Page:The Tourist's California by Wood, Ruth Kedzie.djvu/209

 SACRAMENTO, SHASTA, LAKE TAHOE 173 In their consuming hunger they gnawed at the hides which had covered their cattle. Mrs. Eliza Donner Houghton, the youngest of the desolate group, recalls in a recent book of memories the de- parture on December 16th of a small band who were to cross the pass, if possible, and secure aid for the weaker ones. Half of them reached the other side of the mountains, the others were lost on the way. Before relief parties came, Donner himself was dying of starvation. When camp was broken his wife refused to leave him, and he was too ill to be taken on the long journey. She re- mained, and passed away by his side. A few of the rescued reached Fort Sutter, where, as we know, they were tenderly succoured. The story of the Donner Party was utilised by Bret Harte in Gabriel Conroy. The road from Truckee to Tahoe City winds with a ravishing river through a vale jutted with rocks and clothed with pine and fir. Tahoe Tavern is at the railway terminus. This is also the point from which the steamer leaves to circle the lake. The " Big Water " of the Indians lies at the in- ner bend of the line which demarks Nevada from California. A third of it belongs to Nevada. It would have been gross partiality to have given it all to one State. Like a signet of malachite it is held in shining prongs of snow. The depth of its