Page 6 - Death in the Donner Party: A Cause-and-Effect Investigation
P. 6
From there, the pioneers continued toward the pass.
Snowstorms had already blanketed the peaks with white snow.
With each step, the drifts grew deeper. Waist-deep snow slowed
the pioneers’ progress to a crawl. Their oxen were starving and
overworked. They struggled on the snowy route. Finally, they could
no longer pull the heavy wagons. So the travelers abandoned
their wagons. They slung their meager supplies across the backs of
their bony cattle. Then they lifted their children into their arms and
trudged up the mountain.
After a blizzard,
tree branches weigh
heavy with snow.
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