Searching for Tamsen Donner American Lives series editor: Tobias Wol¬ SEARCHING FOR Tamsen Donner Gabrielle Burton University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London © 2009 by Gabrielle Burton All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America An earlier version of chapter 47 was fi rst published as “Ceremony” in Mediphors: A Literary Journal of the Health Professions 8 (Fall–Winter 1996). L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burton, Gabrielle. Searching for Tamsen Donner / Gabrielle Burton. p. cm.—(American lives) Includes bibliographical references. isbn 978-0-8032-2285-4 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Donner, Tamsen, 1801–1847. 2. Donner, Tamsen, 1801–1847— Correspondence. 3. Donner party. 4. Women pioneers—West (U.S.)— Biography. 5. Women pioneers— West (U.S.)—Correspondence. 6. Frontier and pioneer life—Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) 7. Overland journeys to the Pacifi c. 8. Burton, Gabrielle—Travel—West (U.S.) 9. Burton, Gabrielle—Family. 10. West (U.S.)—Description and travel. I. Title. f868.n5b87 2009 978⬘.02092—dc22 [b] 2008041074 Set in Quadraat by Bob Reitz. Designed by Ashley Muehlbauer. This book is dedicated to my husband, Roger, and our daughters, Maria, Jennifer, Ursula, Gabrielle, and Charity, hardy joyous traveling companions on the road and in life. I do not regret nor shall I the fatigue expense nor embarrassment to which I have subjected myself. My heart is big with hope & impatient with desire. —tamsen donner, 23, in a letter to her sister, dated November 1824, written halfway through her journey from Massachusetts to North Carolina at a time when women did not travel alone C G r A S C A D E e e R A N G E n R . P t a l P a l . R t e t t R . e R e . h R r A Oregon Trail California Trail Continental Donner Trail Divide Hastings Cutoff Oregon City N Little Sandy, o OREGON SHOSHONE vote to take Hastings Cutoff Sublette Cutoff TERRITORY N NORTHERN Fort ARAPAHO CHEYENNE Chicago Hall Independence PAIUTE Rock SIOUX IOWA Snyder killed, X Wolfinger Reed banished k . South LFaoratmie o ChRimocnkey disappears Great Salt Pass PAWNEE Trapped X Lake Scotts Little X X Fort Bluff Blue R. ILLINOIS Donner Bridger u Lake X X St. Joseph Sutter’s Fort X St. Louis (Sacramento) X Humboldt t GOSIUTE Luke Halloran UTE SOUTHERN CHEYENNE Westport Landing s Sink Hardcoop died AND ARAPAHO Alcove Spring, Independence left t Sarah Keyes died n William Pike MISSOURI San Francisco killed a (CALIFORNIA) k Continental Divide ARKANSAS MEXICO PACIFIC 0 100 200 300 mi TEXAS OCEAN 0 100 200 300 400 500 km h t r a S l . R d s a R . P S n o s o i u r . i s b s i M s i s a s t t e l R u m M p i R H A i p N U O M Y Wind River C K Range O A N E V A D . R S N I A T S I E R R