Snow Mountain Passage

by James D. Houston

Snow Mountain Passage is a powerful retelling of our most dramatic pioneer story--the ordeal of the Donner Party. Through the eyes of James Frazier Reed, one of the group's leaders, and the imagined "Trail Notes" of his daughter Patty, we journey along with the ill-fated group determined, at all costs, to make it to the California territory.
James Reed is a proud, headstrong, yet devoted husband and father. As he and his family travel in the "Palace Car," a huge, specially built--and ultimately cumbersome--covered wagon, they thrill to new sights and cope with conflict and constant danger. Yet when a fight between Reed and another driver ends in death, Reed is exiled from the group and heads over the mountains alone. The fate of the other families, including Reed's wife and four children, is sealed when they set out across a new, untested route through the Sierra--their final mountain pass. Arriving at the foothills just as the snows start to fall, they are left stranded for months--starving, freezing, and battling to survive--while Reed journeys across northern California, trying desperately to find means and men for a rescue party.
An extraordinary tale of pride and redemption, Snow Mountain Passage is a brilliantly imagined and grippingly told story straight from American history.

*National Bestseller

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Westerns, Adventure, 19th Century, Survival

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

James Houston is the author of 8 novels and several nonfiction books. His work includes Snow Mountain Passage and Farewell to Manzanar.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I saw the author's obituary and he sounded like an interesting guy. The library had several of his books, and I chose this one because our Westward Expansion is a subject that continues to fascinate me.

Snow Mountain Passage is the fictionalized story of the Donner party, traveling by ox-cart from Springfield, Illinois, to its denouement in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of '46-'47.

I learned quite a bit of history, and enjoyed a good tale, well told, along the way. That satisfied me.

[Rachel M · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book because it is a fictionalized account of the Donner Party, and I think the history of Westward expansion is fascinating.

Houston alternates between telling the story of the mountain-bound Donner Party in the "Trail Notes of Patty Reed", and narrating the tale of Patty's father, Jim Reed, who was initially expelled from the wagon party for killing a man, and who later returned from California to rescue his family and those they traveled with.

I found myself skipping over the long chapters that focused on Jim Reed's travels back to his family, looking for the less-frequent but far more interesting Trail Notes excerpts. Who really cares what small adventures Jim Reed faced compared to the haunting experiences of those in the Donner Party? I can understand Houston's desire to explore the intriguing character of Jim Reed, but his story still couldn't possibly compete with that of the Donner party.

This book was thought-provoking, articulating quite well the joys and difficulties of living with others. The Reed family faced enormous trials on their way to California. The head-strong mistakes Jim Reed made on the journey West were paid for dearly by his wife and children; yet, in the end, it was the same headstrong nature that drew him to return in very difficult conditions to rescue them. This is an inspiring tale of courage and perseverance.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Snow Mountain Passage” is a historical novel that tells the story of the families who left Illinois in 1846 to reach California, which they visualized as the land of milk and honey. Better known as the Donner party, this story is told through the eyes of James Reed, one of the group’s leaders. The “Trail Notes” told by his daughter Patty (who was eight years old at the time) as she looked back on the journey 75 years later, was one of the most interesting parts of the book to me. It’s a very sad story of starvation, freezing, and survival as the party arrived at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the final mountain passage.

Because of the early snowfall they were not able to complete their journey. They were also duped into believing that this so called shortcut would get them to California sooner. Unfortunately, it only brought them disaster. I respect Houston as an author, but I was not necessarily intrigued with the entire novel. I appreciated the historical aspect, but some of the details did not appeal to me. The novel does lend light to American history at this time, especially the settling of California, the Mexican-American War and the U.S. expansionist movement.

[Bob Lafary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the "Donner Party." For those of you who have a few years on you, you at least know something about the subject. For those of you who have gone to school in the last few years, you more than likely don't. Because the worthless politicians and school administrators are gutless, and give in to those who since they don't like what happened, want the actual history to be revised--to fit their idea of utopia. History is what happened--right or wrong. But they think everything has to be their way--so tear down statues, don't teach history, don't teach cursive writing. How utterly stupid and gutless those supposedly in charge are. This is a book of fiction, but based very closely to the actual events, as horrid as they were. I only gave the book three stars, because it does get bogged down in detail at times. But just get through those passages and you will be rewarded. The best parts are when one of the survivors, many years later, recants what happened during those long, long months. I have had this book for 17 years--and I just now got around to reading it. I'm glad I did--
before I starved to death.

[Michael Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard James Houston on the radio and love California history so I decided to read "Snow Mountain Passage." It is well written historical fiction about the Donner party. I especially enjoyed how the narration switched between passages from Patty Reed's trail notes and the narrative focused on her father, Jim Reed.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting story -- I read the last 100 pages all in one shot because I couldn't stop reading. Anybody interested in American history or California history would enjoy -- also if you like books about people's spirit/will and the amazing nature of human survival.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed very much.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best historical novels I've read. A real page turner even knowing more or less what the outcome would be. Now I want to go to the Donner Museum next time we are that way...

[John DeSimone · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Houston's novel, Snow Mountain Passage, is an outstanding historical novel. The quality of the writing carries it through chapters of detail. Ostensibly a recounting of the doomed Donner Party expedition, it is so much more. Houston gracefully weaves in, through the eyes of Jim Reed, the turmoil of a California undergoing a change of ownership from the at the time. Set just a couple of years before the Gold Rush, the story includes a wild cast of characters, most of all Jim Frazier Reed and his decision to move his family from a prosperous farm in Illinois to the unknown and far off land of California.

Houston gives us a protagonist, Jim Reed, who is as complex as he is heroic. Many of the troubles he and the entire party experienced were a direct result of his decisions, but what makes him heroic was that he never shrugged his responsibility to his wife and children, and even to the wagon train members who despised him. A beautifully wrought book, and wonderful and detailed retelling, and a marvel of storytelling.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the fictional retelling of the Western Expansion with the Donner Party who went to California looking for a better life in the mid 1800's. The main character is James Frazier Reed along with his wife and 4 children. The group takes a wrong turn to the Sierra Nevada. It is too close to winter to turn around. There is also a fight between Reed and another man in the group. Reed is forced to leave the group as an exile and go on alone. For the next five months Reed travels around northern California, trying to stay alive and trying to find ways and people who will rescue his family and the others in the mountains. His family and the rest of the party are stranded in the mountains in blizzards, freezing cold, poor shelter, and quickly dwindling food supplies.
The other narrator is Reed's daughter, Patty, in the form of her trail notes. She fills in what their life was like after Reed left them. In her seventies, she comes to realize that life is a precious gift which fills her with gratitude.

[Christine Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in the early 2000s, this book is a product of its time. I guess I would have enjoyed it more had I read it earlier, during a time I knew little of how destructive mankind has been to the earth. The descriptions of the undulating, untarnished terrain of the western United States left a bitter taste in my mouth, knowing how many species' homes we've destroyed in our quest for more, how many peoples and communities we've wiped out.

That being said, when one is able to remove that lens, one finds a tragic, moving account of the Donner party, a group upon which unfortunate circumstances happen one after another. It is a tragic account of the American dream, and what happens when pride gets in the way of logic. It was a bit difficult to root for the father here because of his hubris, but somehow, at the end of the book, we are able to forgive him, just as his daughter does in the story.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this was a good book and did cover parts of the Donner Party story, I think the title led readers to believe that was simply what the book was about. Instead it was mostly about James Reed's story - a pioneer in San Jose California. There is a LOT of California history in this book, so people wanting a Donner Party novel will be quite disappointed. James Reed and his family did get stuck that fateful winter but probably 70 percent of the book was about California's early beginnings. I personally was interested in this early California history, but many would not be - hence some lower starred reviews. I must add that the writing was very well done and for the most part, kept my interest.

[Diane Sugars · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fictional account of the Donner party’s exhibition to the west. This is the first book I have read about this subject and I did find this book very interesting. I gave this 3 stars because I did not like the back and forth between the chapters of when Jim Reed was exiled from the group. When reading those chapters I found them to ramble and drag on. I look forward to finding a more non fictional account of the Donner party’s journey as I found this to be a very fascinating subject.

[Rebekah Keiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this historical fiction book. I feel like I learned a lot about the hardships endured while traveling west in a covered wagon train. I learned more about California’s history and struggle between Mexicans, Indians, Californians, and new American immigrants. Finally, the tragedy of the trapped and starving people who survived the Sierra Nevada winter and resorted to eating human flesh. Simply tragic.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a more factual account of this disasterous journey but it did convey how gruelling the journey was across America. Having recently travelled through parts of the Mohave Dessert the shear scale is mind blowing and how they managed with their wagons makes one realise how tough they were. The description of being buried in snow in their cabins and the shortage of food and the cold was very graphic and it is surprising that more people did not die.

[Melissa Irwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. My Mom “loved it” and there was a note to return it to her, so I persevered to see what she loved. Also, the author is local. Best part was reading about the wildlife in the valley back then (elk, bears and enough birds to block out the sun). Clearly an interesting ordeal so many went through to find a better place.

[Emma Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me almost a year to read this book.

While the story is amazing and well written, I felt like I was reading Steinbeck with the massive amounts of description. I was getting bogged down in the details, but I made it through, just like some of the Donner-Reed Party.

I would definitely recommend this book if you want to read historical fiction on the west.

[Teri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because it takes place in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and northern California where I am from. The story itself is a page turner but I also enjoyed reading about the history of California prior to the gold rush. Highly recommend.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure why, but I couldn't get into this book. I found Patty Reed's narrative compelling, but lost interest in the sections about her father - his motivations and his trek were just confusing to me and seemed to drag on.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome display of storytelling! Combining Historical Fiction with nonfiction (derived from the actual notes and writings of an actual survivor of the incident). Definitely would like to read again in the future!

[Ash Sandstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Donner party retelling that doesn't focus on the most obvious, gruesome part (don't leave it out either though). I'm very unsure about the level of accuracy and the author doesn't give a list of sources or context (aside from living in Patty's old home?).

[Prowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written. Poetic descriptions. Provides a different view of the Donner party.

[Lamandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

What those people went through in search of the Promised Land in the East! Fascinating and horrifying in equal parts.

[Julia Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the fictionalised account of a true story and felt it was well told.

[Megan Calfee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful prose describing a difficult and speechless journey. Resiliency meets humanity or lack there-of.

[Kathy Maddocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A difficult read about early settlers crossing the Sierra Nevada.

[JCB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snow Mountain Passage is about the ordeal of the Donner Party; a bit of historical fiction about snowstorms, dangers, and rumors of cannibalism.

In summary, a fascination re-telling of an actual historical event from involved parties but from a different view. If you like that type of novel, and instruction done with a subtle touch, then you should enjoy this book.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, beautiful book, brimming with emotion and rooted in the majesty and danger of nature. Although the cover proclaims Snow Mountain Passage to be "a novel of the Donner party," that does not reflect the spirit and depth of this work.

Those of us who have heard of the Donner Party probably have a generic picture of stranded, desperate pioneers, some of whom get stranded in the mountains in the winter of 1846-7 and turn to cannibalism to survive. It's a famous story, and knowing that much isn't a spoiler in terms of reading this book. (You can get the basic Donner Party story by glancing at Wikipedia. )

But surely there is a more subtle reality -- the Donner Party was made up of real people, real families, forced apart by circumstance, trying to find each other again, trying to make a place for themselves in California or at least to survive long enough to get there. James D. Houston uses the known facts as a framework upon which he thoughtfully builds the imagined lives of the Reeds, one of the families caught up in the mountains that winter.

Only part of the story takes place with the stranded party members. Much of it centers around Jim Reed, who becomes separated from the Donner Party, forced to leave his wife and children behind. He makes it to the west coast, but all he wants is to find a way back through the snow, into the mountains, to rescue his family.

Reading Snow Mountain Passage, it's easy to feel the connection the author feels to the people, the history, the place. Houston takes his time creating a picture of the political and social turmoil of the 1840s West. Mexicans, Native Americans, Californians and new immigrants from the States all struggled to define their place in a changing world of shifting power and alliances. Sometimes I felt as though a better grasp of California history would have served me well as I read this book, and every so often I wished the passages in which characters debated about which side to take were a bit shorter.

Still, none of this took away from the power of the central story, and the breathtaking ability of Houston's prose to make it come alive. This one is a real gem. I hope you won't miss it.

[David Mudra · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Houston tells the story of the Donner party from the point of view of James Reed, a member of the wagon train who did not spend the winter of 1846 in the Sierra Nevadas. He had been sent on ahead, and was one of the people trying to reach the stranded families from the other side of the mountains. His frustration is excruciating as he battles for support in an area that is consumed with breaking away from Mexico. Rescue parties he mounts are turned back again and again by blizzards. Reed refuses to accept that rescuers may not be able to reach the settlers until the terrible winter is over. He knows that his family and the others cannot survive that long.
Survival in the freezing camp is recorded by his youngest daughter, Patty, who looks back on that winter as a woman in her 80's. The fact that there were any survivors is incredible. This was an exceptionally frigid winter, and the families crammed into hastily thrown-together shacks, without heat, polar fleece, or thermals, eating anything, anything to stay alive. There was little heroism. Each group was on its own. Patty's trail diaries reveal the smell, the anger, the hunger, the despair that no one will come to help in time.
The desperation is heightened for the Reed family because they are one of the reasons the group did not make it over the summit before winter set in. What keeps James Reed from hero status is his hubris in building an enormous two-story wagon so his family could travel west in comfort. This "Palace Car" slowed everyone down, delaying the group's arrival in the Sierra Nevadas until too late in the year. The Reeds' descent from being the most envied group on the trail to the one with the fewest remaining resources makes Jim Reed even more complex, frantic to save his family from the result of his pride, yet so wrenched by guilt that he is tempted to flee south to fight the Mexicans.

[Misfit · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Mixed feelings, July 16, 2007


I admit to being a bit disappointed, as this book turned out to be more about Jim Reed and less about the Donner party. The first part of the book was very entertaining as it dealt with the Donner/Reed group on the trail to California. A disagreement arises between Reed and another leading to a fight and Reed has to leave the wagon train and strike out on his own towards California on horse ahead of the others. Once the wagon train reaches Truckee and snow hits and they realize they can go no further, the story leaves them and the middle third of the book is about Reed's travels on the other side of the Sierras. I found this part to be quite boring and I was literally skimming and skipping chapters. I just wasn't interested (nor expecting) to read about the US/Mexican war in California nor Reed's involvement with same.

Interspered with the author's writings of Reed's story are Notes from the Trail by his daughter Patty that were written when Patty was much older. Those were the chapters that held my interest, especially the story of the rescue and getting the survivors out of their winter camp and over the mountains to safety.

All in all a reasonably interesting read, but I'm glad I got it from the library as it's one I'm not likely to want to read again. Four stars for Patty's Notes from the Trail, two stars for the story of Jim Reed and the US/Mexican war.