By December 20th, the outlook was grim at Alder Creek. Jacob Donner and three of the teamsters had died, while cold and dampness were constant and dry firewood grew harder to find as snow piled higher. The Donner Party spent the winter gathering firewood here, cutting tall tree stumps whose heights, up to 12 feet, indicate the depth of the snow that winter. John Baptiste Trudeau later recalled the comforting prayers of Tamzene and Elizabeth Donner. Food was scarce, hunting opportunities were rare, and after the meat from the oxen and horses was gone, the starving emigrants boiled hides into a gluey mass and crushed bones into broth. Whether they eventually resorted to cannibalism here at Alder Creek remains disputed.