Litchfield enquirer., 1870-04-14

] that such team could not carry us seven ty- Ave miles short of four iayst In the
 mountains. people scarcely ever travel any l distance with less than four horses. We 1 were soon comfortably seated among wolf and bear robes and on our way. which led
 past Donner Lake, at which place we con: cluded to dine-distant from Trucker two
 and half miles. The road leading tc
 this point is good. but fearfully steep,
 then thought. As we ascended, one hill af
 ter another presented itself St:ll highe,
 and beyond, as far as the eye could reach lay mountains upon mountains, towering high in air, till lost amid the clouds, and
 finally blending with them in one blue mass 1 THE s1ERRAs.
 1 Along the road, noticed boards and
 shakes, "a kind of shingle nailed to the
 bodies of trees, in most instances from
 thirty to forty feet from the ground. I en. quired the cause, and was told they were
 nailed there to aid the traveller in winte, to keep the road, as snow generally falls there to the depth of twenty to twenty. five feet. The scenery here is very beau tiful, and to the '' emigrant. "striking, par ticularly to one who has never witnessed
 such sights before. We are in dense for. est of pines. frs, and spruces, growing to immense sizes, some shooting up two hun dred feet and still higher, with not a branch till they reach the height of seven- ty to one hundred feet, and then they come, with mathematical precision, shoot ing out almost horizontally from the body, at regular distances (some twenty inches apart). We now creep along the rivers brink, and catch glimpses of the railroad, and at last arrive at Donner Lake, the
 "Gem of the Sierras.'
 BONNER LAKE.
 This Lake is about four miles long and one wide, and of unknown depth, it hay ing been sounded some 1,7OO feet in certain places, and no bottom found. It issurroun- ded on three sides by mountains literally covered with majestic pines and irs. The waters are delightfully."- cool, and clear as crystal, the bottom showing every little pebble on it at distance of sixty feet from the surface of the water. IL is fed by small streams from the mountain sides. and emptied by Trucker river, which loses itself in those peculiar Nevada basins. The lake abounds in fish of the finest quality, trout, white-fsh, dace and rock-fsh. The latter can be seen sporting f4iopg the shore, while the trout keep in deeper wa ter. Some have been caught weighing twenty lbs., bpt time did not allow of my trying my "luck." I hurried on to the Lake House, where I partook of delicate morsoi in the shape of 8 rock, fish baked and stuffed. Splendid is no name for it. The only way for one to appreciate, is to partake.
 Is there, can there be a more delightful place on earth than this? Seem ingly not. Still. I am prepared for any thing in this wonderful country. Dinner ended, with cigar in mouth, we find our selves on the porch. where we obtain 8 fine view of the railroad again, as it winds up the mountain in it's almost vain en- deavors to reach the summit of the " "Si- erras." From the porch are plainly wis. ible four tunnels, and miles of snow-sheds, while. seemingly over-hanging the road, ,are piles of granite. towering high. and threat ening to tumble at any moment. They may we'll come down during some violent shaking of the earth, although it is not probable, as they have so long defied even the ravages of time. We take our seats silently. meditating upon the awful won ders before us, when we are interrupted by a solemn individual-one of the croakers of society-remarking, chow sad that such charming place should have been the scene of such terrible suffsringw-re- calling wildly the old story of the Donner party, their Terrible misfortunes, and conse- quent death" will relate the story brief ly as he told it-one of the most horrible tales of human endurance on record. and am 10th to give it. and only as it is mat ter of history. The party consisted of eighty persons, thirty of whom were fe- males. and several children. They, with thousands of others, left, early in AS, homes in the West, for the far-off golden fields of California, the fame of which had reached them in their prai- rie homes. While many reached the ''golden shores, " thousands lie buried along the route. This party was led by Capt. Donner and arrived at the foot of Tucker pass at the end of October. 1s49. where they were overtaken by snow storms which rendered it impossible for them to proceed with their cattle. A portion of the party did not attempt to cross the mountains. They built themselves cabins concluding to stay till spring should melt away the snows. Not so with Capt Don ner and family (consisting of wife and four children) and ten others. They undertook to make the passage, at last reached this 1o6e e, xbo