The mules were gone, and were never found.

Most of the cattle had perished, and were wholly hidden from sight.

The few oxen which were found were slaughtered for beef." The travelers knew that the supplies they had could not last long.

On the 12th of November a relief party essayed to go forward, but after struggling a short distance toward the summit, came back wearied and broken-hearted, unable to make way through the deep, soft snow.

Then some one--said to have been F.W.Graves of Vermont--bethought himself of making snowshoes out of the oxbows and the hides of the slaughtered oxen.