Imagine you are a teenage young man (or woman). You’re living in a small one room cabin in the mountains (with no door to cover the only opening). You’re far from home – somewhere you’ve never been. For months. It is winter and it is snowing – a lot. And you do not have much food. Did I mention you are alone? That is the predicament Moses Schallenberger found himself in …

Moses Schallenberger was a member of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party which came to California overland from Iowa in 1844. At the time he was either seventeen or eighteen years old (accounts differ) – ostensibly a young man aiming to stake a claim and make a life “out west”.

The party arrived at the Sierra Nevada mountains in November, when snow was already falling. The challenging weather and terrain caused the party to split up. A horse-mounted group went ahead and they made it to Sutter’s Fort without issue. Meanwhile the wagon group moved along at its own pace. Additional challenges in getting all of the wagons up over the pass prompted another fracture in the group (1).

They decided to leave six of their eleven wagons behind with three men to guard them until spring. Whether he volunteered or was commanded, Moses Schallenberger was one of the three. They made a cabin near (what would later be called) Donner Lake but quickly realized how difficult it would be to survive the winter surrounded by deep snow (with no “game” animals to hunt). The three men made improvised snowshoes and tried to catch up with the wagon group. Moses Schallenberger could not keep pace with the other two (due to bad leg cramps) and turned back to the cabin after one day.

Moses stayed by himself at the cabin for two-and-a-half to three months! During that time he had a very meat-heavy (though probably inconsistent) diet. He caught a coyote, whose meat made Moses’ stomach turn no matter how he cooked it. Moses was also an effective fox trapper – his main source of protein.

I image it must have been a pretty grim experience to be alone entombed in mountains of white snow. Did Moses ever doubt that he’d make it out alive? He could not even be sure that the party that left him was able to survive. Was Moses able to find enough wood to burn without resorting to burning the wagons? At least he had some books to read (belonging to his brother-in-law) which might have helped pass the time while he waited for the fox trap to spring.

Luckily for Moses, twenty-three-year-old Dennis Martin came to his rescue in February, after hearing of his plight from the wagon group (now stuck at the upper Yuba River valley).

Unfortunately by the time some people returned to the site in summer, the wagons had been picked over. Alas, Moses’ vigil was for naught.

Moses Schallenberger went on to raise his nieces and nephews when his sister and her husband (Dr. John Townsend, the first American doctor in California) died, had a family of his own and lived (in San Francisco and San Jose) to the ripe old age of 82. He is buried in the Oak Hill Memorial Park in San Jose, CA.

I will put Moses’ story of perseverance and strength in the “that which does not kill you makes you stronger” file.

Update June 2026: Donner Memorial State Park in Truckee has a plaque marking the site of the cabin built by Moses Schallenberger and two other men.

Near this spot stood a small cabin built by 18-year old Moses Schallenberger and two other men. They were members of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party of 1844, the first pioneers to take wagons over the Sierra Nevada, opening the Truckee Route of the California Trail. The three men had volunteered to remain behind and guard six of the wagons left here by the main party.

Due to extreme winter weather conditions and lack of food, the three men agreed to separate. The two older men rejoined the wagon party, but due to his weakened physical condition, Moses Schallenberger chose to remain at the cabin. The young man survived for nearly three months alone in the small cabin during the winter of 1844-45 before being rescued. His cabin would later provide shelter for the Breen family, members of the ill-fated Donner Party, who were stranded here in 1846-47.

The courage and resolution of Moses Schallenberger during his solitary winter ordeal in this cabin makes him one of the true heroes in the saga of the California Trail.

Further reading:

• “The Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party” by Gordan Richards from the Truckee-Donner Historical Society
• Moses Schallenberger virtual memorial on findagrave.com
• My list of California Curiosities – interesting random bits of California history.

Notes:

1. Reminder: there were no roads for the wagons to roll upon. In fact there wasn’t a single established trail either. In a few places the terrain was so steep that wagons had to be disassembled and then moved piece by piece.
2. I first read about Moses Schallenberger in a geology book, oddly enough. I was reading about rocks I’d seen while Hiking the High Sierras. The section of the book on early California history (early from the perspective of Americans of European descent, not from the perspective of Native Americans or rocks [geologic time] – mind you), was quite helpful. My thanks to Mary Hill and her book “Geology of the Sierra Nevada” (2006) for introducing me to Moses’ story.
3. Historical Marker for the cabin: https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=94059
4. The cabin that Moses Schallenberger and his companions made was later used by the Breen family, members of the Donner Party in 1846-1847