-1846 Donner party decided to build a camp (1/15)

1846 Donner party, unable to cross the Donner Pass, construct a winter camp

Faced with one last push over mountains that were described as much worse than the Wasatch, the ragtag company had to decide whether to forge ahead or rest their cattle. It was October 20 and they had been told that the pass would not be snowed in until the middle of November. William Pike was killed when a gun being loaded by William Foster was discharged negligently, an event that seemed to make the decision for them; family by family, they resumed their journey, first the Breens, then Kesebergs, Stanton with the Reeds, Graves, and Murphys. The Donners waited and traveled last. After a few miles of rough terrain, an axle broke on one of the Donners’ wagons. Jacob and George went into the woods to fashion a replacement. George Donner sliced his hand open while chiseling the wood, but it seemed a superficial wound.

Snow began to fall. The Breens made it up the “massive, nearly vertical slope” 1,000 feet (300 m) to Truckee Lake (now known as Donner Lake), 3 miles (4.8 km) from the summit, and camped near a cabin that had been built two years earlier by another group of pioneers. The Eddys and Kesebergs joined the Breens, attempting to make it over the pass, but they found 5–10-foot (1.5–3.0 m) drifts of snow, and were unable to find the trail. They turned back for Truckee Lake and, within a day, all the families were camped there except for the Donners, who were 5 miles (8.0 km) below them—half a day’s journey. Over the next few days, several more attempts were made to breach the pass with their wagons and animals, but all efforts failed.