Location: Springfield, IL, USA
Quotation: I was a child when we started to California, yet I remember the journey well and I have cause to remember it, as our little band of emigrants who drove out of Springfield, Illinois, that spring morning of 1846 have since been known in history as the "Ill-fated Donner party" of "Martyr Pioneers."
Original text: Springfield, Illinois
Date of arrival:
Date of departure: 1846-04-14
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC002
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: I was a child when we started to California, yet I remember the journey well and I have cause to remember it, as our little band of emigrants who drove out of Springfield, Illinois, that spring morning of 1846 have since been known in history as the "Ill-fated Donner party" of "Martyr Pioneers."
Original text: Springfield, Illinois
Date of arrival:
Date of departure: 1846-04-14
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC002
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Kansas River, Kansas, USA
Quotation: The first Indians we met were the Caws, who kept the ferry, and had to take us over the Caw River.
Original text: Caw River
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC003
Transportation: wagons
Marker: water
Quotation: The first Indians we met were the Caws, who kept the ferry, and had to take us over the Caw River.
Original text: Caw River
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC003
Transportation: wagons
Marker: water
Location: 39.188056, -96.527778
Quotation: We came to the Big Blue River, which was so swollen that we could not cross, but had to lie by and make rafts on which to take the wagons over.
Original text: Big Blue River
Date of arrival: 1846-05-27
Date of departure: 1846-05-29
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC004
Transportation: rafts
Marker: water
Quotation: We came to the Big Blue River, which was so swollen that we could not cross, but had to lie by and make rafts on which to take the wagons over.
Original text: Big Blue River
Date of arrival: 1846-05-27
Date of departure: 1846-05-29
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC004
Transportation: rafts
Marker: water
Location: Manhattan, KS, USA
Quotation: That grave has never been disturbed; the wilderness blossomed into the city of Manhattan, Kansas, and we have been told that the city cemetery surrounds the grave of Sarah Keyes.
Original text: Manhattan, Kansas
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC005
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: That grave has never been disturbed; the wilderness blossomed into the city of Manhattan, Kansas, and we have been told that the city cemetery surrounds the grave of Sarah Keyes.
Original text: Manhattan, Kansas
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC005
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Gibbon, NE 68840, USA
Quotation: Stretching out before us as far as the eye could reach was a valley as green as emerald, dotted here and there with flowers of every imaginable color, and through this valley flowed the grand old Platte, a wide, rapid, shallow stream.
Original text: Platte
Date of arrival: 1846-06-16
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC006
Transportation: wagons
Marker: water
Quotation: Stretching out before us as far as the eye could reach was a valley as green as emerald, dotted here and there with flowers of every imaginable color, and through this valley flowed the grand old Platte, a wide, rapid, shallow stream.
Original text: Platte
Date of arrival: 1846-06-16
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC006
Transportation: wagons
Marker: water
Location: 41.596944, -103.115833
Quotation: Traveling up the smooth valley of the Platte, we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and made from fifteen to twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening the distance in order to secure a good camping ground.
Original text: Court House Rock
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC007
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: Traveling up the smooth valley of the Platte, we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and made from fifteen to twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening the distance in order to secure a good camping ground.
Original text: Court House Rock
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC007
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: 41.703678, -103.348217
Quotation: Traveling up the smooth valley of the Platte, we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and made from fifteen to twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening the distance in order to secure a good camping ground.
Original text: Chimney Rock
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC008
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: Traveling up the smooth valley of the Platte, we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and made from fifteen to twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening the distance in order to secure a good camping ground.
Original text: Chimney Rock
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC008
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: 41.834722, -103.707222
Quotation: Traveling up the smooth valley of the Platte, we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and made from fifteen to twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening the distance in order to secure a good camping ground.
Original text: Scott's Bluffs
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC009
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: Traveling up the smooth valley of the Platte, we passed Court House Rock, Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluffs, and made from fifteen to twenty miles a day, shortening or lengthening the distance in order to secure a good camping ground.
Original text: Scott's Bluffs
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC009
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Brule, NE 69127, USA
Quotation: I remember that she had the cream all ready for the churn as we drove into the South Fork of the Platte, and while we were fording the grand old stream she went on with her work, and made several pounds of butter.
Original text: South Fork of the Platte
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC010
Transportation: wagons
Marker: water
Quotation: I remember that she had the cream all ready for the churn as we drove into the South Fork of the Platte, and while we were fording the grand old stream she went on with her work, and made several pounds of butter.
Original text: South Fork of the Platte
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC010
Transportation: wagons
Marker: water
Location: Fort Laramie, WY, USA
Quotation: At Fort Laramie, two hundred miles farther on, we celebrated the fourth of July in fine style.
Original text: Fort Laramie
Date of arrival: 1846-06-27
Date of departure: 1846-07-06
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC011
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: At Fort Laramie, two hundred miles farther on, we celebrated the fourth of July in fine style.
Original text: Fort Laramie
Date of arrival: 1846-06-27
Date of departure: 1846-07-06
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC011
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Fort Bridger, WY, USA
Quotation: A new route had just been opened by Lansford W. Hastings, called the "Hastings Cut-off," which passed along the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake rejoining the old "Fort Hall Emigrant" road on the Humboldt.
Original text: Hastings Cut-off
Date of arrival: 1846-07-27
Date of departure: 1846-07-31
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC012
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: A new route had just been opened by Lansford W. Hastings, called the "Hastings Cut-off," which passed along the southern shore of the Great Salt Lake rejoining the old "Fort Hall Emigrant" road on the Humboldt.
Original text: Hastings Cut-off
Date of arrival: 1846-07-27
Date of departure: 1846-07-31
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC012
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Weber Canyon, South Weber, UT 84405, USA
Quotation: We were seven days in reaching Weber Cañon, and Hastings, who was guiding a party in advance of our train, left a note by the wayside warning us that the road through Weber Cañon was impassable and advising us to select a road over the mountains, the outline of which he attempted to give on paper.
Original text: Weber Cañon
Date of arrival: 1846-08-06
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC013
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: We were seven days in reaching Weber Cañon, and Hastings, who was guiding a party in advance of our train, left a note by the wayside warning us that the road through Weber Cañon was impassable and advising us to select a road over the mountains, the outline of which he attempted to give on paper.
Original text: Weber Cañon
Date of arrival: 1846-08-06
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC013
Transportation: wagons
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Quotation: Worn with travel and greatly discouraged we reached the shore of the Great Salt Lake. It had taken an entire month, instead of a week, and our cattle were not fit to cross the desert.
Original text: Great Salt Lake
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC014
Transportation: wagon
Marker: water
Quotation: Worn with travel and greatly discouraged we reached the shore of the Great Salt Lake. It had taken an entire month, instead of a week, and our cattle were not fit to cross the desert.
Original text: Great Salt Lake
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC014
Transportation: wagon
Marker: water
Location: Grantsville, UT 84029, USA
Quotation: We were now encamped in a valley called "Twenty Wells." The water in these wells was pure and cold, welcome enough after the alkaline pools from which we had been forced to drink.
Original text: Twenty Wells
Date of arrival: 1846-08-30
Date of departure: 1846-09-10
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC015
Transportation: wagon
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: We were now encamped in a valley called "Twenty Wells." The water in these wells was pure and cold, welcome enough after the alkaline pools from which we had been forced to drink.
Original text: Twenty Wells
Date of arrival: 1846-08-30
Date of departure: 1846-09-10
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC015
Transportation: wagon
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Great Salt Lake Desert, United States
Quotation: We prepared for the long drive across the desert and laid in, as we supposed, an ample supply of water and grass. This desert had been represented to us as only forty miles wide but we found it nearer eighty. It was a dreary, desolate, alkali waste; not a living thing could be seen; it seemed as though the hand of death had been laid upon the country.
Original text: desert
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC016
Transportation: foot
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: We prepared for the long drive across the desert and laid in, as we supposed, an ample supply of water and grass. This desert had been represented to us as only forty miles wide but we found it nearer eighty. It was a dreary, desolate, alkali waste; not a living thing could be seen; it seemed as though the hand of death had been laid upon the country.
Original text: desert
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC016
Transportation: foot
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Humboldt River, Nevada, USA
Quotation: We resumed our journey and soon reached Gravelly Ford on the Humboldt.
Original text: Humboldt
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC017
Transportation: foot
Marker: water
Quotation: We resumed our journey and soon reached Gravelly Ford on the Humboldt.
Original text: Humboldt
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC017
Transportation: foot
Marker: water
Location: Beowawe, NV, USA
Quotation: On the 5th day of October, 1846, at Gravelly Ford, a tragedy was enacted which affected the subsequent lives and fortunes of more than one member of our company.
Original text: Gravelly Ford
Date of arrival: 1846-10-05
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC018
Transportation: foot
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: On the 5th day of October, 1846, at Gravelly Ford, a tragedy was enacted which affected the subsequent lives and fortunes of more than one member of our company.
Original text: Gravelly Ford
Date of arrival: 1846-10-05
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC018
Transportation: foot
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Truckee Canyon, Toiyabe National Forest, Verdi-Mogul, NV 89523, USA
Quotation: On the 19th of October, while traveling along the Truckee, our hearts were gladdened by the return of Stanton, with seven mules loaded with provisions.
Original text: Truckee
Date of arrival: 1846-10-19
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC019
Transportation: mule
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: On the 19th of October, while traveling along the Truckee, our hearts were gladdened by the return of Stanton, with seven mules loaded with provisions.
Original text: Truckee
Date of arrival: 1846-10-19
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC019
Transportation: mule
Marker: blu_stars
Location: 39.32155,-120.32341
Quotation: The few who knew the danger that the night might bring yielded to the many, and we camped within three miles of the summit.
Original text: summit
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC020
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: The few who knew the danger that the night might bring yielded to the many, and we camped within three miles of the summit.
Original text: summit
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC020
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Donner Memorial State Park, 12593 Donner Pass Road, Truckee, CA 96161, USA
Quotation: That camp, which proved the camp of death to many in our company, was made on the shore of a lake, since known as "Donner Lake."
Original text: Donner Lake
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC021
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: That camp, which proved the camp of death to many in our company, was made on the shore of a lake, since known as "Donner Lake."
Original text: Donner Lake
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC021
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Truckee, CA 96161, USA
Quotation: The Donners were camped in Alder Creek Valley below the lake, and were, if possible, in a worse condition than ourselves.
Original text: Alder Creek Valley
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC022
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: The Donners were camped in Alder Creek Valley below the lake, and were, if possible, in a worse condition than ourselves.
Original text: Alder Creek Valley
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC022
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Sutter's Fort State Historic Park, Sacramento, CA 95816, USA
Quotation: Most of the survivors, when brought in from the mountains, were taken by the different relief parties to Sutter's Fort, and the generous hearted captain did everything possible for the sufferers.
Original text: Sutter's Fort
Date of arrival: 1847-04-29
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC023
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: Most of the survivors, when brought in from the mountains, were taken by the different relief parties to Sutter's Fort, and the generous hearted captain did everything possible for the sufferers.
Original text: Sutter's Fort
Date of arrival: 1847-04-29
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC023
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
Quotation: Before us now lay, in all its beauty, the broad valley of the Sacramento.
Original text: Sacramento
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC024
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: Before us now lay, in all its beauty, the broad valley of the Sacramento.
Original text: Sacramento
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC024
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Location: Napa Valley, CA, USA
Quotation: I remember one day, when traveling down Napa Valley, we stopped at noon to have lunch under the shade of an oak; but I was not hungry; I was too full of the beautiful around me to think of eating.
Original text: Napa Valley
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC025
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: I remember one day, when traveling down Napa Valley, we stopped at noon to have lunch under the shade of an oak; but I was not hungry; I was too full of the beautiful around me to think of eating.
Original text: Napa Valley
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC025
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Location: San Jose, CA, USA
Quotation: San Jose, CAL
Original text: San Jose, CAL
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC026
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars
Quotation: San Jose, CAL
Original text: San Jose, CAL
Date of arrival:
Date of departure:
Traveller: Murphy, Virginia Reed, 1834?-
Photograph:
Web link: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/reed/donner/donner.html#GC026
Transportation: walk
Marker: blu_stars