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us, 20th started sun about an hour high = morning cold = road torn page and rocky = passed some small creeks = camped about 1 or 2 oclock three or torn page miles from "Truckee Lake" eat only a spoonful or two of rice = stopped but a short time = soon after starting passed two cabins where the "Donner Family" were caught in the snow and perished they were among a dense forest of pine trees = in a ^ small valley = we saw stumps of trees which we judged 6 or 7 ft high = but none as high as in the written account soon after left the lake to the right & began to ascend the dividing ridge of the sierras road near the top (1/4 of a mile) very steep & rocky snow on the peaks around us. the waggons here double their teams in ascending & let their waggons down with ropes on the opposite side using pine trees as "snubbing" posts = many deeply cut with the ropes coiled around them = they then unyoked the cattle & drove them down narrow rocky paths to where they could be used again,, our men drove their mules & walked over the dangerous paths = but I could not do so,, it was all I could do to keep my seat & trust the rest to my mule who picked his way with great care where a single misstep would have been the last one. after descending entered the valley of ^ the Yuba rode down some three miles where we found a little grass and camped our animals very tired Dr Whites gave out but he succeeded in getting him in very late, we are now across the summit & on the tributaries of the Sacramento we have looked for gold but we have looked in the drifting sands of the streams & of course have not found it there. the metal is too heavy to be washed with the drift/ but is found in the hard dirt & stones or on the bed rock - 21st started late around 9 oclock only intending to travel about 8 miles as we would then have next day a longer distance before we could find grass for our animals