I feel about it having happened regardless.  Such a first-person account is so incredibly necessary for such a harrowing time, and it truly goes to show just how important it is for constructing narratives that incorporate the subjective opinions of its survivors.  

Overall, I was so engrossed in this book, so excited to see just what happened and why, and to see the opinions of a girl who wasn't allowed any because of her age at the time.  I'm glad that I've added this to my repertoire of Donner Party books that I've read, and I can't wait to see what else lies out there on this topic.

Review cross-listed here!

[Giddy Girlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit that I am not a Pioneer scholar and living in California for my whole life, I have heard the Donner Party mentioned in numerous ways over the years without fully understanding their actual story. Although others will contest that Eliza Donner and her sisters were too young to fully comprehend what was happening along their journey, I think this book is still a fair overview and gives plenty of insight into the failed expedition.

Essentially, the "Donner Party" has come to represent cannibalism. Basically, a group of pioneers was trapped in the mountains for months with no choice but to eat their dead. However, that isn't exactly true and their circumstances speak to the rugged determination of the pioneer spirit. What I had always assumed was that the Donner Party was made up of a single family, but in actuality it was much larger - I believe around 75 people at the time they were trapped in the mountain pass. They were able to survive for months by eating the livestock they had with them and by eating the laces of their boots, etc. Many of the people who were part of that group, including the children, survived and were rescued some months later by some unsavory characters -- men who were motivated not just by the money they were being paid (a handsome sum) but by the potential loot that was in the mountains. Settlers moving "from the States" to the unsettled West would carry all they had with them. The Donner family itself had over $10,000 cash sewn into quilts and thousands of dollars more in gold and silver hidden in their belongings. The other families had similar earnings, so the rescuers often went in with less than altruistic ideas - which was evident in the fact that they did not carry supplies for the survivors, they only brought the food and water that they themselves would consume. So it really isn't surprising that these are the same people who began the ugly rumors that the Donner Party had resorted to cannibalism -- an act which would make it easier for everyone to care less about their fate; they were now unclean in the eyes of God.

Amazingly, many people DID survive this ordeal. This book is the story of Eliza Donner and her sisters. Eliza was about 3 years old when she was rescued along with her sister who was about a year or two older. Once rescued from the mountains where their parents had died, the young girls were put into the care of their teenage half-sisters (13 and 15, I believe). The government, the Spanish royalty, and some others had dedicated a small stipend to their care but they were otherwise lost in the world and all alone. Over the course of the next few months, the sisters were separated and the youngest two were taken into the care of a local German couple who were the butcher and dairy for the area. The girls spent the next 10 years or so in their care, which was extremely difficult although better off than most of the era. They were cared for but not loved and they were deliberately kept away from their older sisters who had been married and started families of their own. They also still had to deal with being Donner children and the unavoidable stares and snickers from townspeople for their entire lives. The newspapers of the times were thrilled with the sensational stories of cannibalism and debauchery by the Donner Party and the poor children were the unwitting victims of slander for the whole of their lives.

When Eliza was a teenager herself she was finally able to meet a man who had been part of the party and gone for help. He had been the one that the reporters had gotten the initial reports of cannibalism from; essentially this man admitted that he had no other choice and had to eat the flesh of one of his party. He is the only one "on record" as having admitted this and he is the single source for the rumors that persist hundreds of years later! When Eliza meets him, he denies ever eating human flesh and he assures her that her father died as a result of his injuries (sustained along the trail) and that her mother stayed by his side to care for him before succumbing to delirium and freezing to death. Eliza and her sisters accept his account as the truth and are satisfied, as I think all readers should be.

What was more remarkable that their journey to the west and subsequent peril in the mountains is that the survivors basically just went on with life. In the modern era, these girls would have lived off the money from talk show appearances and tell-all books for the rest of their lives. Instead, they were adopted as farm girls and lived the difficult, rugged life of farm children everywhere. In a time of great political upheaval (the war with Mexico, the Spanish ruling California) they just went back to life like everyone else - working hard, dealing with hardships, hoping for escape in marriage.

This is a free Kindle book and although I thank the people who have made it available in this format, it should be noted that there are many issues with the digitized version. Words are misspelled and typos abound (yes, I understand that this was written hundreds of years ago - but there are still blatant typos like "tne" instead of "the") and quotations and indentations are everywhere. I think a lot of this has to do with OCR being used to translate the text. Overall, it is readable but it should be noted that there are errors.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a remarkable woman was Eliza Poor Donner Houghton.

Most books concerning the Donner Party--and they are legion--end with Keseberg's "rescue," if you can call it that. More accurately, a final "relief" party scavenged the lake and creek camps, the "rescuers" packing as many valuables out as they could, while allowing the lone member of the trapped party that they found still alive to hobble and crawl along in their wake as best he could.

Eliza carries us along from 1847 to 1861 and her marriage, and beyond, to her later interviews with Jean Baptiste and Keseberg, for example.

I wish to record that interview with Jean Baptiste, pp 350-351:

"John, always a picturesque character, had become a hop picker in hop season, and a fisherman the rest of the year. He could not restrain the tears which coursed down his bronzed cheeks as he spoke of the destitution and suffering in the snow-bound camps; of the young unmarried men who had been so light-hearted on the plains and brave when first they faced the snows. His voice trembled as he told how often they had tried to break through the great barriers, and failed; hunted, and found nothing; fished, and caught nothing; and when rations dwindled to strips of beef hide, their strength waned, and death found them ready victims...."

(At this point Jean Baptiste lies and tells Eliza what she wants to hear, that the Donner families were never forced to consume human flesh. We know he lied: even Eliza's own sister, Georgia, said that there came a point when Tamsen, their mother, cooked bits of meat which the parents did not eat themselves. In the extremity of need, Tamsen fed it to the girls while George, their father, turned his face to the wall and cried as they ate.)

"...When saying good-bye, he looked at me wistfully and exclaimed: 'Oh, little Eliza, sister mine, how I suffered and worked to keep you alive. Do you think there was ever colder, stronger winds than them that whistled and howled around our camp in the Sierras?'

"He returned the next day, and in his quaint, earnest way expressed keenest regret that he and Clark had not remained longer in camp with my father and mother.

"'I did not feel it so much at first; but after I got married and had children of my own, I often fished and cried, as I thought of what I done, for if we two men had stayed, perhaps we might have saved that little woman.' (He is referring to Tamsen Donner, Eliza's mother.)

"His careworn features lightened as I bade him grieve no more, for I realized that he was but a boy (Jean Baptiste judged himself to have been about 16 that winter of 1846-47), over burdened with a man's responsibilities, and had done his best, and that nobly. Then I added what I have always believed, that no one was to blame for the misfortunes which overtook us in the mountains. The dangers and difficulties encountered by reason of taking the Hastings Cut-off had all been surmounted--two weeks more and we should have reached our destination in safety. Then came the snow! Who could foresee that it would come earlier, fall deeper, and linger longer, that season than for thirty years before? Everything that a party could do to save itself was done by the Donner Party; and certainly everything that a generous, sympathizing people could do to save the snow-bound was done by the people of California."

From Wikipedia, quoting from page 201 in George Stewart's Ordeal By Hunger : "Georgia Donner wrote (to Charles McGlashan) to clarify some points, saying that human flesh was prepared for people in both tents at Alder Creek, but to her recollection (she was four years old ((sic: she was actually five)) during the winter of 1846–1847) it was given only to the youngest children: 'Father was crying and did not look at us the entire time, and we little ones felt we could not help it. There was nothing else.' She also remembered that Elizabeth Donner, Jacob's wife, announced one morning that she had cooked the arm of Samuel Shoemaker, a 25-year-old teamster.Eliza Donner Houghton, in her 1911 account of the ordeal, did not mention any cannibalism at Alder Creek."

[Mark Laufenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of the Donner party who left their home in Illinois to relocate to California in the 1840s. Due to a decision to take an alternate trail and a number of mishaps that delayed them along the way, they arrived in the Sierra Mountains later than planned.

It seemed that the party could not catch a break throughout the entire excursion, as the snow came the earliest that it had in 30 years and with such a heavy amount, that it stranded the party in the mountains.

The account of events is from Eliza Donner, the youngest of the Donner children who was 4 years old at the time. They had lost many animals along the way including horses, oxen and cattle. When they became stranded, their provisions and options soon became exhausted and they were faced with starvation. The terrible suffering that these people went through is almost unimaginable.

Although a number of them did not survive the ordeal, quite a few were rescued, including some of the children. The desperation of the situation is well portrayed, along with how the people dealt with it and the sacrifices that were made, especially by some of the adults who did their best to support the children in hope of their survival.

There were many accounts written of the Donner party's ordeal and quite a few of them were greatly exaggerated. Ms. Donner dispelled many of the myths connected to the tragedy, especially some of the untrue and sensationalized versions of cannibalism.

The latter part of the book details Ms. Donner's life after surviving the tragedy in the mountains. It begins with her childhood when she and her sister were taken in by a couple who raised them, their eventual move to Sacramento to live with their older sister and her husband, and then to the time shortly after Eliza's marriage.

I found the story engaging and the book to be pretty well written. It was good to read an account of the ordeal from someone who was actually there throughout most of it.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone expecting horror and gore don't need to read this book, as it does not feature any of the salacious and false accounts that came out at the time of the tragedy and were then utilized to write more "non-fiction" books on the crossing. However, it does give a picturesque account of the entire trip with rich details of life on the trail, during the horrible, freezing and hungry months and the trip down from the pass to civilization again. The book also features the years two of the sisters spent with a foster family before being reunited with their older sisters. Excellent details regarding early life for pioneers to California. Very readable.

[Kashmir White · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a grim and harrowing ordeal the Donner party and their companions went through. In spite of that, I really enjoyed this memoir from one of the surviving Donner children. The writing itself is very good; I found it to be very simple and straightforward and above all intriguing, especially considering the time period it was written in. I have found memoirs from this same period to be a bit difficult to access; this one is actually a gripping page-turner that allows you to empathize with the victims of the tragedy. Very excited to have found this one.

[Richard Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tragic account of the lost Donner Party, written by Mr. Donner's daughter in 1910. Not only was she there, she lived through it and later researched it thoroughly to give an accurate first-hand account. Written in a different style, but once you get used to it, the book becomes quite interesting. Not for everybody, but this is for the curious who wished to know what really happened to a group of traveling settlers, who got lost and stranded while making their way to California in 1846.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is fascinating, and the description of such an intense suffering and determination is deeply touching. This first-hand account is written well by Eliza Donner, the youngest child of the Donner family.

[nicholas kreiling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the long read

Somewhat long, but FULL of interesting facts. This book is well worth the time it takes to read in its entirety.

[T. R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been interested into the Oregon Trail and the Donner Party was certainly a name I knew. I thoroughly gained a whole new perspective on the truth of this tragic story. I want to add, some people may be disappointed because the truth is not as gruesome as the newspapers made it out to be. Some people may also be disappointed that the story is not purely about the expedition. After it is explained what happened, Eliza shares more about what happened to her during her childhood, which I found quite fascinating. But I understand, it may not be what people were expecting from the title.

A grown woman who accused a child of something she didn't do...

[Taksya · Rating 4 out of 5]

L'autrice è una dei superstiti della carovana Donner, partita dall'est civilizzato degli states per i territori selvaggi dell'ovest, per restare bloccata da precoci nevicate sulla Sierra Nevada, diventando sinonimo di cannibalismo per sopravvivenza.
Eliza Donner era la più piccola della numerosa famiglia, quattro anni scarsi, e racconta quel poco che ricorda della traversata. Mentre è nella parte successiva al salvataggio che fornisce più dettagli sulla sua vita (e della sorella Georgia) come immigrata tra gli immigrati, adottata da una coppia di svizzeri e cresciuta come ragazza di fattoria, una vita molto lontana dagli agi che la ricchezza della sua famiglia di origine le avrebbe concesso.
Al termine della storia viene approfondita via appendici la leggenda creata da sedicenti soccorritori riguardo il cannibalismo.
Nulla di diverso rispetto ai nostri tempi, quando le fake news erano ancora più difficili da combattere.
Nel complesso una biografia interessante sulla vita dei pionieri e sull'epoca della corsa all'ora.

[Tammy Burger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to this on Libra Vox. I think this account reflects many people's experiences during the Westward movement. I was pleased to learn that the canniblism so associated with this expedition has been greatly exaggerated. It was an interesting look at the events through the eyes of a child, but also confirmed by documents and eye witness accounts by adults. Only about half the book is devoted to the actual travels, the other half is about what happens to this child once California is reached.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly enjoyable read, but more a memoir of Eliza Donner's life that just happens to begin with the mountain tragedy. Worth reading if you are interested in the lives of the children after they reached the fort.

[Anneliese Bennion · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sad part of history! It was really engaging. Once I had started I had a rough time putting it down.

If you just want an overview of the story read the appendix. There are several different accounts with the author's commentary.

[Lynsie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While it is an interesting story, the writing left much to be desired. I cannot imagine having to endure what they did and I am glad to know the story.

[Shannon Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grim story. Difficult to understand the greed and selfishness alongside the parental sacrifice that is recounted. I found on several occasions that I couldn't stop reading this book.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the first portion of this book was about the Donner Party tragedy, most of the book was more about what happened in the lives of some of the survivors after the tragedy.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Rebekah Theilen · Rating 4 out of 5]

By 1846 the way to the West was well established. Not only did people know the locations of the rivers, the Indians, and the trading posts, they were also aware of the seasonal window required to pass through in order to make the four-month trip. The pioneers heading west to California and Oregon needed to leave late enough in spring to ensure plenty of pasture to feed the accompanying livestock. They also needed to leave early enough in spring to beat the impassable mountain-range winters. On April 14, 1846, George and Jacob Donner, two Lutheran brothers from Springfield, Illinois, departed with their families, covered wagons, and everything they needed to begin a new life. There should have been plenty of time to beat the coming snow.

After a relatively comfortable crossing through the Great Plains, the Donner party is lured off the main trail by the promise of a shortcut and easier road. This promise, in time, turns out to be false. Much time is lost having to blaze their own trails and stopping to recover from a five-day dessert crossing. By the time the Donner party reaches the Sierra Nevadas at the end of October, they've lost much of their livestock and been forced to leave behind much of their possessions. Low on food, strength, and needed supplies, with only 100 miles remaining of their 2,500 mile journey, the emigrants are met with an early season blizzard making travel impossible. The Donner party is forced to set up camp in the mountains.

The first third of the book tells the story of the Donner Party. The remaining two-thirds provide a detailed account of the life of Eliza Donner. Being only a small child during her journey across the country, much of Eliza's life included a seeking out of information from people who remembered and made the journey with her parents.

This is a book that will keep you quiet, sober-minded, and grateful through the winter. The abundance of food, clothing, and shelter in the cold is nothing to be taken lightly by humans. It's also a book that keeps you stunned and looking back in time, begging the Donner party not to go.

[Jane Elkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"While I had come from the mountains remembering most clearly the sufferings from cold, hunger, thirst, and pitiful surrounding, I had also brought from there a child’s mental picture of tenderest sympathies and bravest self-denials, evinced by the snowbound in my father’s camp. . . Vain, however, my efforts to speak in behalf of either the dead or the absent; every attempt was met by the ready assertion, 'You can’t prove anything; you were not old enough to remember or understand what happened.'”

As an armchair historian and one who shares Eliza Donner’s acute memory of early childhood, I found this memoir to be both illuminating and dry: illuminating for its depictions of the quotidian in the extraordinary circumstances of being stranded in the high Sierra’s worst winter, and dry for its subsequent focus on her fraught relationship with her foster parents. Little wonder that she harbored lingering fantasies of reuniting with a miraculously saved mother, despite sensitive assurances of her dignified death and cruel rumors to the contrary.

Eliza Donner penned her recollections in 1911, at age sixty-nine, following a life rich in adventure and advantage as the wife of the Honorable Samuel Houghton, U.S. Representative. It is the considered voice of this politician’s wife that the reader hears in her crusade to prove the unproveable, that no members of the Donner party willingly partook in cannibalism or ate family members—a claim contradicted by the firsthand account of at least one girl who was tortured by the memory of being given her mother’s flesh for sustenance, as recounted at the 41 minute mark of this documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ao90... , Death in the Sierra.

Nevertheless, the most interesting nuggets of Eliza’s account come in the accumulated testimonies of the Appendix, many conflated with sensational detail, and ending with her private interview with the Lewis Keseberg—the man whom legend accuses of eating her mother and trying to steal the family fortune. She absolves him of all wrongdoing.

[Sir Robbiethehoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest and best adventure stories ever written.

The hopeful experiences of the Donner Party as they leave Independence, Missouri at the tail end of a wagon party bound for California is detailed in such a straight forward and engaging way.
Their harrowing experiences in the Sierra Nevada mountains, vividly depicted as the snow settles and provisions run out and members of the party have started to die off. This is a real tale of clinging onto hope in hope of survival against bitter odds.
Their salvation and rescue and details of how things were at the camps are discussed to dispel any falsehoods and also mentioned within the book are the Donner sister upbringings and the beginnings of early California including the gold rush and the introduction of the Pony Express Postal Service.

This is an exciting adventure story full of tragedy but also triumph from a bygone age.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, while it is very, very long, it is extremely easy to read and basic in its language. A fantastic book.

[Ashley Luxton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual story of the Donner party’s journey and harrowing time in the mountains is all said and done in the first third of the book. The remaining two thirds of the book describe the author’s life for several years after her rescue.
The story of what happened to the Donner party was so sad - there was an impending sense of doom for me in the events leading up to them being stuck in the mountains. What happened to them up there is truly horrifying and the efforts of the several people who left camp to try to get help were incredible. This part of the book was an absolute page-turner.
Unfortunately all of the events after the author’s rescue (which comprise the majority of this book) were rather boring by comparison and easily could have been left out of the book I think.

[Barakiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting recollection by a little girl who was a part of the Donner tragedy. That part of the book is short, since she can't remember much, but it does give some insight from her and her siblings' perspectives. The rest of the book is about what happened to them afterwards, the people that took them in and their marriage.

For those who don't know the Donner party is known for their tragic fate, when they followed and untested new trail to California, got snowed in during the winter and starved. Some of them resorted to cannibalism (which is what this incident is unfortunately best known for).

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

For historical writing, I’m not certain of reliability. Eliza was only 3 when they journeyed across the country. But this book does explain the “happily ever after” very thoroughly, 2/3 of the book actually. I think the most fascinating part is the evolution of Eliza’s life. Because you learn a lot about what it was really like to live in that era.

[Ed Barton · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a Biography

This is more of a biography of Eliza Donner than an account of the Donner Party. I would guess that only a quarter to a third of the book relates to the actual Donner Party experience. The appendices have some other accounts as well that discuss the experience. On balance, a moderately interesting biography of a somewhat obscure figure.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by one of the children of the Donner Party. Most of the book deals with the aftermath of the rescue (not the winter itself) - growing up as an adopted child by a Swiss couple before being reunited with her older sister.