In 1846 a large train of emigrant families set out for California, took an untried shortcut and was caught by early snow in the Sierra Nevada near the lake that now bears the Donner name. McGlashan, a Truckee newspaper editor, gathered letters and interviews from the survivors to tell what happened in the winter camps and on the desperate relief expeditions.
The classic early account of the most notorious ordeal of the overland trail, harrowing in its detail. Download the free EPUB.