Читать книгу Oregon, the Picturesque. A Book of Rambles in the Oregon Country and in the Wilds of Northern California онлайн

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The Donner party of thirty-one people set out from Illinois in April, 1846, and after almost unbelievable hardships, which caused the death of many of them, arrived in the vicinity of Truckee in October. Here they were overtaken by a terrific snowstorm that made farther progress impossible and they camped on the shores of Donner Lake until the following February. Many other emigrants had joined the party on the way and in spite of the numerous deaths while enroute, eighty-three were snowed in at this camp. Forty-nine of these perished before relief arrived and only eighteen finally survived to reach California. The first crossing by emigrants over this route was made in 1844 and the fate of the Donner party was due to being caught by the early winter rather than the difficulties of the road. Snow fell during that winter to the depth of twenty-two feet, as proven by a stump of a tree cut by the emigrants; and a fall of from ten to twenty feet is not uncommon even now in this vicinity.

Crossing the mountains, one is appalled by the thought of the difficulties encountered by the pioneer who had neither road nor signboard, but must make his way over rugged hills and deep valleys, across wide rivers, and through virgin forests with only a dimly blazed trail to guide him—and even this was often wanting. If a motor trip across the continent even now is not without its difficulties and discomforts, what hardships must the pioneers with the ox-drawn wagons have endured in that far-off day when neither railway nor wagon road entered the savage wilderness and the only inhabitants were hostile Indians and wild beasts.