The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate | Page 8

were able to take these
trying situations philosophically, and were ever ready to enjoy the
novelties of intervening hours of calm and sunshine.
The staid and elderly matrons spent most of their time in their wagons,
knitting or patching designs for quilts. The younger ones and the girls
passed theirs in the saddle. They would scatter in groups over the plains
to investigate distant objects, then race back, and with song and banter
join husband and brother, driving the loose cattle in the rear. The wild,
free spirit of the plain often prompted them to invite us little ones to
seats behind them, and away we would canter with the breeze playing
through our hair and giving a ruddy glow to our cheeks.
Mr. Edwin Bryant, Mr. and Mrs. Thornton, and my mother were
enthusiastic searchers for botanical and geological specimens. They
delved into the ground, turning over stones and scraping out the
crevices, and zealously penetrated the woods to gather mosses, roots,
and flowering plants. Of the rare floral specimens and perishable tints,
my mother made pencil and water-color studies, having in view the
book she was preparing for publication.
On ascending the bluff overlooking the Big Blue, early on the

afternoon of the twenty-sixth of May, we found the river booming, and
the water still rising. Driftwood and good sized logs were floating by
on a current so strong that all hope of fording it vanished even before
its depth was measured. We encamped on the slope of the prairie, near
a timber of cottonwood, oak, beech, and sycamore trees, where a clear
brook rushed over its stony bed to join the Big Blue. Captain Russell,
with my father and other sub-leaders, examined the river banks for
marks of a ford.
By sunset the river had risen twenty inches and the water at the ford
was two hundred yards in width. A general meeting was called to
discuss the situation. Many insisted that the company, being
comfortably settled, should wait until the waters receded; but the
majority agreeing with the Captain, voted to construct a raft suitable to
carry everything except the live stock, which could be forced to swim.
The assembly was also called upon to settle a difference between two
members of our Oregon contingent, friendly intervention having
induced the disputants to suspend hostilities until their rights should be
thus determined. The assembly, however, instead of passing upon the
matter, appointed a committee to devise a way out of the difficulty. J.Q.
Thornton's work, "Oregon and California," has this reference to that
committee, whose work was significant as developed by later events:
Ex-Governor Boggs, Mr. James F. Reed, Mr. George Donner, and
others, myself included, convened in a tent according to appointment of
a general assembly of the emigrants, with the design of preparing a
system of laws for the purpose of preserving order, etc. We proposed a
few laws without, however, believing that they would possess much
authority. Provision was made for the appointment of a court of
arbitrators to hear and decide disputes, and to try offenders against the
peace and good order of the company.
The fiercest thunderstorm that we had yet experienced raged
throughout that night, and had we not been protected by the bluff on
one side, and the timber on the other, our tents would have been carried
away by the gale.

The Big Blue had become so turbulent that work on the prospective
craft was postponed, and our people proceeded to make the most of the
unexpected holiday. Messrs. Grayson and Branham found a bee tree,
and brought several buckets of delicious honey into camp. Mr. Bryant
gathered a quantity of wild peas, and distributed them among the
friends who had spices to turn them into sweet pickles.
The evening was devoted to friendly intercourse, and the camp was
merry with song and melodies dear to loved ones around the old
hearthstones.
Meanwhile, Captain Russell had drawn a plan of the craft that should
be built, and had marked the cottonwood trees on the river bank, half a
mile above camp, that would furnish the necessary materials.
Bright and early the following morning, volunteer boat-builders went to
work with a will, and by the close of day had felled two trees about
three and a half feet in diameter, had hollowed out the trunks, and made
of them a pair of canoes twenty-five feet in length. In addition to this,
they had also prepared timbers for the frames to hold them parallel, and
insure the wagon wheels a steady place while being ferried across the
river.
The workers were well satisfied with their accomplishment. There was,
however, sorrow instead of rejoicing in camp, for Mrs. Reed's aged
mother, who had been failing for some days, died that night. At two
o'clock