by and seven days. This cutoff, later popularized in a guide book, was used heavily by miners heading to the California Gold Rush. In the Sierra Nevada they encountered snow and on November 14, 1844, the party split. Six of the party, Elizabeth Townsend, her servant Francis, Oliver Magnan, and the siblings, Ellen (or Helen), John, and Daniel Murphy, set off on horseback following the Truckee River southward with the aim of reaching Sutter Fort quickly and sending help back. They became the first European-Americans to set foot on the shore of Lake Tahoe on November 16 (John C. Frémont had been the first European-American to see it the previous February). They arrived at Sutters Fort on December 10. The rest of the party continued until reaching Truckey's (or Truckee) Lake (now Donner Lake). Here, they left six of their eleven wagons because of difficulties getting the wagons over the pass and continued with the remaining five. At one point they had to unhitch the wagons and haul them up a cliff with makeshift pulleys while the oxen were led up through a narrow slot. On November 25 they managed to reach the top of the pass. Three men, Joseph Foster, Allan Montgomery, and Moses Schallenberger, returned to the wagons with the intent of watching over them until the snow melted. They quickly put up a cabin (later used by the Donner Party) but soon realized that it would be very difficult for them to survive the winter. On makeshift snowshoes they set out after the party ahead of them but after the first day the youngest, eighteen-year-old Moses Schallenberger realized he could not make it and returned to the wagons. He survived only by trapping High Sierra foxes for food. The rest of the party after crossing the pass continued until snow made it impossible to continue with wagons on the upper Yuba River valley. They set up camp and, on December 6, 17 of the adult men continue in order to find help while the women, children, and two adult men remained in the camp. Most of the men were enticed or coerced to fight with Captain John Sutter for Mexican California Governor Manuel Micheltorena in exchange for promises of land grants. Instead of joining them, Dennis Martin returned to the upper Yuba with supplies for the women and children. Upon learning of the plight of Moses Schallenberger,