Frank X. Mullen, Jr.

   Archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar might have pinpointed the site of the lower camp of the Donner Party, about thirty miles west of Reno and might have found the evidence of cannibalism that has eluded researchers for 150 years.

   Artifacts dug up two weeks ago still are being examined, scientists said, but archaeologists located what might be a campfire pit in the area of Alder Creek near Truckee. They also found a bone fragment of a large mammal that bears the butcher marks of an ax.

   The bone could be from an ox or horse, or it could be human, scientists said, and further tests are planned. If it is a human bone, it would be the first physical evidence of cannibalism linked to the Donner Party saga.

   "This as a very exciting find," said Frankye Craig, a Donner Party researcher in Reno. "Even though some people don’t think that’s the Donner campsite, Donner descendants have been going there since the 1960s, and they always thought it was the place.

   "To them, Alder Creek is sacred ground, and the new research seem to prove that. I hope it triggers more investigation."

   The Donner Party traveled across the continent by wagon train in 1846 and the families were trapped in the Sierra Nevada by snowstorms in October and November. Survivors of the ordeal reported that the trapped pioneers at Alder Creek were unable to hunt and survived by eating small animals, boiled leather, and, after several months, the flesh of their companions who died.

   About half of the 81-member party perished.

   In 1984, archaeologists found many artifacts at Donner Lake, where several families endured the winter in three cabins. The lower camp, where the George and Jacob Donner families stayed in hastily built huts about six miles northeast of the lake, has yielded some 1840s artifacts but little proof of a long-term occupation—until now.

   "We found the possible remains of a hearth, fire-cracked rock, pipe bowl fragments, fragments of bone, including charred bone, lead balls, and ceramic fragments," said Julie Schablitsky, an archaeologist with Portland State University in Oregon.

   "Some of the large pieces of bone could be human, but we’ll have to test to be sure. Nothing is conclusive yet, but we’re looking at multiple lines of evidence that point to it being the Donner camp."

   She said pottery fragments, a link from a woman’s gold chain, bits of bottles and plates, and other 1840s-era artifacts have been found at the Alder Creek site, where the Donner families are said to have suffered for five months until winter ended. Although it has been marked as "Donner Camp" since the 1920s, some historians theorized that the area as too far from the pioneer trail and the true site probably lies beneath Prosser Reservoir.

   It’s believed that ten men, six women, and twelve children lived at the site in three to five separate campsites. Most of the adults died; most of the children eventually were rescued. The other members of the party were at separate camps.

Hardesty said the recent finds bolster his theory that the Donner campsites are in the Alder Creek meadows, but not at the exact spots where tradition says the shelters once stood.

"This absolutely adds more credibility to the interpretation that this is where the Donner families camped," he said. "The artifacts they found are similar to what we found in 1990 and 1993. If the fire pit is there, and if the bones with the suspected ax marks turn out to be human, this would be a pretty important find."

Scientists said they'll seek grants to fund further explorations at the site, which is located on public land managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Senior reporter Frank X. Mullen Jr. is the author of The Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train, 1846-47. He has been sharing research with the producers of the "Unsolved History" series for their Donner project.

The dig is still important though, because it identified the suspected remnants of the camp that eluded University of Nevada archaeologist Don Hardesty in the 1980s and 1990s. Some folks, including trails scholar Don Wiggins, were pretty sure old McGlashan and Waddell had marked the wrong site in the 1920s. because it was "too far from the trail" and because there was no sign of firepots and all the artifacts you'd expect to find at a long-term campsite. (Whereas the digs at the lake found everything you'd expect.) I think (I'm not positive without looking up my old stories or calling Stan Paher) that the Alder Creek camp was on the hot list for [Trails West] marker revision/ removal a couple years back. That would have been a "whoops!" to say the least.