He
chronicles events which happened in 1846--a date before the
discovery of gold in California. The Donner Party was one of the
typical American caravans of homeseekers who started for the
Pacific Slope with no other purpose than that of founding homes
there, and with no expectation of sudden wealth to be gained in
the mines. I desire therefore to quote largely from the pages of
this book, believing that, in this fashion, we shall come upon
history of a fundamental sort, which shall make us acquainted
with the men and women of that day, with the purposes and the
ambitions which animated them, and with the hardships which they
encountered.
"The States along the Mississippi were but sparsely settled in
1846, yet the fame of the fruitfulness, the healthfulness, and
the almost tropical beauty of the land bordering the Pacific,
tempted the members of the Donner Party to leave their homes.
These homes were situated in Illinois, Iowa, Tennessee, Missouri,
and Ohio. Families from each of these States joined the train and
participated in its terrible fate; yet the party proper was
organized in Sangamon County, Illinois, by George and Jacob
Donner and James F.
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