When Winter Comes

by V. A. Shannon

  I think of Jacob, saying to me, “I will never ask.”

  I do not have to tell him.

  But I think I will.

  Author Notes

  Mr. Fallon’s Account of the Fourth Relief

  The following is an account of the Fourth Relief, which headed into the mountains in April 1847, seven months after the settlers first arrived in their final camp.

  The chance of finding anyone alive at this point was virtually nil. In reality, the Fourth Relief was a salvage operation, with the members of the party taking a sizeable cut of whatever goods they managed to recover. With no national banking system in operation, emigrants would have taken all their money with them in the shape of gold coin, jewelry, or other valuables, often sewn into clothing or concealed in secret compartments built into the wagon structure. Rumors abounded that those in the Donner Party who had lost their wagons had taken their valuables with them, and buried them at the lake camp.

  The leader of the party, William Fallon, was a rough mountain man, and it is highly improbable that he was educated enough to have written what is purported to be a journal of his expedition to the camp. The Fourth Relief Diary also contains a number of factual errors, and was more likely to have been written up by a journalist, so should be read with a very critical eye.

  * * *

  California Star, June 5, 1847

  EXTRACTS from a JOURNAL

  Written by a Member of the Party

  Latest from the California Mountains

  The extracts which we give below are full of thrilling interest. Mr. Fellun the writer, better known as “Capt. Fellun,” set out from the settlements in April last with six others, to extend relief to the remaining sufferers of the emigration, still within the mountains, and also to collect and secure the scattered property of both living and dead. He succeeded in reaching the cabins, and with the exceptions of Kiesburg not a soul survived. They returned, bringing with them this man, and large packs of valuable property. Kiesburg was found in truly a lamentable situation: a long subsistence upon the bodies of his deceased comrades had rendered him haggard and ferocious-looking, and the unsatiable appetite of the cannibal displayed itself on frequent occasions, even after animal meat have been placed before him. This fondness for human flesh he had suffered himself to acquire in preference to the beef or horse meat of which he had an abundance. And it is to be feared that his conduct in the mountains was far from justifiable, and a hidden transaction of guilt remains yet to be brought to light.

  We commend the diary as being a plain though well written document, and we have published it in the writer’s own language, abating nothing from it in point of interest. Mr. Fellun certainly deserves credit for his management of the affair, as it will be seen that he effected the desirable end.

  “Left Johnsons on the evening of April 13th, and arrived at the lower end of the Bear River valley on the 15th. Hung our saddles upon the trees, and sent the horses back, to be returned again in ten days, to bring us in again. Started on foot, with provisions for ten days, and traveled to the head of the valley, and encamped for the night; snow from two to three feet deep. Started early in the morning of the 15th, and traveled twenty-three miles; snow ten feet deep.

  April 17th. Reached the cabins between 12 and 1 o’clock. Expected to find some of the sufferers alive, Mrs. Donner and Kiesburg in particular. Entered the cabins, and a horrible scene presented itself—human bodies terribly mutilated, legs, arms and sculls scattered in every direction. One body, supposed to be that of Mrs. Eddy, lay near the entrance, the limbs severed off, and a frightful gash in the skull. The flesh was nearly consumed from the bones, and a painful stillness pervaded the place. The supposition was, that all were dead, when a sudden shout revived our hopes and we flew in the direction of the sound. Three Indians, who had been hitherto concealed, started from the ground and fled at our approach, leaving their bows and arrows. We delayed two hours in searching the cabins, during which we were obliged to witness sights from which we would have fain turned away, and which are too dreadful to put on record. We next started for Donners’ camp, eight miles distant over the mountains. After traveling about halfway, we came upon a track in the snow which excited our suspicion, and we determined to pursue it. It brought us to the camp of Jacob Donner, where it had evidently left that morning. There we found property of every description, books, calicoes, tea, coffee, shoes, percussion caps, household and kitchen furniture, scattered in every direction, and mostly in the water. At the mouth of the tent stood a large iron kettle, filled with human flesh, cut up. It was from the body of George Donner. The head had been split open, and the brains extracted therefrom, and to the appearance, he had not been long dead—not over three or four days, at the most. Near by the kettle stood a chair, and thereupon three legs of a bullock that had been shot down in the early part of the winter, and snowed upon before it could be dressed. The meat was found sound and good, and with the exception of a small piece out of the shoulder, wholly untouched. We gathered up some property, and camped for the night.

  April 18—commenced gathering the most valuable property, suitable for our packs, the greater portion requiring to be dried. We then make them up, and camped for the night.

  April 19—this morning, Foster, Rhodes, and J. Foster started, with small packs, for the first cabins, intending from thence to follow the trail of the person that had left the morning previous. The other three remained behind to cache and secure the goods necessarily left there. Knowing the Donners had a considerable sum of money, we searched diligently, but were unsuccessful. The party from the cabins were unable to keep the trail of the mysterious personage, owing to the rapid melting of the snow; they, therefore, went direct to the cabins, and upon entering, discovered Kiesburg lying down amidst the human bones, and beside him a large pan full of fresh liver and lights. They asked him what had become of his companions, whether they were alive, and what had become of Mrs. Donner. He answered them by stating that they were all dead. Mrs. Donner, he said, had, in attempting to cross from one cabin to another, missed the trail, and slept out one night, that she came to his camp the next night, very much fatigued, he made her a cup of coffee, placed her in bed, and rolled her well in the blanket, but the next morning found her dead. He ate her body, and found her flesh the best he had ever tasted. He further stated, that he obtained from her body at least four pounds of fat. No traces of her person could be found, nor the body of Mrs. Murphy, either. When the last company left camp, three weeks previous, Mrs. Donner was in perfect health, though unwilling to come and leave her husband there, and offered $500 to any person or persons who would come out and bring them in—saying this in the presence of Kiesburg—and that she had plenty of tea and coffee. We suspected that it was she who had taken the piece from the shoulder of beef in the chair before mentioned. In the cabin with Kiesburg were found two kettles of human blood, in all supposed to be over one gallon. Rhodes asked him where he got the blood. He answered, ‘There is blood in dead bodies.’ They asked him numerous questions, but he appeared embarrassed, and equivocated a great deal, and in reply to their asking him where Mrs. Donner’s money was, he evinced confusion, and answered, that he knew nothing about it—that she must have cached it before she died. ‘I hav’n’t it,’ said he, ‘nor the money, nor the property, of any person, living or dead!’ They then examined his bundle, and found silks and jewelry, which had been taken from the camp of the Donners, amounting in value to about $200. On his person they discovered a brace of pistols, recognized to be those of George Donner, and while taking them from him, discovered something concealed in his waistcoat, which on being opened was found to be $225 in gold.

  Before leaving the settlements, the wife of Kiesburg had told us that we would find but little money about him; the men, therefore, said to him, that they knew he was lying to them, and that he was well aware of the place of concealment of the Donners’ money. He declared, before Heaven, he knew nothing concerning it, and that he had not the prop
erty of any one in his possession. They told him, that to lie to them would effect nothing; that there were others, back at the cabins, who, unless informed of the spot where the treasure was hidden, would not hesitate to hang him upon the first tree. Their threats were of no avail; he still affirmed his ignorance and innocence. Rhodes took him aside and talked to him kindly, telling him, that if he would give the information desired, he should receive from their hands the best of treatment, and be in every way assisted, otherwise the party back at Donners’ camp would, upon its arrival, and his refusal to discover to them the place where he had deposited this money, immediately put him to death. It was all to no purpose, however, and they prepared to return to us, leaving him in charge of the packs, and assuring him of their determination to visit him in the morning; and that he must make up his mind during the night. They then started back and joined us at the Donners’ camp.

  April 20—we all started for Bear River valley, with packs of one hundred pounds each; our provisions being nearly consumed, we were obliged to make haste away. Came within a few hundred yards of the cabin which Kiesburg occupied, and halted to prepare breakfast, after which we proceeded to the cabin. I now asked Kiesburg if he was willing to disclose to me where he had concealed the money. He turned somewhat pale, and again protested his ignorance. I said to him, ‘Kiesburg, you know well where Donner’s money is, and d—n you, you shall tell me! I am not going to multiply words with you, or say but little about it, bring me that rope!’ He then arose from his pot of soup and human flesh and begged me not to harm him; he had not the money nor the goods; the silk clothing and money which were found upon him the previous day, and which he then declared belonged to his wife, he now said were the property of others in California. I then told him I did not wish to hear more from him, unless he at once informed us where he had concealed the money of those orphan children; then producing the rope I approached him. He became frightened, but I bent the rope around his neck and threw him, after a struggle, on the ground, and as I tightened the cord and choked him, he cried out that he would confess all upon release. I then permitted him to arise. He still seemed inclined to be obstinate, and made much delay in talking; finally, but with evident reluctance, he led the way back to the Donners’ camp, about ten miles distant, accompanied by Rhodes and Tucker. While they were absent, we moved all our packs over to the lower end of the lake, and made all ready for a start when they should return. Mr. Foster went down to the cabin of Mrs. Murphy, his mother-in-law, to see if any property remained there worth collecting and securing; he found the body of young Murphy, who had been dead about three months, with the breast and skull cut open, and the brains, liver and lights taken out; and this accounted for the contents of the pan which stood beside Kiesburg, when he was found. It appears that he had left at the other camp the dead bullock and horse, and on visiting this camp and finding the body thawed out, took therefrom the brains, liver and lights.

  Tucker and Rhodes came back the next morning, bringing $273 that had been cached by Kiesburg, who after disclosing to them the spot, returned to the cabin. The money had been hidden directly underneath the projecting limb of a large tree, the end of which seemed to point precisely to the treasure buried in the earth. On their return, and passing the cabin, they saw the unfortunate man within, devouring the remaining brains and liver left from his morning repast. They hurried him away, but before leaving, he gathered together the bones and heaped them all in a box he used for the purpose, blessed them and the cabin, and said, ‘I hope God will forgive me what I have done, I couldn’t help it! And I hope I may get to heaven yet!’

  We asked Kiesburg why he did not use the meat of the bullock and horse instead of human flesh. He replied, he had not seen them. We then told him we knew better, and asked him why the meat in the chair had not been consumed. He said, ‘Oh, it’s too dry eating! The liver and the lights were a great deal better, and the brains made good soup!’ We then moved on, and camped on the lake for the night.

  April 21—started for Bear River Valley this morning, found the snow from six to eight feet deep, camped on Yuva river for the night. On the 22nd, traveled down Yuva about eighteen miles, and camped at the head of Bear River valley. On the 25th, moved down to the lower end of the valley, met our horses, and came in.”

  * * *

  Although the events depicted in this novel are based on fact, this is a work of fiction. My great regret is that for the sake of clarity I have had to concentrate my efforts on just a handful of the Donner Party members. There were many more than I have mentioned here, all of them equally tragic and equally heroic. I wish I could have given every one of them a voice.

  * * *

  There are some primary source materials, in particular a diary kept in the camp by Patrick Breen, and some not-quite-so-reliable accounts written by survivors from the party. Many of these had been small children at the time and in some cases these accounts were written a considerable time after the event. There is a diary purportedly written as a contemporaneous document by Mr. Reed. However, it would appear that many of the entries were made at some time after the event, probably by Mr. Reed himself and possibly as an attempt to justify his poor leadership.

  W. C. McGlashan wrote a long and somewhat florid account of the party’s travails based on interviews with these survivors and others, and there are some contemporary newspaper accounts, published over the years, including several contradictory interviews given by Jean-Pierre Trudeau and several more by Mr. Eddy.

  None of these accounts wholly explains the sequence of events or the rationale behind the various decisions that led to this tragedy. Although since then there has been a flood of writing on the Reed-Donner Party, much of this has been little more than a rehash of speculation and misinformation. On that basis, I make no apology for inventing a character who did not exist, and, through her voice, drawing my own conclusions as to what happened, when, and why.

  The Thirty Days Prayer

  A note about the Thirty Days Prayer mentioned in Patrick Breen’s diary. Mr. Breen was a devout Catholic. Although I have been unable to determine precisely which prayer this would have been, the list of Catholic prayers includes only one that specifically mentions thirty days in its title; on that basis and given the very appropriate wording of the Thirty Days Prayer to St. Joseph, I have taken the liberty of assuming this is the prayer to which he was referring. I am indebted to Dr. Kate Wharton from Lambeth Palace (thank you, Kate!), for her advice on this matter.

  “Lead, Kindly Light”

  I have quoted this lovely song as being sung for Baylis Williams’s funeral. The lyrics were written in 1833 by John Henry Newman, an English cardinal. Although I cannot ascertain whether the song was known in America more than ten years later, it seems reasonable to assume it was, so I took the authorial liberty of including it, as it seems so very apt.

  Louis Keseberg

  Louis Keseberg eventually arrived safely in California and was reunited with his wife, though Ada Keseberg perished on the journey out of the mountains. He fathered several more children but his life proved to be a catalog of misfortune and disaster, as one business venture after another failed. He never recovered from the slurs cast upon his character by the reports of Mr. Eddy and Mr. Foster and the contents of the Fourth Relief diary, and died in penury.

  The Washoe Indians

  This peaceful nomadic tribe inhabited the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. There is one mention of them in Mr. Breen’s diary, when he records meeting a member of the tribe and being given some fibrous root vegetables to eat. In their own (oral) history they recount seeing white settlers trapped in a camp and making some efforts to assist them, by leaving food for them at the edge of the camp. Based on the geography of their travel patterns, it seems more likely than not that the camp referred to was that of the Donners at Alder Creek. It would seem that the food they left was either not discovered, or was not recognized for food as such, and that, upon witnessing the camp inhabitants resort to canni
balism, they were too afraid to make further contact with them.

  It was also the Washoe Indians who carried the few survivors of the Snowshoe Party down off the mountain and to the Johnson homestead.

  Mr. Eddy’s Death

  Mr. Eddy’s death is recorded as being on Saturday, December 24, 1859, but my narrator could not have read his obituary in the Sonoma County Journal on that same day as it was not published until January 1860. Again, I hope my readers will forgive me.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you, first of all, to Eric Myers, my agent, and John Scognamiglio and the rest of the team at Kensington Books, for taking a chance on an unknown author, encouraging me, and answering my innumerable questions along the way.

  I was greatly helped by the following: Dana Goodyear’s article published in The New Yorker, April 14, 2006, Excavating the Donner Party; Daniel M. Rosen’s website, The Donner Party; and Kristin Johnson’s website, New Light on the Donner Party. I also made full use of a fantastic photographic record of the trail with accompanying notes compiled by Mr. Ted Davison, which gave me a useful visual guide to the route and the terrain covered by the party. I must also thank Mr. George Webber from the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma for his advice.

  Thanks also to Gillian Slovo and the rest of my friends from the Faber Academy writing course, whose encouragement and constructive criticism helped me get started on the novel (particular thanks to Kate Wharton from Lambeth Palace for her help regarding the “Thirty Days Prayer”). Carrie Plitt, Lizzie Kramer, and David Smith were generous with their advice.