Contributed By Kiniksu Kid
5-19-02
SUCCESSFUL PIONEERS
Traveling along Interstate 80 just west of the city of Truckee and north of Donner Lake, you soon reach Donner Summit. The name Donner, of course, is from that ill-fated group who left Little Sandy Creek (Wyoming) in July 1846. Heading for California (like everyone else), they lost a great deal of time and found the path blocked by snow. The party built cabins to spend the winter and soon they were snowed in and dying of starvation. Some made it over the mountains on improvised snowshoes; rescue parties from the California settlements saved others. Those who spent the winter degenerated to the point of inhumanity, resorted to cannibalism and even, as some would assert, murder. Of the 89 men, women and children, 47 survived and 42 perished. It is little known that two years previous the first emigrant group to get wagons across the Donner Summit was the Elisha Stephens party who not only did not lose a life, but increased their numbers as two children were born during the journey.
Elisha Stephens was born in South Carolina in 1804. His family later moved to Georgia where as a young man he acquired the skills of a blacksmith. During the 1820s and 1830s he trapped beaver for the northwest mountain fur trade. When the Murphy and Townsend wagons arrived in Council Bluff, Iowa, Elisha was working as a blacksmith in an Indian subagency. He was an unusual individual, about forty years old, big hawk nose and pointed head. He stayed to himself and traveled alone, having neither wife nor children.
The California bound Stevens party was made up of 28 men, eight women and 15 children The largest group (23 persons) was the family of Martin Murphy. A much smaller party was that of Dr. John Townsend
His wagon included his wife Elizabeth and his brother-in-law, Moses Schallenberger, a 17-year-old youth he and Elizabeth had taken in as an orphan. Moses would become a hero on the trip. Dr. Townsend would become California's first legitimately licensed physician. What is most interesting and still unknown is how Stephens not only joined but also was elected captain of the party.
The Stevens party started for California on May 18, 1844. Crossing the Missouri River and the journey as far as Fort Hall was not particularly eventful. The wagon train encamped at Independence Rock, and the members were among the first pioneers to carve their initials on what would become known as the "Great Register of the Desert." While at Independence Rock, James Miller's wife gave birth to a baby girl, Helen Independence Miller. At Fort Hall they left the Oregon Trail and headed southwest and followed the tracks of Joe Walker who had tried to take wagons to California the year before. They followed this trail for 500 miles to the Humboldt Sink. There, on the advise of a Paiute chief they called Truckee, the party turned west. Arriving at a stream they named Truckee, after their guide, the party followed the river until it forked. Here was a major decision, which way to go? They decided to leave five wagons below the pass at what is now called Donner Lake and three men to guard them through the winter. The main body including six wagons and the mothers and children would travel over the pass. Up the other fork would go four men and two women, well armed and prepared to travel light. On reaching Sutter’s Fort they could send back help if it was needed.
Stephens and the main party made it over the pass and then got snowed in. The built a cabin on the Yuba River to spend the winter and there was born Elizabeth Yuba Murphy. Later the entire group and the wagons got safely to Sutter’s Fort. The smaller group that went up the other fork followed the stream and became the first white people of record to view Lake Tahoe. Turning west to cross the mountains, they also reached their destination.
The three who had stayed with the other wagon built a cabin and planned on spending the winter hunting. Then the snow began and it wasn’t long before it reached the eaves of the cabin and game disappeared. They had already eaten the two cows and were beginning to starve. The decision was made to head out and they made snowshoes from the hickory strips that held the canvas on the wagon. In the morning they began each carrying rifle, provisions and blankets. By that evening they had reached the summit but young Moses Schallenberger was sick. Knowing that he could not make it through, he said good-by to his friends and turned back to the cabin fully expecting that he would die. The other two went on to reach Sutter’s.
Moses barely made it back to the cabin and was weak and exhausted. He found some traps that captain Stephens had left behind and set them around the cabin. The next day he had trapped a coyote. Despite how he cooked the meat, he found the taste revolting. After forcing himself to eat the coyote for three days he then trapped two foxes and discovered that they tasted quite good. He spent the rest of the time trapping foxes and coyotes, eating the fox and freezing the coyote just in case. Much of his time he spent reading some books that Dr. Townsend was taking to California. Late in February standing by the cabin one evening he spotted someone approaching. At first he thought it was an Indian, but then he recognized his friend Dennis Martin. Martin had spent time in Canada and was an expert with snowshoes so he made a pair for Moses. They made it over the pass and reached safety. Now every single member of the party had arrived.
In the summer the men of the party returned for the wagons that had been left below the pass. Most of the content had been taken by wandering Indians except for the firearms. The Indians considered firearms to be bad medicine.
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Last Modified 5-19-02