Living Through the Diamond, Jared Discover; Mar 1992; 13, 3; ProQuest Central pg. 100

"Mrs. Fosdick and Mrs. Foster, after eating, returned to the body of [Mr.] Fosdick. There, in spite of the widow's entreaties, Mrs. Foster took out the liver and heart NEARLY A CENTURY AND A HALF AFTER IT from the body and removed the pened, the story of the Donner Party remains one of arms and legs .... {Mrs. Fosdick} the most riveting tragedies in U.S. history. Partly was forced to see her husband's heart that's because of its lurid elements: almost half the broiled over the fire." "He eat her body party died, and many of their bodies were defiled in and found her flesh the best he had ever an orgy of cannibalism. Partly, too, it's because of tasted! He further stated that he the human drama of noble self-sacrifice and base LIVING THROUGH THE

obtained from her body at least four pounds offat.'" "Eat baby raw, stewed some ofJake and roasted his head, not good meat, taste likr sheep with the rot." -GEORGE STEWART, murder juxtaposed. The Donner Party began as just Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of another nameless pioneer trek to , but it the Donner Party came to symbolize the Great American Dream gone

awry. • By now the tale of that disastrous journey has

been told so often that seemingly nothing else remains to be said-or so I

thought, until my friend Donald Grayson at the University of Washington

sent me an analysis that he had published in the Journal ofAnthropologi-

cal Research. By comparing the fates of all Donner Party members,

Grayson identified striking differences between those who came through

the ordeal alive and those who were not so lucky. In doing so he has made

the lessons of the Donner Party universal. Under more mundane life-

B y A R E D D A M 0 N D

II ustrations by M chae Paraskevas

DISCOVER lliiiJ MARCH 1992

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The nineteenth-century survivors of the infamous Donner Party told cautionary tales of starvation and cannibalism, greed and self-sacrifice. But not until now are we learning why th,e survivors survived./

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. threatening situations, who among us mapped deserts and mountains proved rejoined the usual in too will be "lucky"? far more difficult than finding a foot­ . Grayson's insights did not depend path. Not until 1841 was the first at­ In the summer of 1846 a number of on new discoveries about the ill-fated tempt made to haul wagons and settlers wagon parties set out for California pioneers nor on new analytical tech­ overland to California, and only in 1844 from . One, which left niques, but on that most elusive ingre­ did the effort succeed. Until the Gold shortly before the Donner Party, was dient of great science: a new idea about Rush of 1848 unleashed a flood of emi­ guided by Hastings himself. Using his an old problem. Given the same infor­ grants, wagon traffic to California re­ shortcut, the party would eventually mation, any of you could extract the mained a trickle. make it to California, albeit with great same conclusions. In fact, on page 104 As of 1846, when the Donner Party difficulty. you'll find the roster of the Donner set out, the usual wagon route headed Party members along with a few per­ west from St. Louis to Fort Bridger HE PIONEERS WHO sonal details about each of them and in , then northwest into Ida­ would become the their fate. If you like, you can try to fig­ ho before turning southwest through members of the Don­ ure out for yourself some general rules Nevada and on to California. However, ner Party were in fact about who is most likely to die when at that time a popular guidebook author all headed for Fort the going gets tough. named was touting Bridger to join the The Lewis and Clark Expedition of a shortcut that purported to cut many Hastings expedition, 1804 to 1806 was the first to cross the miles from the long trek. Hastings's but they arrived too late. With Hastings continent, but they didn't take along ox­ route continued west from Fort Bridger thus unavailable to serve as a guide, drawn wagons, which were a require­ through the Wasatch mountain range, some of these California-bound emi­ ment for pioneer settlement. Clearing a then south of 's grants opted for the usual route instead. wagon route through the West's un- across the Salt Lake Desert, and finally Others, however, decided to try the anyway. In all, 87 peo­ ple in 23 wagons chose the cutoff. They consisted of 10 unrelated families and 16lone individuals, most of them well­ to-do midwestern farmers and towns­ people who had met by chance and joined forces for protection. None had had any real experience of the western mountains or Indians. They became known as the Donner Party because they elected an elderly Illinois farmer named as their captain. They left Fort Bridger on July 31, one of the last parties of that summer to begin the long haul to California. Within a fortnight the Donner Party suffered their first crushing setback, when they reached Utah's steep, brush­ covered Wasatch Mountains. The ter­ rain was so wild that, in order to cross, the men had first to build a wagon road. It took 16 backbreaking days to cover just 36 miles, and afterward the people and draft animals were worn out. A sec­ ond blow followed almost immediately thereafter, west of the Great Salt Lake, when the party ran into an 80-mile stretch of desert. To save themselves from death by thirst, some of the pioneers were forced to unhitch their wagons, rush ahead with their precious animals. to the next spring, and return to retrieve the wagons. The rush became a disorganized panic, and many of the animals died, wandered off, or were killed by Indians. Four wagons and large quantities of supplies had to be abandoned. Not until September 30- two full months after leaving Fort

lJ IS C 0 \. F R II!D .\1 .\ R C H 1 9 9 2

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bridger-did the Donner Party emerge from their fatal shortcut to rejoin the California Trail. By November 1 they had struggled up to Truckee Lake-later renamed Donner Lake-at an elevation of 6,000 feet on the eastern flank of the , west of the present-day Cali­ fornia-Nevada border. Snow had already begun to fall during the last days of October, and now a fierce snow­ storm defeated the exhausted party as they attempted to cross a 7 ,200-foot pass just west of the lake. With that storm, a trap snapped shut around them: they had set out just a little too late and proceeded just a little too slowly. They now faced a long winter at the lake, with very little food. Death had come to the Donner Party even before it reached the lake. There were five casualties: on August 29 Luke Halloran died of "consump­ tion" (presumably tuberculosis); on Oc­ tober 5 James Reed knifed John Snyder in self-defense, during a fight that broke THEY cuT OFF and roasted flesh from the

They debated drawing lots as to who corpses. restrained only by the rule that no should be eaten, or letting two peo­ ple shoot it out until one was killed out when two and could be eaten. teams of oxen one partook of his or her own relative's body. Both proposals were became entan­ rejected in favor of gled; three days later Lewis Keseberg they boiled hides and blankets to make waiting for someone to die naturally. abandoned an old man named Hard­ a gluelike soup. Gross selfishness be­ Such opportunities soon arose. On koop who had been riding in Kese­ came rampant, as families with food re­ Christmas Eve, as a 2 3 -year-old berg's wagon, and most of the party re­ fused to share it with destitute families man named Antoine, a bachelor, slept fused to stop and search for him; or demanded exorbitant payment. On in a heavy stupor, he stretched out his sometime after October 13 two Ger­ December 16 the first death came to arm such that his hand fell into the fire. man emigrants, Joseph Reinhardt and the winter camp when 24-year-old A companion pulled it out at once. Augustus Spitzer, murdered a rich Ger­ Baylis Williams succumbed to starva­ When it fell in a second time, however, man named Wolfinger while ostensibly tion. On that same day 15 of the no one intervened-they simply let it helping him to cache his property; and strongest people-S women and 10 burn. Antoine died, then Franklin on October 20 William Pike was shot men, including Charles Stanton and the Graves, then Patrick Dolan, then as he and his brother-in-law were two Indians-set out across the pass on Lemuel Murphy. The others cut off cleaning a pistol. homemade snowshoes, virtually with­ and roasted flesh from the corpses, re­ In addition, four party members had out food and in appallingly cold and strained only by the rule that no one decided earlier to walk out ahead to stormy weather, in the hope of reaching would partake of his or her own rela­ Sutter's Fort (now Sacramento) to bring outside help. Four of the men left be­ tive's body. When the corpses were back supplies and help. One of those hind their families; three of the women consumed, the survivors began eating four, Charles Stanton, rejoined the left behind their children. old shoes. party on October 19, bringing food and On January 5, 23-year-oldJay Fos­ two Indians sent by Sutter. Thus, of the NTHE SIXTH MORN­ dick died, only to be cut up and boiled 87 original members of the Donner ing an exhausted by Mrs. Foster over the protests of Mrs. Party, 79-plus the two Indians-were Stanton let the oth­ Fosdick. Soon after, the frenzied Mr. pinned down in the winter camp at ers go on ahead of Foster chased down, shot, and killed the Donner Lake. him; he remained two Indians to eat them. That left 7 of The trapped pioneers lay freezing behind to die. On the original 15 snowshoers to stagger inside crude tents and cabins. They the ninth day the into the first white settlement in Cali­ quickly exhausted their little remaining remaining 14 for the first time openly fornia, after a midwinter trek of 3 3 days food, then killed and ate their pack ani­ broached the subject of cannibalism, through the snow. mals. Then they ate their dogs. Finally which had already been on their minds. On January 31 the first rescue team

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Manifest of a Tragic Journey

DOMMER FAMILY MCCUTCHEH FAMILY Jacob Donner M 65 died in Nov. in winter camp William McCutchen M 30 George Donner M 62 died in Apr. In winter camp Amanda McCutchen F 24 Elizabeth Donner F 45 died in Mar. in winter camp Harriet McCutchen F 1 died Feb. 2 in winter camp Tamsen Donner F 45 died In Apr. in winter camp Elitha Donner F 14 WILLIAMS FAMILY Solomon Hook M 14 Eliza Williams F 25 William Hook M 12 died Feb. 28 with first rescue team Baylis Williams M 24 died Dec. 16 in winter camp Leanna Donner F 12 George Donner M 9 WOLFIMCER FAMILY Mary Donner F 7 Mr. Wolfinger M killed around Oct. 13 by Reinhardt Frances Donner F 6 and Spitzer Isaac Donner M 5 died Mar. 7 with second rescue team Mrs. Wolfinger Georgia Donner F 4 Samuel Donner M 4 died in Apr. in winter camp UNRELATED INDIVIDUALS Lewis Donner M 3 died Mar. 7 or 8 in winter camp Mr. Hardkoop M 60 died around Oct. 8, abandoned by Eliza Donner F 3 Lewis Keseberg Patrick Dolan M 40 died Dec. 25 with snowshoers MURPHY· FOSTER· PIKE FAMILY Charles Stanton M 35 died around Dec. 21 with snowshoers Lavina Murphy F 50 died around Mar. 19 in winter camp Charles Burger M 30 died Dec. 29 in winter camp William Foster M 28 Joseph Reinhardt M 30 died in Nov. or early Dec. in winter William Pike M 25 died Oct. 20 by gunshot camp Sara Foster F 23 Augustus Spitzer M 30 died Feb. 7 in winter camp Harriet Pike F 21 John Denton M 28 died Feb. 24 with first rescue team John Landrum Murphy M 15 died Jan. 31 in winter camp Milton Elliot M 28 died Feb. 9 in winter camp Mary Murphy F 13 Luke Halloran M 25 died Aug. 29 of consumption Lemuel Murphy M 12 died Dec. 27 with snowshoers William Herron M 25 William Murphy M 11 Samuel Shoemaker M 25 died in Nov. or early Dec. in winter Simon Murphy M 10 camp George Foster M 4 died in early Mar. in winter camp James Smith M 25 died in Nov. or early Dec. in winter Naomi Pike F 3 camp Catherine Pike F 1 died Feb. 20 in winter camp John Snyder M 25 killed Oct. 5 by James Reed Jean Baptiste Trubode M 23 CRAVES-FOSDICK FAMILY Antoine M 23 died Dec. 24 with snowshoers Franklin Graves M 57 died Dec. 24 with snowshoers Noah James M 20 Elizabeth Graves F 47 died Mar. 8 with second rescue team Jay Fosdick M 23 died Jan. 5 with snowshoers Sarah Fosdick F 22 Mary Graves F 20 William Graves M 18 Eleanor Graves F 15 Lavina Graves F 13 Nancy Graves F 9 Jonathan Graves M 7 Franklin Graves Jr. M 5 died Mar. 8 with second rescue team Elizabeth Graves F 1 died soon after rescue by second team

BREEN FAMILY Patrick Breen M 40 Mary Breen F 40 John Breen M 14 Edward Breen M 13 Patrick Breen Jr. M 11 Simon Breen M 9 Peter Breen M 7 James Breen M 4 Isabella Breen F 1

REED FAMILY James Reed M 46 Margaret Reed F 32 Virginia Reed F 12 Patty Reed F 8 James Reed Jr. M 5 Thomas Reed M 3

EDDY FAMILY William Eddy M 28 Eleanor Eddy F 25 died Feb. 7 in winter camp James Eddy M 3 died in early Mar. in winter camp Margaret Eddy F 1 died Feb. 4 in winter camp

KESEBERC FAMILY Lewis Keseberg M 32 Phillipine Keseberg F 32 Ada Keseberg F 3 died Feb. 24 with first rescue team Lewis Keseberg Jr. M 1 died Jan. 24 in winter camp

DISCOVER II!D .\lARCH 1992

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ON THE TRAIL WITH THE DONNER PARTY

set out from the settle­ Following a shortcut kettle of cut-up human fates of Donner Party males and fe­ ment for Donner Lake. proposed by Lansford flesh. Near Keseberg sat males irrespective of age. Most of the It would take three more Hastings, the Donner two kettles of blood and a males (30 out of 53) died; most of the teams and two and a half Party set out for California large pan full of fresh females (24 out of 34) survived. The 57 months before the ordeal from Fort Bridger in human liver and lungs. percent death rate among males was was all over. During that Wyoming, slowly crossing He alleged that his four nearly double the 29 percent death rate time many more people the Wasatch Mountains companions had died among females. died, either in the winter and the Salt Lake Desert natural deaths, but he was Next, consider the effect of age irre­ camp or while fighting before picking frank about having eaten spective of sex. The worst toll was their way out with the up the main trail in Nevada. them. As to why he had among the young and the old. Without rescue teams. There was Though a few men not eaten ox leg instead, exception, everyone over the age of 50 never enough food, and by who were sent ahead to he explained that it was died, as did most of the children below the end ofFebruary, can- get help did safely too dry: human liver and the age of 5. Surprisingly, children and nibalism had established reach Sutter's Fort in lungs tasted better, and teenagers between the ages of 5 and 19 itself at the lake. California, most of human brains made a fared better than did adults in their When William Eddy the party was snowed in at good soup. As for Tam- prime (age 20 to 39): half the latter, but and William Foster, who Truckee Lake-now sen Donner, Keseberg less than one-fifth of the former, died. had gotten out with the known as Donner Lake- noted that she tasted the snowshoers, reached the in the Sierra Nevada. best, being well endowed Y LOOKING AT THE EF­ lake with the third rescue with fat. In a bundle held fects of age and sex simul­ team on March 13, they found that by Keseberg the rescuers found silk, taneously, the advantage Keseberg had eaten their sons. The jewelry, pistols, and money that had be­ the women had over the Foster child's grandmother accused the longed to George Donner. men becomes even more starving Keseberg of having taken the After returning to Sutter's F art, one striking. Most of the fe­ child to bed with him one night, stran- of the rescuers accused Keseberg ofhav­ male deaths were among gling him, and hanging the corpse on ing murdered his companions, prompt­ the youngest and oldest, who were al­ the wall before eating it. Keseberg, in ing Keseberg to sue for defamation of ready doomed by their age. Among his defense, claimed the children had character. In the absence of legal proof those party members aged 5 to 39-the died naturally. When the rescuers left of murder the court verdict was equivo­ ones whose ages left them some reason­ the lake the next day to return to Cali- cal, and the issue ofKeseberg's guilt re­ able chance of survival-half the men fornia, they left Keseberg behind with mains disputed to this day. However, but only 5 percent of the women died. just four others: the elderly Lavina Tamsen Donner's death is especially The dates of death provide deeper Murphy, the badly injured George suspicious since she had been in strong insight. Of the 35 unfortunates who Donner, his 4-year-old nephew Samuel, physical condition when last seen by the died after reaching the lake, 14 men but and his healthy wife Tamsen, who could third rescue team. not a single woman had died by the end have traveled but insisted on staying Thus, out of 87 Donner Party mem- ofJanuary. Only in February did women with her dying husband. hers, 40 died: 5 before reaching Donner begin to buckle under. From February The fourth and last rescue team Lake, 22 in their winter camp at the onward the death toll was essentially reached the lake on April 1 7 to find lake, and 13 (plus the two Indians) dur­ equal by sex-11 men, 10 women. The Keseberg alone, surrounded by inde- ing or just after efforts to leave the lake. differences in dates of death simply un­ scribable filth and mutilated corpses. Why those particular 40? From the derscore the lesson of the death rates George Donner's body lay with his facts given in the roster, can you draw themselves: the Donner Party women skull split open to permit the extraction conclusions, as Grayson did, as to who were far hardier than the men. of his brains. Three frozen ox legs lay was in fact the most likely to die? Thus, sex and age considered to­ in plain view almost uneaten beside a As a simple first test, compare the gether account for much of the luck

,VIARCH 1992 mDISCOVER

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of the survivors. Most of those who cling to trees above the height of flood children first" when it came to dividing died (39 of the 40 victims) had the waters (in the case of the Bangladesh cy­ food? Unfortunately, "women and chil­ misfortune to be of the wrong sex, or clone). Babies have special problems. dren last" is a more accurate description the wrong age, or both. Per pound of body weight a baby has of how most men behave under stress. Experience has taught us that the twice an adult's surface area, which As the Titanic sank, male crew mem­ youngest and oldest people are the most means double the area across which bers took many places in lifeboats while vulnerable even under normal condi­ body heat can escape. To maintain body leaving women and children of steerage tions, and their vulnerability increases temperature, babies have to increase class below decks to drown. Much under stress. In many natural disasters, their metabolic rate when air tempera­ grosser male behavior emerged when those under 10 or over 50 suffered the ture drops only a few degrees below the steamship Atlantic sank in 1879: highest mortality. For instance, children body temperature, whereas adults don't the death toll included 294 of the 295 under 10 accounted for over half the have to do so until a drop of 20 to 35 women and children on board, but only 240,000 deaths in the 1970 Bangladesh degrees. At cold temperatures the factor 187 of the 636 men. In the Biafran cyclone, though they constituted only by which babies must increase their famine of the late 1960s, when relief one-third of the exposed population. metabolism to stay warm is several agencies tried to distribute food to times that for adults. These considera­ youngsters under 10 and to pregnant t:CH OF THE VUL­ tions place even well-fed babies at risk and nursing women, Biafran men gave a nerability of the old under cold conditions. And the Donner brutally frank response: "Stop all this and young under Party babies were at a crippling further rubbish, it is we men who shall have the stress is simply a disadvantage because they had so little food, let the children die, we will make matter of insufficient food to fuel their metabolism. They lit­ new children after the war." Similarly, physical strength: erally froze to death. accounts by Donner Party members these people are less But what gave the women such an yield no evidence of hungry men defer­ able to walk out through deep snow (in edge over the men? Were the pioneers ring to women, and babies fared espe­ the case of the Donner Party) or to practicing the noble motto "women and cially poorly. Instead, we must seek some cause other than male self-sacrifice to ac­ count for the survival of Donner Party women. One contributing factor is that the men were busy killing each other. Four of the five deaths before the pio­ neers reached the lake, plus the deaths of the two Indians, involved male vic­ tims of male violence, a pattern that fits widespread human experience. However, invoking male violence still leaves 26 of 30 Donner Party male deaths unexplained. It also fails to ex­ plain why men began starving and freezing to death nearly two months be­ \ . fore women did. Evidently the women had a big physiological advantage. This could be an extreme expression of the fact that, at every age and for all leading causes of Jeath-from cancer and car \~ accidents to heart disease and suicide­ '\A , ""- / the death rate is far higher for men than for women. While the reasons for this ubiquitous male vulnerability remain . debated, there are several compelling -- - I reasons why men are more likely than . : \ women to die under the extreme condi­ tions the Donner Party faced.

~.... _ First, men are bigger than women. Typical body weights for the world as a whole are about 140 pounds for men and only 120 pounds for women. Hence, even while lying down and doing noth­ ing, men need more food to support their basal metabolism. They also need more energy than women do for equiv­ alent physical activity. Even for seden-

DISCOVER • .\!ARCH 1992

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. tary people, the typical metabolic rate for an average-size woman is 25 percent lower than an average-size man's. Under conditions of cold temperatures and heavy physical activity, such as were faced by the Donner Party men when doing the backbreaking work of cutting the wagon road or hunting for food, men's metabolic rates can be double those of women. To top it all off, women have more fat reserves than men: fat makes up 22 percent of the body weight of an aver­ age nonobese, well-nourished woman, but only 16 percent of a similar man. More of the man's weight is instead made up of muscle, which gets burned up much more quickly than does fat. Thus, when there simply was no more

Hardkoop, who was ordered out oF THE TEN MEN, two were murdered, six starved or of the Keseberg family wagon and abandoned to die, or the fate food left, the Donner Party men burned up their body reserves much faster than froze to death, and only two survived. Not a single did the women. Furthermore, much of women's fat of the young bachelor Antoine, is distributed one of the five women with them died. whom none of the hungry snow­ under the skin shoers bothered to awaken when and acts as heat insulation, so that they individuals traveling without any rela­ his hand fell into the fire. can withstand cold temperatures bet­ tives. All those 16 happened to be men, Family ties can be a matter of life ter than men can. Women don't have and all but two were between 20 and 39. and death even under normal condi­ to raise their metabolic rate to stay Those 16 unfortunates bore the brunt tions. Married people, it turns out, have warm as soon as men do. of the prime-age mortality. Thirteen of lower death rates than single, widowed, them died, and most of them died long or divorced people. And marriage's life­ HESE PHYSIOLOGICAL before any of the women. Of the sur­ promoting benefits have been found to factors easily surpass vivors, one-William Herron-reached be shared by all sorts of social ties, such male murderousness in California in October, so in reality only as friendships and membership in social accounting for all those 2 survived the winter at the lake. groups. Regardless of age or sex or ini­ extra male deaths in the Of the 7 men in their prime who tial health status, socially isolated indi­ Donner Party. Indeed, a survived, 4 were family men. Only 3 of viduals have well over twice the death microcosm of the whole the 14 dead were. The prime-age rate of socially connected people. disaster was the escape attempt by 15 women fared similarly: the 8 survivors For reasons about which we can only people on snowshoes, lasting 3 3 days in belonged to families with an average speculate, the lethal effects of social iso·­ midwinter. Of the ten men who set out, size of 12 people, while Eleanor Eddy, lation are more marked for men than two were murdered by another man, six the only woman to die in this age for women. It's clear, though, why social starved or froze to death, and only two group, had no adult support. Her hus­ contacts are important for both sexes. survived. Not a single one of the five band had escaped with the snowshoers, They provide concrete help in case of women with them died. leaving her alone with their two small need. They're our source of advice and Even with all these explanations, children. shared information. They provide a there is still one puzzling finding to The Donner Party records make it sense of belonging and self-worth, and consider: the unexpectedly high death vividly clear that family members the courage to face tomorrow. They toll of people in their prime, age 20 to stuck together and helped one another make stress more bearable. 39. That toll proves to be almost en­ at the expense of the others. A notori­ All those benefits of social contact tirely of the men: 67 percent of the men ous example was the Breen family of applied as well to the Donner Party in that age range ( 14 out of 21) died, a nine, every one of whom (even two members, who differed only in that much higher proportion than among small children) survived through the their risk of death was much greater and the teenage boys (only 20 percent). luck of retaining their wagons and their likely circumstances of death more Closer scrutiny shows why most of some pack animals much longer than grotesque than yours and mine. In that those men were so unlucky. the others, and through their con­ sense too, the harrowing story of the Most of the Donner Party consisted siderable selfishness toward others. Donner Party grips us because it was of large families, but there were also 16 Compare this with the old bachelor ordinary life writ large. ~

M A R C H I '! '! 2 II!D D I S C 0 \" E R

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