boys! chain up!" with as much authority as though he was "something
in particular." John Denton is still with us. We find him useful in
the camp. Hiram Miller and Noah James are in good health and doing
well. We have of the best people in our company, and some, too, that
are not so good.

Buffaloes show themselves frequently.

We have found the wild tulip, the primrose, the lupine, the eardrop,
the larkspur, and creeping hollyhock, and a beautiful flower
resembling the blossom of the beech tree, but in bunches as large as
a small sugar loaf, and of every variety of shade, to red and green.

I botanize and read some, but cook "heaps" more. There are four
hundred and twenty wagons, as far as we have heard, on the road
between here and Oregon and California.

Give our love to all inquiring friends. God bless them. Yours truly,

MRS. GEORGE DONNER.

The following extract is part of a letter which appeared in _The
Springfield Journal_ of July 30, 1846[1]:

SOUTH FORK OF THE NEBRASKA, TEN MILES FROM THE CROSSING,

_Tuesday, June 16, 1846_

DEAR FRIEND: