February 18, 1847 On this day in 1847, the First Relief Party arrived at Truckee Lake (now known as Donner Lake) in an attempt to rescue the snowbound American immigrants known to history as the Donner Party. Ever since William Eddy and 6 other survivors of the Forlorn Hope (originally a group of 15 volunteers that left the Donner camp on December 16th looking for help) staggered into Johnson’s Ranch (near present-day Wheatland) on January 17th, the community around Johnson’s Ranch and Sutter’s Fort (present-day Midtown Sacramento) gathered supplies and John Sutter and Edward Kern agreed to pay 3 dollars a day to whoever was brave enough to help rescue those trapped in the Sierra. When the First Relief arrived at the campsite, 12 individuals had already perished since the Donner Party became snowbound on October 31, 1846. Those who were living were surviving on boiled animal hides, leather from shoes, mice, their dogs, and tree bark. Most were too weak to get adequate firewood, hunt...