# @sachistorymuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C3gR-ZNyTsj
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/76085226-sachistorymuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a5ca2e9d0b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-02-18T21:44:55.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sacramento History Museum (@sachistorymuseum) — https://gondola.cc/sachistorymuseum

## Caption

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 game, and fish at the lake. 

The next day, the rescuers made it to Alder Creek, where the Donner family camped. The Donners informed the rescuers that they would have to start in on those who had perished if they could not find their dead oxen buried under 15 feet of snow. On the 21st, the rescuers left with 23 Donner Party members, however, Patty and Tommy Reed were too weak to continue and returned back to camp to stay with the Breen family. Patty told her mother, Margaret, “Well, mother, if you never see me again, do the best you can.” 

Luckily, James Reed and the Second Relief Party reached the camp on March 1st and rescued his young children. Over a series of 4 relief parties, the survivors of the Donner Party were rescued; 45 members survived while 44 perished. 

Copy of a lithograph of the First Relief Party from Thompson and West’s “History of Sacramento County (1880).”
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#TodayInHistory #OnThisDay #DonnerParty #donnerlake #museum #donner #californiahistory #sacramentohistory #sachistorymuseum

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## Tags

sacramentohistory, todayinhistory, californiahistory, onthisday, donner, donnerparty, museum, sachistorymuseum, donnerlake

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