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tion of a quality that ran in the blood of the country. In the extent to which it affected the population; in the demeanor of the emigrants, their stolid frenzy, quiet stubbornness, and persistence in the face of obstacles avoided. by normal men, the last westward march across the continent presented in some aspects the appearance of an action due to hypnotic influence. Nor was this phase of the phenomenon confined to the actions of those who made the journey. There was not a community, however small, which did not contribute to the multitude of departing adventurers, and it is very possible that every stay-at-home was united either by blood relationship or personal acquaintance to one or more of the west-bound army. Those who remained in the East were, as a consequence, affected by the movement to a degree no less intense though in a different way-than the gold seekers themselves, and displayed their relation to it through an attitude equally pronounced. All eastern thought and action were for a time ruled by the new situation in the West, and a number of years elapsed before the public slowly returned to a normal attitude in harmony with altered conditions.

The efforts of the men and women who took part in the final rush to the Pacific coast, and their experiences while on the way, constitute a drama in keeping with the theater that witnessed it. If the stage designed for the spectacle was vast and elemental, so were the human emotions there exhibited. If the scenery amid which the theme progressed was at once gloomy, tremendous, inspiring, beautiful and foreboding, so also were the manqualities of the countless figures in the tragedy. For it was a tragedy, as all acts of the multitude always are when born in the frenzy of inflexible determination.

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374.-Scene in St. Louis during the migrations to California. Hundreds of canvas-covered wagons passed through the city every day. Some of them halted for a time, while their owners bought necessary provisions and equipment.

It so happens that the strangest events in the record of migrations from the Mississippi valley to California took place in 1846 and 1847, at the very outset of the movement and more than a year before gold was discovered. Those circumstances were embodied in the fate which overtook a wagon train of a hundred emigrants and resulted in the loss of forty-two of its members after trials. seldom parallelled in the record of heroism and privation. The party was organized by George and Jacob Donner in Sangamon county, Illinois, and started from Springfield in April of 1846. It contained men, women and children from Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Ten

nessee.

But before turning to another phase of overland travel in a story of the Donner party's adventures it is desirable. to summarize the conditions existing in California during the year of their occurrence.

In the spring of 1846 the population of California, exclusive of Indians, was about ten thousand, of whom some eight thousand were native Mexicans and the other two thousand foreigners, in part from the United States and lately arrived. Lieutenant-Colonel Frémont, of the United States Army Topographical Corps, was in the country at the head of a small exploring expedition. Frémont was at first received by the Mexican commander' of the territory in a friendly manner, but either because of the probability of war between the two countries or alarm over the number, character and demeanor of immigrants from the United States, the Mexican general suddenly changed his attitude and tried to expel all Americans from his military jurisdiction.

The undesired settlers united to resist expulsion, took

General Castro.

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375.-Scene of the tragedy at Donner Lake in 1846-1847.

The Donner party,

while on the trip across the continent by wagon train, was trapped in the mountains by the winter storms. Hastily built cabins were soon covered by snow to the depth of 15 or 20 feet. When the men ascended from the buried huts to get firewood, and plied their axes at the lowest visible parts of the tree trunks, they left stumps as here indicated by a photograph taken in later years. Forty-two of the ninety died after weeks of starvation, and, in some cases, the eating of flesh from those who succumbed. others were saved by relief expeditions sent from California.

The

forcible possession of the town of Sonoma, organized a convention there, and named William B. Ide as their leader. Ide, on June 18, issued a proclamation calling on the immigrants from the United States to rise and proclaim their own sovereignty. On July 4, 1846, the Americans issued a so-called declaration of independence at Sonoma, elected Frémont as Governor of the country, and unfurled a banner known as the Bear Flag.1 Commodore Sloat, of the American navy, hoisted the United States national ensign over Monterey at about the same time, and immediately thereafter the settlers from the

1 It was a white banner with a red border and a grizzly bear in the center of the field.

East, together with Frémont and his men, offered their services to Commodore Stockton-who had succeeded Sloat and the irregular and independent proceedings of Sonoma were submerged in the more formal warfare with Mexico which followed. From that time California remained in control of American forces, and eventually passed under the political sway of the United States.1

While these events-unknown to the people of the East-were transpiring on the Pacific coast, the small drift to California was already beginning, and the decidedly larger and more important exodus to the Oregon country was in full swing.

The Donner party followed in the wake of the Oregon caravan of 1846, and some weeks behind it. Independence, Missouri, was reached in May, and the Donners were there joined by a few individual emigrants such as always attached their vehicles to a large expedition for the sake of more safety. From that town the jump-off or real overland journey began, and when the party finally left Independence for California its two hundred wagons and thousand head of live stock stretched in a line two miles long over the prairie. Each canvas-covered prairie schooner was drawn, according to its size and load, by two, three or four pairs of oxen, yoked two abreast in the usual way, or by mules.

Nothing that threatened disaster or differed radically from the experiences of numerous similar groups of emigrants took place during the first three months. There

1 For an account of the first days of American control in California, together with a history of the Bear Flag Party, see:

"Biographical Sketch of the Life of William B. Ide," by Simeon Ide; "Scraps of California History Never Before Published," by Simeon Ide; "A Sketch of the Life of Com. Robert F. Stockton"; "Message from the President of the United States Transmitting Information on the Subject of California and New Mexico" (being Executive document No. 17 of the 31st Congress, 1st session; Jan. 21, 1850); and Frémont's reports.

Simeon Ide's two little books (practically two editions of the same work) both contain William Ide's letter to Senator Wambaugh, giving his version of the Bear Flag cam

paign.

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