An Archaeology of Desperation

exploring the donner party’s alder creek camp

Edited by Kelly J. Dixon, Julie M. Schablitsky,

and Shannon A. Novak

University of Oklahoma Press : Norman

Contents

List of Illustrations ixList of Tables xiAcknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1Shannon A. Novak and Kelly J. Dixon

Part I. Locating

1. Sufferers in the Mountains: The Donner Party Disaster 31Kristin Johnson

2. The Aftermath of Tragedy: The Donner Camps in Later Years 63Kristin Johnson

Part II. Lingering

3. Historical Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Donner Party 89Donald L. Hardesty

4. An Archaeology of Despair 101Kelly J. Dixon

5. A Family in Crisis: Archaeology of a Survival Camp 133Julie M. Schablitsky

Part III. Consuming

6. What Remains: Species Identification and Bone Histology 163Gwen Robbins Schug and Kelsey Gray, with contributions by Guy L. Tasa, Ryne Danielson, and Matt Irish

7. [Wo]man and Beast: Skeletal Signatures of a Starvation Diet 185Shannon A. Novak

8. The Delicate Question: Cannibalism in Prehistoric and Historic Times 219

G. Richard Scott and Sean McMurry

Part IV. Narrating

9. “Under Watchful Eyes”: Washoe Narratives of the Donner Party 255Jo Ann Nevers and Penny Rucks, with contributions by Lana Hicks, Steven James, and Melba Rakow

10. “All Remember the Fate of the Donner Party”: History and the Disaster at Cannibal Camp 291

Will Bagley and Kristin Johnson11. Concluding Thoughts 323

Kelly J. Dixon and Julie M. Schablitsky

Bibliography 335List of Contributors 367Index 371

1

IntroductionShannon A. Novak and Kelly J. Dixon

Landscape, like “beauty,” is in the mind of the beholder and, as such, varies widely from one personal or cultural perspective to the next.

Experience, history, value systems, relationships, circumstance, and individual choices all play a part in how

landscapes are seen or described.

Paul S. Taçon 1999

An avid writer and accomplished schoolteacher, Tamzene Donner kept a detailed journal of her family’s travels into the West. Like many other women who would make the overland trek, Tamzene likely wrote about her dreams and fears, the landscape and weather, friend and foe, life and death.1 Along with these musings, she probably detailed mundane activ-ities such as collecting wood and buffalo chips to fuel the evening fire, preparing meals for her family and the teamsters, and attempting to keep up with the mending, washing, and cleaning for her mobile community.2

In letters sent home to Springfield, Illinois, Tamzene described seeing herds of bison, her moments of botanizing and reading, and her time spent cooking for her family. In the end, writing journal entries would have provided Tamzene comfort and a distraction from the hunger, grief, and despair she and her family faced while snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Sadly, neither Tamzene nor her diary survived.

Thus, we are left to piece together the tragic events of the winter of 1846–47 from historical accounts and archaeological traces. Yet what exactly is there to piece together? As Bagley and Johnson remind us in chapter 10, there are now some three hundred histories, novels, films,

2 introduction

and children’s books based on the Donner Party. Most of these portrayals rely on recollections and memoirs by those who survived or the reports of men in rescue parties.3 These primary accounts are supplemented by the more colorful tales of souvenir hunters or curious travelers who later visited the abandoned camps. Others attempted to find material traces of the party, though with varying degrees of success.4 Such a paucity of sources often results in conflicting accounts, especially where the prac-tice of cannibalism is concerned.

John (Jean-) Baptiste Trudeau,5 for example, who was a teenager and hired hand, was responsible for some of the confusion. When recalling his time stranded in the Sierra Nevada at Alder Creek, Trudeau first gave an exaggerated account of eating “baby raw,” then retracted his state-ment and denied participating in the practice.6 Kristin Johnson discusses this important topic (see chapter 2), noting that Eliza Donner Houghton, who had just turned four when she was rescued in March 1847, was so distressed by such tales of cannibalism that she sought to clear her fam-ily’s name. Houghton’s mission undoubtedly influenced Trudeau’s con-tradictory accounts.

In general, what we know about the Donner Party tends to be a thin master narrative that has become part of the powerfully imagined American West.7 This narrative remains simple: Good farming people from the Midwest set out to make new homes on the western fron-tier. They dally a bit too long, take a wrong turn, and become trapped in the mountains by an early winter storm. To survive, they resort to cannibalism. We think that there is something more to learn from the Donner Party saga, especially if we slow down the narrative, elaborate on details, and reexamine the questions through an interdisciplinary lens. By integrating and juxtaposing resources from history, ethnohis-tory, archaeology, bioarchaeology, and social anthropology, we consider the experiences of the snowbound emigrants from a somewhat different perspective. Rather than simply focusing on cannibalism—did they or didn’t they?—our inquiry approaches the event as a historically, socially, and contextually rich case that can be used to consider life and death during the winter entrapment, as well as the human condition in desper-ate situations.8

Two field seasons of archaeological investigations at Alder Creek are at the center of our inquiry. During the summer of 2003, survey and excavations were initiated at Alder Creek with the goal of unequivocally

introduction 3

linking an emigrant-era site with the Donner family. We were building on the work initiated by archaeologist Donald L. Hardesty more than a decade earlier, during which he and his crew identified a concentra-tion of historic artifacts thought to be the Donner camp (see also chapter 3). Without finding a hearth, however, Hardesty was reticent to confirm the site’s provenance.9 We began our study by relocating the area that Hardesty and his crew had excavated in 1990; our adjacent test units to the west quickly yielded glass and ceramic fragments along with burned bone comparable to the materials found during the earlier excavations. Near the end of the season, we found an ash deposit suggestive of a nearby hearth. Encouraged by these discoveries, we returned to Alder Creek the following summer and successfully delineated a hearth and collected a wide array of associated artifacts and bone fragments.

Most of the authors in this volume presented their preliminary find-ings at the 2006 meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Since that time, analyses have continued, debates have taken place, and a more nuanced picture has emerged. Based on our discussions, we decided that the most appropriate frame for our synthesis would be one that consid-ers the flow of action and activities—human and otherwise—around a particular moment in space and time. Yet to more fully understand this moment, we must consider the various contexts within which the entrapment took place.

In what follows, we first disaggregate “the Donner Party” into indi-viduals, families, and relationships, as well as their distribution across the landscape. To more fully understand the responses of these people to the obstacles they encountered—and the contexts within which can-nibalism was considered—we examine how kinship, class, and gender were negotiated in Jacksonian America (1824–48). Through this social and historical lens, seemingly inert archaeological remains can be used to animate the past.

Social Structures

The Donner Party was a diverse contingent made up of some eighty people from different ethnic, religious, and class backgrounds. For example, the Kesebergs were German,10 the Breens were Irish, and team-ster John Denton was English. The Breen family, in particular, has long been associated with an Irish-Catholic identity.11 Catholicism is often

4 introduction

highlighted in the Donner story due to Virginia Reed’s conversion expe-rience in the mountains. At the age of twelve, Virginia recalled, “all at once I found myself on my knees with my hands clasped, looking up through the darkness, making a vow that if God would send us relief and let me see my father again I would be Catholic.”12 At the time, reports of a young girl renouncing her Protestant faith for that of a tradition associ-ated with a disorderly working class would have been suspect in proper society.13

Reports of Virginia’s behavior, in conjunction with those of cannibal-ism, may have been perceived as a degenerative effect of the wilderness and a warning to those who would dare venture west.14 Danger was par-ticularly acute in the region known at the time as Alta California, an area that included the modern U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, and southwestern Wyoming.15 The region was widely criticized by adventurers and the press as a place where “decent Ameri-cans” should not go (see chapter 10).16 The notion of what made a “decent American” held special connotations in the mid-nineteenth century and helps establish a context for considering the backgrounds of members of the Donner Party.17

Victorian mores and norms emerged in tandem with industrialization and a market economy.18 Global trade, technological advances, and mass consumption perpetuated a stratified social order that cultivated acts of gentility, dignity, and restraint.19 Thus, class tensions were very much on the minds of those in the emerging middle class who attempted to set themselves apart through actions and objects.20 Urban areas, especially New York and Philadelphia, were the hubs of conspicuous consumption and displays of civility. Taking tea, playing parlor games, and develop-ing literary acumen were all ways in which middling families sought to mimic elites and differentiate themselves from laborers. Such practices were also adopted in rural areas, but with some adjustments to farm life.21 There, land, livestock, and hired hands (or indentured servants and slaves) were a means of signaling status, though teacups, trinkets, and books were also desired and displayed. Such displays were also attempted on the trail, although, in general, overland travel was a middle-class ven-ture that required liquidating family assets.22

One of the enduring myths of the Donner Party centers on James Reed’s “Pioneer Palace Car,” a purported luxury wagon whose ostenta-tious display would come to be blamed for the delays and travails faced

introduction 5

by the emigrants. In the same memoir in which Virginia Reed reports her conversion, she also describes riding in a unique family wagon, equipped with sitting and sleeping areas.23 Although the interior “com-forts and conveniences” were distinctive (as Kristin Johnson notes in chapter 1) and reflect an idealized domestic space, later historians have exaggerated Virginia’s description.24 Though not as grandiose in design, George Donner’s “wealth enabled him to put together an extensive outfit . . . one wagon contained considerable stocks of trade goods, a second carried the gear, tools, and provisions for the journey, and his family rode in a third” (see chapter 1). His brother, Jacob, was also able to afford three wagons for the journey.

Besides the caravan of Donner wagons and Reed’s custom interior, the most obvious display of class and capital was the ability to hire help. In this regard, the Reed, Donner, and Graves families were distinct. The Graves employed a single teamster, while the Donners and Reeds each hired several men. The Reeds also traveled with Eliza Williams, their cook, who had been with the family for years. On the trail, these distinc-tions would fuel tensions between individuals and families. By mid-Sep-tember, “they were fragmenting” by both class and ethnicity: “Germans stay with Germans. Irish stay with Irish. The rich among them . . . keep to themselves.”25 By the time the contingent had reached the Sierra Nevada, the “Donner Party” had dispersed into small groups.26 In consequence, and most important for our purposes here, such fissioning would result in families being trapped in two separate locations—the Lake (or Cabin) Camp and the Alder Creek Camp (map I.1).

Separate Spheres

The majority of emigrants traveling with the Donner Party became trapped near what is now Donner Lake, then called Truckee Lake. This encampment initially held sixty persons, most of whom belonged to unrelated nuclear families or were single men. Some seven miles north-east of the lake, twenty people initially occupied a second camp at Alder Creek, and most of them were members of an extended kinship net-work.27 The vast majority of emigrants who occupied Alder Creek were the children of George and Jacob Donner (figure I.1). Thus, while the Lake Camp was a small community of sorts, the Alder Creek Camp was one big family.

6 introduction

Map I.1. The Donner Party’s Donner Lake and Alder Creek camps in what is now Truckee, California. Courtesy of Joseph Stoll.

Donner Lake Truckee River

Prosser CreekReservoir

Alder Creek

Trout Creek

Prosser Creek

Prosser Creek

Prosser CreekReservoir

Cold Creek

Donner Lake Truckee River

Alder Creek

Trout Creek

Cold Creek

Alder CreekCamp

Alder CreekCamp

Lake CampLake Camp

CaliforniaTrail

CaliforniaTrail

Donner Cr.Donner Cr.

2 miles0

Syracuse University Cartographic Laboratory

NorthAmerica

DonnerCamp Sites

introduction 7

Archaeologist Donald K. Grayson found that mortality in the Don-ner Party could be explained by demographics and kinship networks.28 He notes that the youngest and the oldest within the party were most likely to succumb and that women were more likely to survive than men. While only a third of the men survived, two-thirds of the women lived because they were physiologically buffered, he argues, by their smaller body size, lower basal metabolic rate, and higher proportion of subcuta-neous fat. In addition to age and sex, Grayson also found that “the larger the family with which a person traveled, the longer that person survived, many lasting long enough to either escape or be rescued.”29 Indeed, men who were listed as bachelors were the first to die.

While Grayson’s analysis is interesting, his findings for the “Donner Party” are aggregated and do not distinguish between the two camp sites. When the two camps are examined separately, some subtle but interesting differences emerge. At the Lake Camp, the four adult men who survived (Breen, Eddy, Foster, and Keseberg) were all fathers. At Alder Creek, two single young men (Trudeau and James) in their mid-teens survived—both were employees of the Donners. The only two family men at Alder Creek were George and Jacob Donner, neither of whom survived. The men’s advanced age may have been a mitigating factor in their deaths, though Grayson notes that the sixty-two-year-old George is a significant outlier among the men who succumbed. His extraordinary length of survival, Grayson argues, was due to his incapacitated state and Tamzene’s care.30

Yet Grayson dismisses the unusual case of George and touts the nor-mative findings as confirming “our understanding of some of the fun-damental biological differences between human males and females.”31 This statement, like many others about the Donner Party, overlooks the diverse biologies and biographies of the emigrants. The conflation of sex and gender, moreover, fails to take into account the biocultural influ-ences on physiology and cultural repertoires of both men and women.32 Individuals become decontextualized in time and space. When historical and social context is reintegrated into the analysis, Tamzene’s actions are exactly what we would expect from an ideal Victorian wife and mother.

The duality of gender roles in the first half of the nineteenth century became codified in public discourse and reified in separate spheres. Civility, education, and morality were seen as intrinsically female con-cerns to be nurtured by wives and mothers within the home.33 The domestic sphere became an idealized haven from corrupt forces of the

8 introduction

TamzeneDonnerAge 45

GeorgeDonner

Age 60/62

MaryBlue

DorotheaWol�nger

Age 29

JosephReinhardt(teamster

withWol�nger)

Age 30

JeanBaptisteTrudeau

(employee)Age 16

LeannaDonnerAge 11

ElithaDonnerAge 14

ElizaDonnerAge 3

GeorgiaDonnerAge 4

FrancesDonnerAge 6

Legend

Male (Died in the Donner Party)

Female (Died in the Donner Party)

Male (Survived the Donner Party)

Female (Survived the Donner Party)

Male, divorced (not in the Donner Party)

Female, divorced (not in the Donner Party)

Kinship Diagram for Donner Familiesand Others Encamped at Alder Creek

continued on facing page

Figure I.1. Kinship diagram for the Donner family and others camped at Alder Creek. Each individual’s age as of November 1, 1846, is given. Courtesy of Joseph Stoll.

introduction 9

JacobDonnerAge 56

ElizabethDonnerAge 40

JamesHook

WilliamHook

Age 12

SolomonHook

Age 14

SamuelDonnerAge 1

LewisDonnerAge 4

IsaacDonnerAge 6

MaryDonnerAge 7

George Jr.DonnerAge 10

JamesSmith(Reed

teamster,worked

forJamesReed)

Age 25

NoahJames

(teamster)Age 16

SamuelShoemaker(teamster)

Age 25

NOTES: Ages here are based on each individual’s age as of November 1, 1846; Charley Burger (teamster, 30) and John Denton (teamster, 28) worked for the Donner families, but were not camped at Alder Creek; George Donner also had a third wife, Susannah Holloway, with whom he had six children, none of whom traveled west with him; Jacob Donner was believed to have had a wife and child who died before he married Elizabeth. The second relief left two rescue party members (Charles Cady and Nicholas Clark) with the Donners at Alder Creek in late February 1847; Cady lived in camp for a few days and Clark stayed for approximately two weeks; Tamzene Donner died at the Donner Lake camp; William Hook and Isaac Donner died while being rescued.

Notes : Ages are based on each individual’s age as of November 1, 1846. Charles Burger (teamster, 30) and John Denton (teamster, 28) worked for the Donner families, but were not camped at Alder Creek. George Donner’s six children by his first wife, Susannah Holloway, did not travel west with him. Jacob Donner was believed to have had a wife and child who died before he married Elizabeth. The Second Relief left two rescue party members (Charles Cady and Nicholas Clark) with the Donners at Alder Creek in late February 1847; Cady lived in camp for a few days, and Clark stayed for approximately two weeks. Tamzene Donner died at the Donner Lake camp. William Hook and Isaac Donner died while being rescued. Thanks to Kristin Johnson for providing these details.

continued from facing page

10 introduction

market, as well as a sanctuary for companionate marriage. Middle-class femininity and masculinity came to be defined within, and projected from, the household.34 The dualities of separate spheres—male/female, market/home, public/private—were not, however, neatly bounded. The separation of spheres, as Janet Wolff argues, “does not presuppose either a ready-formed or static ‘middle-class,’ or a straightforward economic and ideological ‘separation of spheres.’ Indeed, this separation was con-stantly and multiply produced (and counteracted) in a variety of sites.”35 Yet as fluid as the sites may be, “[p]hysically, the separation of spheres was marked, as well as constructed, by both geography and architecture.”36

The idealized Victorian home, for example, became more compart-mentalized, with walls segregating activities and the individuals within.37 Parlors were set aside to welcome the public, while other spaces were kept far from the gaze of the outside world. Socio-sexual norms were encoded in these structures and the bodies who occupied them.38 The Reeds’ so-called Pioneer Palace wagon, with its distinct sitting and sleeping areas, was an attempt to transport such boundaries into the wilderness.39

On the trail, travelers negotiated new physical and social landscapes, though the activities and the space they occupied remained gendered. Women, in general, were responsible for the hearth and meals, care of the children, and bringing an air of civility to the mobile community. Men performed the heavy labor of the daily traverse, negotiated goods and supplies, and maintained defense of livestock and family.40 Lei-sure time for bourgeois women circulated around literary activities (for example, keeping diaries, reading, writing letters, sketching, sewing, and collecting botanical specimens), while the men used big game hunting to negotiate rank and solidify fraternal bonds.41

Victorian domesticity was not a rigid social structure, however, espe-cially when pioneers ventured into new and unfamiliar areas. In fact, Igor Kopytoff reminds us that “differences in social behavior that might have been disguised or unacceptable within a cultural ‘core’ could be exposed . . . and even permissible on the frontier.”42 Therefore, the case of the Donner Party provides an opportunity to understand the power and flexibility of ideology when a group of people find themselves in desperate circumstances outside genteel society. In addition to historical accounts, the organization of space, activities, and material remains at the extant camp sites provides some insight.

There were, indeed, significant differences between the two camps and

introduction 1 1

the physical and social conditions created by the built environment—or lack thereof. At Donner Lake, the Breen, Graves, Keseberg, Murphy, and Reed families wintered in three cabins and adjacent lean-tos. At Alder Creek, in contrast, the Donner families and the teamsters had to hastily erect makeshift shelters, which provided little protection to those within. Georgia Donner, who was four at the time, recalled the dreadful condi-tions she and her family suffered at Alder Creek: “Some days we could not keep a fire, and many times during both days and nights, snow was shoveled from off of our tent and from around it so that we might not be buried alive. Mother remarked one day that it had been two weeks [since] our beds and clothing upon our bodies had been wet.”43 Her father’s tent was reportedly so crowded at times that those who took shelter inside during storms had to lie in bed to make room for everyone (see chapter 1).

Thus, those living at Alder Creek were also subject to another expo-sure—the gaze of others. Life in an enclosed cabin, as opposed to activi-ties in an ephemeral shelter, likely involved a different spatial context within which social interactions occurred and could be observed. While this may seem to be a rather mundane point, we might expect privacy to influence decisions about when to resort to cannibalism, how to process the bodies, and whom to expose to such a spectacle (see chapter 7). Each single-room cabin at the Lake Camp, for example, had a cooking hearth and various activity areas where daily life was acted out within the con-fines of relatively private domestic space.44 At Alder Creek, in contrast, the cooking hearth was more exposed,45 allowing others to observe activities occurring in that sphere. Daughter Eliza reported that the George Don-ner tent, where the family slept, was connected to a kitchen area made of brush and tree limbs. The recollections of Frances Donner (six years old at the time) suggest that this kitchen area served as the domain of the matriarch of their camp:46 “[H]er mother [Tamzene] lived—presumably not all the time—in the kitchen annex to prevent the hungry from getting into the kettle at night” (see chapter 1).

While Tamzene monitored the “domestic” domain, sixteen-year-old John Baptiste Trudeau performed much of the men’s work outdoors. In addition to chopping wood, he shot the surviving animals and marked the position of their bodies. Later, he would struggle to find the bodies of livestock and humans whose corpses had became obscured by snow-drifts (see chapter 1). Though inside/outside and domestic/public dichot-omies were undoubtedly fluid during entrapment, occupants at Alder

12 introduction

Creek seemed to clearly distinguish between those spaces used by the living and those reserved for the dead.

These little dramas of daily life are rarely touched on in master narra-tives of the Donner saga. Yet within these dramas were individuals who carried the mores and modalities of action structured within a histori-cal context. There was no single “society” (or “party,” for that matter); instead, the camps were inhabited by persons whose class, gender, age, and life histories served to filter the cultural materials that they were exposed to and might act upon. “All human beings,” anthropologist Lars Rodseth emphasizes, “are biographical individuals in this sense, as any one person embodies and reproduces just a fraction of the cultural mate-rials (symbols, values, and so on) carried by the entire population.”47 Thus, when members of the Donner Party found themselves trapped in the Sierra Nevada, individuals were acting on variable Victorian reper-toires that mitigated reactions to novel circumstances. These were not isolated persons left to act out their cultural schemas like rats in a maze, but social beings whose actions and reactions were influenced, learned, or modified in the presence of others.48

Before putting a trowel to soil, then, simply disaggregating the “Don-ner Party” socially and spatially provides new insights into and expecta-tions from the historical and archaeological record. By bringing these details into the analytical frame, we can direct our attention toward the differences between the two camp sites and the individuals harbored therein. Moreover, this distinction allows us to move away from a sim-ple narrative that compresses variation, toward one in which we might understand the range of experiences that men, women, and children had in such desperate, and potentially disparate, circumstances. How such experiences at Alder Creek might manifest in the material record is what we turn to next.

Vital Matter

An archaeological site is not simply a snapshot in time waiting to be interpreted and narrated, but a historically contingent place that was, and remains, in a state of flux.49 The dynamic quality of an archaeo-logical site—a place that is always in the process of becoming—is pre-cisely what allows for alternative interpretations of an event. Indigenous peoples, explorers, and other overlanders traveled through the Sierra

introduction 13

Nevada well before the Donners marked the landscape with their camp. Even during the time of their entrapment, people came and went; some traveled between the Lake Camp and Alder Creek, others died, and a lucky few were rescued. The local Washoe residents, souvenir seekers, and curious overlanders would alter the setting, as would the Califor-nia State Parks, the U.S. Forest Service, the descendants of the emigrant party, and archaeologists. And these are just the human agents.50

For analytical purposes, however, we must freeze the ebb and flow to capture specific moments in time. While we acknowledge that such images artificially bind the landscape, we recognize the need to stop the action, examine the material record, and look for continuity and disjunc-tion between and across sites. To emphasize the dynamic rather than static qualities of the site (and those who inhabited it), we have organized this book into four sections—“Locating,” “Lingering,” “Consuming,” and “Narrating”—with each part containing chapters that share similar subject matter or sources of analysis.

Because the historical setting preceded, constrained, and was altered by the Donner event, we begin by locating the saga within a detailed con-text of overland migration and Jacksonian America. Part 1, “Locating,” consists of two chapters by historian Kristin Johnson, who details the context of the heretofore underrepresented Alder Creek Camp, includ-ing an examination of post–Donner Party events and influences on what remained at both mountain camps. Johnson’s meticulous history of the Alder Creek Camp is a significant accomplishment given the paucity of descriptions relative to the Donner Lake Camp. She also initiates the dis-cussion (which is continued throughout this book) of communication between Alder Creek and the Lake Camp. Juxtaposing the known con-text of the Donner Lake site against that of the more enigmatic Alder Creek site is a comparative approach elaborated on by other contributors to this volume (see especially chapters 4, 5, and 7).

Once the historical context of our case is in place, we turn to locating the enigmatic Alder Creek Camp itself. We certainly were not the first to try. In chapters 3 and 4, respectively, archaeologists Donald Hardesty and Kelly Dixon detail the previous expeditions and explorations, as well as the often-conflicting conclusions. Drawing on consensus in the historical records as well as archaeological testing, Hardesty and Dixon are able to triangulate the position of at least one encampment in the “meadow.”51 Ultimately, the characteristics, dating, and unique qualities

1 4 introduction

of the artifact assemblage at Alder Creek allowed us to be confident that we had located a portion of the Donner family encampment.

We then pause to present the archaeological findings from the exca-vation in part 2, titled “Lingering.” The material and spatial records are where we would expect to see continuity or rupture that would reflect behavioral shifts. The dynamic qualities of the site are here, again, ines-capable. People began collecting relics from the Alder Creek encamp-ments when the fourth rescue/scavenging party arrived in April 1847 (see chapters 2 and 10). Even more intriguing is that the Washoe people went to the deserted camps to “investigate and cleanse the area of any spirits” that might remain lingering around the encampments (see chapter 9). The Washoes purportedly buried anything they found (whether a teacup or a piece of cloth) away from the site so that the items, along with the spirits of the dead, would remain carefully laid to rest.

Despite these activities, some remnants left behind by the snow-bound emigrants have been identified. Although the artifacts from the Alder Creek site are relatively sparse—slivers of glass, bits of ceramic plates and tea sets, buttons from overcoats, and thousands of small bone fragments—further study allowed the layout of one portion of the site to be reconstructed and interpreted through the lens of normalcy and adaptation. For example, archaeologist Julie Schablitsky points out in chapter 5 that the archaeological record can be integrated with his-torical accounts to reconstruct activity areas and capture a sense of the spatial arrangement of the Donner families’ encampment. The archae-ological record is invaluable at this juncture because there are no writ-ten accounts that specify the layout of the tent camp at Alder Creek. Schablitsky’s findings were subsequently used to develop artistic ren-ditions, another interesting and material form of historical narrative. Schablitsky also compares the layout of the Donner family camp with the Murphy Cabin at Donner Lake to investigate differences between public and private space in the archaeological record. She questions whether and how the Donners used the location of the hearth and asso-ciated shelter as a more public sphere for socializing versus its use as a personal space (for example, sleeping) like that of the Murphy Cabin.

The comparative lens between entrapment locales is widened further as Dixon evaluates the Alder Creek artifact assemblage in relation to other overland camps and other settlements in the area. What is fasci-nating about this comparison is how similar in some respects, and how

introduction 15

different in others, are the material records of the Donner encampments. Using this comparison, Dixon elaborates on landscape learning and the experience of colonization. She also argues that it is important to go beyond the details of physiological adjustments to examine normalcy as evidence of behavioral adaptation.52

The third part of this book we have entitled “Consuming,” to mark not only a period when foodstuffs were used up but also the act of eating; such an act is particularly evocative in this case. We begin by presenting a comprehensive investigation of the bone fragments, including analyses of histology and processing scars. This research was challenging because the bone collection from Alder Creek was extremely fragmentary as a result of butchering, burning, and other postdepositional processes. Yet the condition of the bone is part of the dynamic quality of the site that reflects the actions of those who occupied or encountered it. With this quality in mind, as we turn to the biological tissue recovered at the site, we are, in a sense, elaborating on the dynamic nature of the living body as well as the body as material culture.53

The microstructure of bone, for example, is examined by bioarchae-ologists Gwen Robbins Schug and Kelsey Gray (with contributions by Guy Tasa, Ryne Danielson, and Matt Irish) to identify the animal species in the Alder Creek assemblage (chapter 6). Robbins Schug and her col-leagues evaluate the ability to differentiate between human and nonhu-man bone, adult and subadult age groups, and the impact of postmortem events on once-living tissue. What would seem to be a rather static, fact-based scientific inquiry is actually an assessment of the dynamic pro-cesses in an organism’s life history. Such histories require us to consider how genes interact with a social and physical environment to construct a biological organism. Yet this construction is not complete at birth, because the living being continues to emerge and change across the life course. Even after death, the organism’s structure can be further manip-ulated by the living. The dead might be washed, wrapped, and buried, or they might be skinned, butchered, and consumed. Once discarded (and possibly forgotten), the tissue continues to be altered by the ebb and flow of the local environment.

Although Robbins Schug and her colleagues are unable to unequivo-cally confirm the presence of human tissue in the Alder Creek bone assemblage, the human presence is all too apparent in the postmor-tem alteration of the bony tissue.54 This issue is addressed by another

16 introduction

bioarchaeologist, Shannon Novak, in a chapter that details the process-ing and butchering scars on bone fragments and elaborates on these findings with an experimental cooking study (chapter 7). Her research raises questions about the ability to recognize behavioral signatures of starvation diets and cannibalism across time and space. In particu-lar, she considers who would have been making decisions about what might be considered food, how and where the food was prepared, and how the predominant gaze of children might have influenced decisions and acts at the site. She concludes that while there may be patterns in the material record that transcend the event, contextual variables such as gender, social setting, and Victorian norms influenced behavior, even under the most dire of circumstances.

In chapter 8, anthropologists G. Richard Scott and Sean McMurry examine starvation cannibalism from a more macro perspective, one that considers the Donner saga in relation to other bioarchaeological studies of human cannibalism (also known as anthropophagy). In addition to pointing out the ways in which the Alder Creek site’s historical context and bone assemblage can complement the diverse array of evidence that has been associated with this behavior—from the hominid fossil record to ethnographic accounts—Scott and McMurry argue that the Donner Party events represent not an “aberration but a fully anticipated result of individuals put under dire and life-threatening stress.” When considered in this broader context, the Donner Party’s ordeal is merely a single event that pushed the limits of dietary stress and nineteenth-century taboos. Yet the tension between human biology and cultural values is what made the event such a resilient morality tale. It is ironic that the archaeological traces are so minute, especially when juxtaposed against the size of one of the American West’s most infamous tales.

The fourth and final part, “Narrating,” provides alternative perspec-tives on the Donner story, beginning with an ethnography and ethno-history of the Washoe people by Jo Ann Nevers and Penny Rucks (with contributions by Lana Hicks, Steven James, and Melba Rakow). The Donner Party’s snowbound period, October 1846 to April 1847, took place in Washoe territory, specifically, in the homelands of the northern Washoe (wel mel ti) people. While the Donner Party tragedy is a quintes-sential case study of settlers navigating an unfamiliar landscape, chapter 9, written by Washoe tribal members and an ethnographer, outlines the ways in which the wel mel ti people were quite familiar with the weather

introduction 17

and environment of the region. The Washoes had long since adapted to the astonishing range of life zones that proved daunting to the overland emigrants.

Jo Ann Nevers and Penny Rucks also include contact stories that have been told among the wel mel ti but have not been used by histori-ans as primary sources because, as one of the informants observed, “no one interviewed our family or other Washoes to find out if they knew anything about the Donner Party.” Descriptions of such encounters are expected to spark discussions related to cultural encounters and nine-teenth-century westward migration and, when combined with this vol-ume’s other historical descriptions, provide a mosaic of recollections and interpretations to foster a multivocal perspective of the Donner Party’s ordeal.

Media accounts, in particular, played a significant role in the creation of the Donner Party chronicle. In chapter 10, historians Will Bagley and Kristin Johnson provide an analysis of the media and personal recol-lections that fueled the construction of collective memory and memory politics in the aftermath of the Donner Party saga. They use previously unknown primary sources, particularly those of Latter-day Saints and forty-niners, to glean “contemporary perspectives on the calamity.” The diverse array of narratives formed by groups and individuals, each hav-ing distinct perspectives and disparate motives, would congeal over time to form a national narrative of the Donner Party and come to influence interpretations of western trails history.

In “Concluding Thoughts,” chapter 11, we too are proposing alternative narratives that complicate the story, give pause, and rouse inquiry into a historical case that was considered closed. Our intent, however, is not to replace one narrative with another. We recognize the value of legends and their ability to animate the past, teach lessons, and enrich our lives.55 We also appreciate the political repercussions of interpreting, teaching, and narrating history. As Bagley and Johnson point out in chapter 10, “The idiosyncratic nature of our public memory reflects dreams and fears that run deep in the American psyche.”

In this volume, myth and memory collide with scientific methods that are woven into a critical analysis of historical records. Drawing on historical sources, artifacts and osseous materials, discussions of sur-vival cannibalism, and ethnographic accounts, the following chapters are dedicated to illuminating details about life and death at the Alder

18 introduction

Creek Camp. Such an undertaking required the expertise of historians, archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, ethnographers, descendants, and col-laborators. By the time readers reach the end of this volume, we expect that they will have a deeper understanding not only of what happened at the Alder Creek Camp during the winter of 1846–47 but also of how an interdisciplinary approach can use multiple sources to link site-specific information with broad cultural events.

introduction 19

Table I.1. Families and emigrants associated with the Donner Lake Camp

Name Age Died/Survived Role/Relationship

Antonio [23] Dieda Teamster (?) for the DonnersBreen, Edward 13 Survivedb Son of Patrick BreenBreen, Isabelle 11 mos. Survivedc Daughter of Patrick BreenBreen, James F. 5 Survivedc Son of Patrick BreenBreen, John 14 Survivedc Son of Patrick BreenBreen, Margaret [40] Survivedc Wife of Patrick Breen, born in

IrelandBreen, Patrick [51] Survivedc Farmer from Iowa, born in IrelandBreen, Patrick, Jr. 9 Survivedc Son of Patrick BreenBreen, Peter 3 Survivedc Son of Patrick BreenBreen, Simon P. 7 Survivedb Son of Patrick BreenBurger, Charles “Charley” [30] Died Teamster for the DonnersDenton, John [28] Diedb Teamster for the DonnersDolan, Patrick 35/40 Dieda Farmer from Iowa, born in IrelandEddy, Eleanor [25] Died Wife of William EddyEddy, James [3] Died Son of William EddyEddy, Margaret [1] Died Daughter of William EddyEddy, William H. 29 Surviveda Carriage maker from Belleville,

IllinoisElliott, Milford “Milt” [28] Died Teamster for the ReedsFosdick, Jay [23] Dieda Son-in-law of Franklin GravesFosdick, Sarah 21 Surviveda Daughter of Franklin GravesFoster, George 2 Died Grandson of Levinah MurphyFoster, Sarah A. C. 19 Surviveda Daughter of Levinah MurphyFoster, William M. 31 Surviveda Son-in-law of Levinah MurphyGraves, Eleanor 14 Survivedb Daughter of Franklin GravesGraves, Elizabeth 46 Died c Wife of Franklin GravesGraves, Elizabeth [1] Survived c Daughter of Franklin GravesGraves, Franklin W. [57] Dieda Farmer from Marshall County,

IllinoisGraves, Franklin W., Jr. [5] Diedc Son of Franklin GravesGraves, Jonathan [7] Survivedc Son of Franklin GravesGraves, Lovina 12 Survivedb Daughter of Franklin GravesGraves, Mary Ann 20 Surviveda Daughter of Franklin GravesGraves, Nancy 8 Survivedc Daughter of Franklin GravesGraves, William C. 17 Survivedb Son of Franklin Graves (cont.)

20 introduction

Table I.1. Families and emigrants associated with the Donner Lake Camp (cont.)

Name Age Died/Survived Role/Relationship

Halloran, Luke [25] Died on trail Storekeeper from St. Joseph, Missouri; joined Donners en route

Hardcoop, Mr. [60] Died on trail Belgian traveling with KesebergHerron, Walter [27] Survivedd Teamster for the ReedsKeseberg, Ada [2] Diedb Daughter of Louis KesebergKeseberg, Philippine 23 Survivedb Wife of Louis Keseberg, German-

speaking emigranth

Keseberg, Louis 32 Survived Brewer from Cincinnati, German-speaking emigranth

Keseberg, Louis, Jr. 2 mos. Died Son of Louis Keseberg, born en route

Keyes, Sarah [70] Died on trail Mother-in-law of James F. ReedLuis [?] Dieda Indian vaquero from Sutter’s FortMcCutchan, Amanda [25] Surviveda Wife of William McCutchanMcCutchan, Harriet [1] Died Daughter of William McCutchanMcCutchan, William [30] Survivedd Farmer from MissouriMurphy, John Landrum 16 Died Son of Levinah MurphyMurphy, Lemuel B. 13 Dieda Son of Levinah MurphyMurphy, Levinah W. 36 Died Widow from TennesseeMurphy, Mary M. 14 Survivedb Daughter of Levinah MurphyMurphy, Simon P. 8 Survivede Son of Levinah MurphyMurphy, William G. 10 Survivedb Son of Levinah MurphyPike, Catherine [1] Died Granddaughter of Levinah MurphyPike, Harriet F. 18 Surviveda Daughter of Levinah MurphyPike, Naomi L. 2 Survivedb Granddaughter of Levinah MurphyPike, William [32] Died on trail Son-in-law of Levinah MurphyReed, James F. 45 Survivedd Businessman from Springfield,

Illinois (cont.)

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Table I.1. Families and emigrants associated with the Donner Lake Camp (cont.)

Name Age Died/Survived Role/Relationship

Reed, James F., Jr. 5 Survivedb Son of James F. ReedReed, Margret W. 32 Survivedb Wife of James F. ReedReed, Patty 8 Survived f Daughter of James F. ReedReed, Thomas K. 3 Survivedf Son of James F. ReedReed, Virginia E.B. 13 Survivedb Stepdaughter of James F. ReedSalvador [?] Dieda Indian vaquero from Sutter’s FortSnyder, John [25] Died on trail Teamster for the GravesesSpitzer, Augustus [30] Died Teamster for the Donnersg

Stanton, Charles T. 35 Dieda Traveling with the DonnersWilliams, Baylis [25] Died Hired man for the ReedsWilliams, Eliza [31] Survivedb Cook for the Reeds

Source: Data compiled by Kristin Johnson (see chapter 1).Note: Names are listed in alphabetical order, and ages are as of November 1, 1846.

Brackets indicate that the age has been estimated.a Part of the Forlorn Hope, the group of fifteen emigrants (nine men, five women, and

one thirteen-year-old boy) who set out on snowshoes to seek help. b Taken out of the mountains with the First Relief.c Taken out of the mountains with the Second Relief.d Walter Herron, William McCutchan, and James Reed, while part of the original

emigrant party, left the Donner party en route and were not trapped in the mountains. e Taken out of the mountains with the Third Relief.f Started with First Relief but gave out and were taken back to live with the Breen fam-

ily; they later left the mountains with the Second Relief. g Farnham’s account refers to Spitzer as a “hired driver” (Farnham, “From Califor-

nia,” 154), and W. C. Graves said he was “with the Donners” (Graves to McGlashan, April 14, 1879: “Antonio, Burger, Spitzer & James, belonged with the Donners”).

h These individuals are portrayed as Germans in much of the Donner Party literature. Yet in 1847 there was no German state in the modern sense. Thus, these individuals were German speakers but Prussian citizens.

22 introduction

Table I.2. Families and emigrants associated with the Alder Creek Camp

Name Age Died/Survived Role/Relationship

Donner, Elitha 14 Surviveda Daughter of George DonnerDonner, Eliza P. 3 Survivedd Daughter of George DonnerDonner, Elizabeth [40] Died Wife of Jacob DonnerDonner, Frances E. 6 Survivedd Daughter of George DonnerDonner, George 60/62 Died Farmer from Springfield, IllinoisDonner, George, Jr. 10 Surviveda Son of Jacob DonnerDonner, Georgia 4 Survivedd Daughter of George DonnerDonner, Isaac [6] Diedb Son of Jacob DonnerDonner, Jacob [56] Died Brother of George DonnerDonner, Leanna 11 Surviveda Daughter of George DonnerDonner, Lewis [4] Died Son of Jacob DonnerDonner, Mary 7 Survivedc Daughter of Jacob DonnerDonner, Samuel [1] Died Son of Jacob DonnerDonner, Tamzene 45 Died Wife of George Donner Hook, Solomon E. 14 Survivedb Stepson of Jacob DonnerHook, William [12] Diede Stepson of Jacob DonnerJames, Noah [16] Surviveda Teamster for the DonnersMiller, Hiram O. [30] Survived Teamster for the Donnersf

Reinhardt, Joseph [30] Died Associate of WolfingerShoemaker, Samuel [25] Died Teamster for the DonnersSmith, James [25] Died Teamster for the ReedsTrudeau, John Baptiste [16] Survived With the Donnersg (cont.)

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Table I.2. Families and emigrants associated with the Alder Creek Camp (cont.)

Name Age Died/Survived Role/Relationship

Wolfinger, Dorothea [29] Surviveda Wife of Mr. Wolfinger, German-speaking emigrant

Wolfinger, Mr. [?] Died on trail Traveling with Keseberg, from Cincinnati, German-speaking emigrant

Source: Data compiled by Kristin Johnson (see chapter 1).Note: Names are listed in alphabetical order, and ages are as of November 1, 1846;

brackets indicate that the age has been estimated.aRescued by the First Relief.bRescued by the Second Relief.cTaken out by the Second Relief, rescued by the Third Relief.dRescued by the Third Relief.eDied with the First Relief.fHiram O. Miller was a teamster traveling with the Donners, but because he left on

July 2, 1846, he was never part of the ordeal or a resident of the Alder Creek Camp. He did, however, return as a member of two rescue parties.

gJohn Baptiste (or Jean-Baptiste) Trudeau is often listed as a drover or teamster; however, there are no primary sources describing him as a teamster. Baptiste said that George Donner took him on because he claimed to have “knowledge of the languages and customs of the various Indian tribes through whose country we should have to pass”; Houghton, Expedition, 34.

hThese individuals are portrayed as Germans in much of the Donner Party literature. Yet in 1847 there was no German state in the modern sense. Thus, these individuals were German speakers but Prussian citizens.

2 4 introduction

Notes

The chapter epigraph is from Taçon, Identifying Sacred Landscapes.1. See, for example, Schlissel, Women’s Diaries. Kristin Johnson’s research indicates

that even though Mrs. George Donner’s first name is spelled “Tamsen” in the Donner Party literature, she spelled it “Tamzene,” which is a version of the name “Thomasine” (for details, see http://www.xmission.com/~octa/DonnerParty/DonnerG.htm).

2. Faragher, Women and Men, 78; Novak, House of Mourning, 130.3. For example, Bryant, What I Saw; McGlashan, History; Houghton, Expedition;

Stewart, Ordeal by Hunger; King, Winter of Entrapment; King and Steed, “John Bap-tiste Trudeaux”; Johnson, Unfortunate Emigrants. Misspellings and grammatical errors found in original documents are preserved throughout this volume to uphold the char-acter associated with primary sources related to the Donner story.

4. McGlashan, History; Hawkins and Madsen, Excavation; Hardesty, Archaeology.5. This Donner employee’s name appears in several different forms. The earliest

example is a note from November 1846, signed “John Trudeau” but written in a hand that closely resembles Jacob Donner’s (Reed Papers, document 399). Other early Donner Party sources refer to him simply as “John Baptiste” or “Baptiste.” The phonetic spell-ing “Trudo” appears as his surname in several early California records, though in later years numerous other versions appear. While the correct French version of his name would have been “Jean-Baptiste Trudeau,” this form is not attested in the literature, so we will use “John Baptiste Trudeau” throughout the rest of this volume. Kristin John-son’s ongoing research provided the information for this note.

6. King and Steed, “John Baptiste Trudeaux,” 166–69.7. See, for example, White, It’s Your Misfortune; Wiley, “Invented Lands/Discovered

Pasts”; Walton, “Arson, Social Control, and Popular Injustice.”8. Though we have not explicitly used the term microhistory, we see our approach

in line with this manner of practice. In particular, we examine this event, not as an isolated or encapsulated moment, but as part and parcel of larger processes of scales and time. Moreover, like microhistorians, we use an “exploratory stance” that allows us “to examine the event from many sides, exploring the multiple ways that different indi-viduals perceived and reacted to an event.” Beaudry, “Stitching Women’s Lives,” 145. For further discussion on microhistory, see Brooks, DeCorse, and Walton, Small Worlds.

9. Hardesty, Archaeology, 110–11.10. German ethnicity must be distinguished, of course, from German citizenship.

The Kesebergs, as Ethan Rarick points out, were both German speakers and Prussian citizens. Of course, in 1847, there was no German state in the modern sense (Rarick, Desperate Passage, 52).

11. O’Laughlin, Irish Families, 13.12. Johnson, Unfortunate Emigrants, 282.13. Ignatiev, How the Irish, 148. The merger of Irish and Catholic identity has a com-

plex political history; see Howe, What Hath God Wrought, 199–210. Public perceptions of “Irish Catholics” were entangled with nativism movements in the eastern United

introduction 25

States during the 1830s and 1840s. Such movements resulted not only from immigra-tion but also from labor and class discord fueled by abolitionist tendencies (see Ignatiev, How the Irish, 149–55).

14. For a discussion of the degenerative effects of the wilderness, see Valenčius, Health of the Country.

15. Alta California gained independence from Spain in 1821, after the Mexican War of Independence. Mexico lost control of the territory as a result of the Mexican-American War (1846–48), which was taking place while the Donner Party was entrapped, with one member of the group, James Frazier Reed, even going off to fight in the war while he waited for his family to arrive.

16. Despite the reputation of Alta California, there was a movement dedicated to get-ting Americans to settle in California. Lansford Hastings’s Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California (1845) was intended to make California appealing enough to convince a large number of Americans to move there so they could help win California for the United States (see chapter 2 herein for additional discussion).

17. For example, Tamzene Donner was described as “a perfect type of eastern lady, kind, sociable, and exemplary, ever ready to assist neighbors, and even the stranger in distress.” Mr. Frances to C. F. McGlashan, in McGlashan, History, 142–43.

18. The Victorian era covers the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, up to her death (1837–1901). For a discussion of the American context, see Sellers, Market Revolution; Wells, Origins.

19. See, for example, Stokes and Conway, Market Revolution in America; Praetzellis and Praetzellis, “Mangling Symbols of Gentility.”

20. See, for example, Ames, “Meaning in Artifacts”; Grier, Culture and Comfort; Mrozowski, Archaeology of Class.

21. Bushman, Refinement of America; Kelly, “Well Bred Country People.”22. Faragher, Women and Men, 21.23. Johnson, Unfortunate Emigrants, 266–67.24. Johnson, Unfortunate Emigrants, 226n5; see also Mullen, Donner Party Chroni-

cles, 54–57.25. Mullen, Donner Party Chronicles, 152.26. In his lecture entitled “The ‘Humbug,’ ” trail historian Don Buck has noted that

the Humboldt segment of the California Trail was so challenging that many wagon trains lost social cohesion, which means the Donner Party was not unique in this regard. Buck examined over three hundred emigrant diaries and summarized what their authors wrote about the Humboldt stretch, describing the river, dust, heat and cold, Indian encounters, and so forth and providing quotations from the diaries. Under the subheading “Disintegration” (leaves 10–16), Buck discusses the dissolution of wagon trains, abandoning of wagons, jettisoning of possessions, heaps of dead cattle, and so on. He notes, “In reading emigrant accounts, the resounding refrain is how debilitat-ing their travels became as they toiled the three hundred miles from one end of the Humboldt to the other. The commonly held view is that the emigrants were demoral-ized and devastated by their later drive over the dreaded Forty Mile Desert to either the

26 introduction

Truckee or Carson Rivers. What I discovered, however, is [that] their two to three week trek along the Humboldt so wore them down that by the time they reached the Sink and Forty Mile Desert, an alarmingly high percentage had disintegrated as viable traveling groups” (leaf 11). The years that Buck examined (1849–52) were very different from 1846, but undeniably the Humboldt was an arduous stretch of the trail throughout the mid-nineteenth century. A typescript of this lecture is in the Oregon-California Trails Asso-ciation Manuscripts. Copy in Kristin Johnson’s manuscript collection; special thanks to her for sharing the document.

27. Although there were twenty people in camp at the beginning of November 1846, there ended up being a total of twenty-two people there later because the teamsters James Smith and Noah James joined those at Alder Creek; see chapter 1.

28. Grayson, “Donner Party Deaths”; Grayson, “Differential Mortality.”29. Grayson, “Differential Mortality,” 157–58.30. Grayson, “Differential Mortality,” 156. Kristin Johnson (pers. comm., July 2010)

argues that George Donner may have had a strong constitution, for his father lived to the age of ninety-two. In addition, because George was an invalid, he seems to have lain in bed most of the time and was therefore expending minimal calories.

31. Grayson, “Differential Mortality,” 158.32. Given the significance of such biological and cultural interaction, it is important

to remember that the physiology of women is constructed in a cultural context, where inequality in access to food, medical care, social support, and so on influences the amount of body fat women will achieve and maintain over the life course. For a discus-sion of the biocultural construction of the body in relation to sex and gender, see Sofaer, Body as Material Culture; and Geller, “Identity and Difference.”

33. Gendered ideals in the Victorian worlds have been widely critiqued (e.g., Foucault, History of Sexuality), and care must be taken to differentiate between the biological body, the performed body, and the categorized body (see Geller, “Bodyscapes, Biology, and Heteronormativity”; Hollimon, “Sex and Gender in Bioarchaeological Research”; Beaudry, “Stitching Women’s Lives”). For further discussion, see, for example, Hough-ton, Victorian Frame of Mind; Smith-Rosenberg, Disorderly Conduct; and Stanley, “Home Life.”

34. Tosh, Man’s Place.35. Wolff, “Culture of Separate Spheres,” 118–19.36. Wolff, “Culture of Separate Spheres,” 119.37. See, for example, Calder, Victorian Home; Bushman, Refinement of America; and

Spain, Gendered Spaces.38. Walker, “Home Making.”39. For a discussion of practice theory and the historical and cultural significance of

bodily movements within social and built environments see Bourdieu, Outline; Gid-dens, Constitution of Society; and Shilling, Changing Bodies.

40. Hurtado, Intimate Frontiers, 27; for a discussion of patriarchy and the blame directed at men, in particular, who were seen to have failed in their roles as patriarchs and protectors of women and children, see also 62–63. Faragher, Women and Men.

introduction 27

41. See Novak, House of Mourning, 141.42. Kopytoff, “Internal African Frontier,” 12.43. Stewart, Ordeal by Hunger, 259; see also chapter 1 herein.44. For an illustration of activity areas identified during excavation of Murphy cabin,

see Hardesty, Archaeology, 40–41.45. That is, the George and Jacob Donner camps were separate, but each likely had a

communal cooking area in each camp used by each family.46. For example, King and Steed, “John Baptiste Trudeaux.”47. Rodseth, “Historical Massacres,” Manuscript in review, Comparative Studies in

Society and History; see also Rodseth, “Distributive Models of Culture”; Ortner, “Power and Projects.”

48. Lefebvre, Production of Space.49. See, for example, Pred, “Place”; and Joyce and Lopiparo, “Doing Agency in

Archaeology.”50. See Clifford, Routes.51. See Wiggins, “Investigation of Emigrant Trails”; see also Hardesty, Archaeology,

58–59.52. See, for example, Mäkinen, “Human Cold Exposure”; Steegman, “Human Cold

Adaptation”; and Gearheard, “Change in the Weather.”53. See, for example, Robb, “Time and Biography”; and Sofaer, Body as Material Cul-

ture.54. To complicate matters, when the Institute for Canine Forensics worked at the

Alder Creek site, their human remains detection dogs were called upon to help identify possible locations of human remains. The dogs alerted at several areas in Alder Creek, but no obvious human remains were found after ground truth excavations were placed on the areas where the dogs alerted. However, one of these areas was the fire hearth. A soil chemistry analysis is under way to determine whether the areas where the dogs alerted have a soil chemical signature that is similar to the soil chemical signatures of known burials.

55. See Dixon, “Sidling Up.”