" Those in the Donner camp] could scarcely walk, by the twenty-eighth, and their sensations of hunger were diminishing. This condition forebode delirium and death, unless stayed by the only means at hand. It was in truth a very pitiful alternative offered to the sufferers."-Eliza P. Donner Houghton. George and Tamsen Donner and their children, among the very first to leave from Illinois, joined emigrants headed to California in the spring of 1846. Beyond Fort Bridger, Captain Donner led a large party through a much-advertised shortcut. Delays and difficulties caused them to be snowbound in...