Prior to the year 1845, that great domain lying west of the Rocky
Mountains and extending to the Pacific Ocean was practically unknown.
About that time, however, the spirit of inquiry was awakening. The
powerful voice of Senator Thomas H. Benton was heard, both in public
address and in the halls of Congress, calling attention to Oregon and
California. Captain John C. Frémont's famous topographical report and
maps had been accepted by Congress, and ten thousand copies ordered to
be printed and distributed to the people throughout the United States.
The commercial world was not slow to appreciate the value of those
distant and hitherto unfrequented harbors. Tales of the equable climate
and the marvellous fertility of the soil spread rapidly, and it
followed that before the close of 1845, pioneers on the western
frontier of our ever expanding republic were preparing to open a wagon
route to the Pacific coast.

After careful investigation and consideration, my father, George
Donner, and his elder brother, Jacob, decided to join the westward
migration, selecting California as their destination. My mother was in
accord with my father's wishes, and helped him to carry out his plan.

At this time he was sixty-two years of age, large, fine-looking, and in
perfect health. He was of German parentage, born of Revolutionary stock
just after the close of the war. The spirit of adventure, with which he
was strongly imbued, had led him in his youth from North Carolina, his
native State, to the land of Daniel Boone, thence to Indiana, to
Illinois, to Texas, and ultimately back to Illinois, while still in
manhood's prime.

By reason of his geniality and integrity, he was widely known as "Uncle
George" in Sangamon County, Illinois, where he had broken the virgin