And now, when blessed with the sunshine of peace and happiness, I am finishing my work of filial love and duty to my party and the State of my adoption, who can wonder that I find on my chain of remembrance countless names marked, "forget me not"? Among the many to whom I became greatly indebted in my young womanhood for valuable data and gracious encouragement in my researches are General William Tecumseh Sherman, General John A. Sutter, Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, Mrs. Jessie Benton Frémont, Honorable Allen Francis, and C.F. McGlashan, author of the "History of the Donner Party." My fondest affection must ever cling to the dear, quaint old pioneer men and women, whose hand-clasps were warmth and cheer, and whose givings were like milk and honey to my desolate childhood. For each and all of them I have full measure of gratitude, often pressed down, and now overflowing to their sons and daughters, for, with keenest appreciation I learned that, on June 10, 1910, the order of Native Sons of the Golden West laid the corner stone of "Donner Monument," on the old emigrant trail near the beautiful lake which bears the party's name. There the Native Sons of the Golden West, aided by the Native Daughters of the Golden West, propose to erect a memorial to all overland California pioneers. In a letter to me from Dr. C.W. Chapman, chairman of that monument committee, is the following forceful paragraph: "The Donner Party has been selected by us as the most typical and as the most varied and comprehensive in its experiences of all the trains that made these wonderful journeys of thousands of miles, so unique in their daring, so brave, so worthy of the admiration of man." ELIZA P. DONNER HOUGHTON. Los Angeles, California, _September, 1911_. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE PACIFIC COAST IN 1845--SPEECHES OF SENATOR BENTON AND REPORT OF CAPT. FRÉMONT--MY FATHER AND HIS FAMILY--INTEREST AWAKENED IN THE NEW TERRITORY--FORMATION OF THE FIRST EMIGRANT PARTY FROM ILLINOIS TO CALIFORNIA--PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY--THE START--ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CIVILIZATION CHAPTER II IN THE TERRITORY OF KANSAS--PRAIRIE SCHOONERS FROM SANTA FÉ TO INDEPENDENCE, MO.--LIFE _en route_--THE BIG BLUE--CAMP GOVERNMENT--THE _Blue Rover_ CHAPTER III IN THE HAUNTS OF THE PAWNEES--LETTERS OF MRS. GEORGE DONNER--HALT AT FORT BERNARD--SIOUX INDIANS AT FORT LARAMIE CHAPTER IV FOURTH OF JULY IN AN EMIGRANT PARTY--OPEN LETTER OF LANSFORD HASTINGS--GEORGE DONNER ELECTED CAPTAIN OF PARTY BOUND FOR CALIFORNIA--ENTERING THE GREAT DESERT--INSUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF FOOD--VOLUNTEERS COMMISSIONED BY MY FATHER TO HASTEN TO SUTTER'S FORT FOR RELIEF CHAPTER V BEWILDERING GUIDE BOARD--SOUL-TRYING STRUGGLES--FIRST SNOW--REED-SNYDER TRAGEDY--HARDCOOP'S FATE CHAPTER VI