Season 1, Episode 9 — The Forlorn Hope & "Stout" John Stark: The Untold Heroism of the Donner Relief Parties (1846–1847)

Almost every telling of the Donner Party is a horror story. Underneath it is one of the West's great stories of courage. In the winter of 1846–47, after Lansford Hastings' "shortcut" and an early October blizzard trapped some 87 emigrants below the Sierra Nevada crest at Truckee (now Donner) Lake, ordinary people risked everything to save one another.

In Episode 9 of American Tapestry, we follow the 15 snowshoers of the "Forlorn Hope," who set out on December 16, 1846, on snowshoes Franklin Graves made from oxbows and rawhide; Charles Stanton, the bachelor who came back over the mountains for strangers and stayed behind by the fire saying, "Yes, I am coming soon"; William Eddy's 33-day walk to Johnson's Ranch with help from Miwok villagers; the First and Second Relief parties, and James Reed's return for his children Patty and Tommy; and the March blizzard that created "Starved Camp." Finally we meet "Stout" John Stark of the Third Relief, who refused to leave anyone behind ("I will not half do the work") and carried the starving children down the mountain in relays until every one he took was safe.

Season 1 · Episode 9 · American Tapestry: the stories, struggles, and spirits that built a nation.