In many
instances small parties would hear of the mammoth train just
ahead of them or just behind them, and by hastening their pace,
or halting for a few days, joined themselves to the party. Many
were with the train during a portion of the journey, but from
some cause or other became parted from the Donner company before
reaching Donner Lake. Soon after the train left Independence it
contained between two and three hundred wagons, and when in
motion was two miles in length. The members of the party proper
numbered ninety."
This caravan, like many others of the great assemblage westbound
at that time, had great extremes in personnel. Some were out for
mere adventure; some were single men looking for a location. Most
of them were fathers of families, among them several persons of
considerable means and of good standing in the community which
they were leaving. While we may suppose that most of them were
folk of no extraordinary sort, certainly some were persons of
education and intelligence. Among these was the wife of George
Donner--Tamsen Dormer; a woman of education, a musician, a
linguist, a botanist, and of the most sublime heroism.
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