You decline to join the group and it is just as well. William Foster is loading his pistol when it accidentally goes off, hitting his brother-in-law William Pike in the back and killing him instantly. This accident, the latest to befall the Party, is an especially great tragedy as the two men were the closest of friends, Pike was a popular member of the group and he leaves behind a wife and two infant children. Foster is horrified by the accident and inconsolable for weeks.


Three days later Charles Stanton returns to the Donner Party bringing with him seven mules loaded down with food being driven by two Indians called Luis and Salvador. Everyone is overjoyed to see him return and Stanton quickly fills you in on a few details. He says William McCutchen has fallen ill and is back at Fort Sutter in California. He met James Reed and Walter Herron on his way over the mountains and though on the verge of starvation both men made it to California safely. He reports it took him just eight days to travel from Johnson's Ranch, the furthest outpost of civilization in California, to the Donner Party. One last push will get you over the Sierra Nevada Mountains to California and safety.


As soon as the Donner Party sets off the troubles begin again. An Indian shoots nineteen oxen with arrows until William Eddy shoots him with his rifle and kills him. George Donner cuts his hand very badly trying to repair his wagon and the Donner Brothers, who are not young men, begin to lag behind. Even worse it starts to snow on the last day of October, which threatens to make the journey over the Sierra Nevada Mountains practically impossible. Charles Stanton, Patrick Breen and a few other families press ahead, climbing near vertical slopes while the Donner Brothers fall increasingly behind, slowed by George's injury.


What do you do?

You stay behind to help the Donner brothers

You go back to try and help the Donner Brothers get up the pass before the snow traps you but it is no good: it is hard work to get anywhere and as the snow gets heavier you are forced to halt at Alder Creek. There the Donner Brothers and their assortment of teamsters begin building tents to protect you from the snow. The Donner Family live in the first one while their teamsters and Doris Wolfinger, who the Donner Brothers have looked after since the death of her husband, live in the second. Soon word comes down the mountain that an effort by the others to get across the summit has failed: the passes are impassable and you are trapped by the snow in the Mountains, unable to move forward or backwards.


Your fellow settlers settle at a lake eight miles further up the slope and begin building cabins. The Breen family have their own cabin while the Murphy and Eddy families share a cabin while the Reeds and Graves family share a cabin with Charles Stanton and his two Indians. The Keseberg's live in a lean-to against the Breen Cabin. Altogether sixty people live at Truckee Lake while twenty-one people live in the Donner's camp at Alder Creek. For your part you had better move into one of the two camps and make yourself comfortable: the snow won't melt until Spring and the supplies are not going to last nearly that long.


Which camp do you move into?