Although they were warned partway through the trip not to go that way, I still put the blame on him for lying about it in the first place. The surviving members had differing viewpoints, biases and recollections so what actually happened was never extremely clear. Donner and her surviving sisters raised each other in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1861 when she married Sherman Otis Houghton, the widower of another Donner Party survivor. The note indicated that Hastings had left with another group and that later travelers should follow and catch up. Though he strongly suggested that the party take the regular wagon trail rather than this new false route, Reed would later ignore his warning in an attempt to reach their destination more quickly. Taking eight oxen to pull the luxurious wagon, Reed’s 12-year-old daughter Virginia dubbed it “The Pioneer Palace Car.”. Twenty-two people, consisting of the Donner family and their hired men, stayed behind while the wagon was repaired. On the far side of the desert, an inventory of food was taken and found to be less than adequate for the 600-mile trek still ahead. In a letter to her cousin in Illinois, Virginia Reed recounted that “I have not wrote you half of the truble, but I hav Wrote you anuf to let you now what truble is,” before concluding, “Dont let this letter dishaten anybody. As the disillusionment of the party increased, tempers began to flare in the group. On May 25th the train was held for several days by high water at the Big Blue River near present-day Marysville, Kansas. At Fort Laramie, James Reed ran into an old friend from Illinois by the name of James Clyman, who had just traveled the new route eastwardly with Lansford Hastings. Like most immigrant trains, the Donner Party was an eclectic, American slice of life: rich and poor, men and woman, old and young, immigrant and fifth generation, white and Native American, illiterate and scholar, families and It was here that the “new” trail met up with Hasting’s original path. However, the nightmare was by no means over. A few days later, the party was caught in a blizzard and had great difficulty getting and keeping a fire lit. On the sixth day, their food ran out and for the next three days, no one ate while they traveled through grueling high winds and freezing weather. The oxen moved slowly forward and the long journey had begun.” — Virginia Reed, daughter of James Reed. After the publicity, emigration to California fell off sharply and Hastings’ cutoff was all but abandoned. Fort Laramie, Wyoming painting by Alfred Jacob Miller. The Donner Party, then, presents both a great opportunity to examine where this human-animal intersection might occur, and also an Icarian tale of human pride in the face of nature’s cold nihilism. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Leaving his family, Reed was last seen riding off to the west with a man named Walter Herron. As the rest of the party continued to what is now known as Donner’s Lake, snow began to fall. Living off the bodies of those that died along the path to Sutter’s Fort, the snowshoeing survivors were reduced to seven by the time they reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 19, 1847. Satisfied, the emigrants rested for a few days at the fort, making repairs to their wagons and preparing for the rest of what they thought would be a seven-week journey. Omissions? See actions taken by the people who manage and post Donner Pass, with Donner Lake in the distance, near Truckee, Calif. Directed by Ric Burns. The three bodies, including that of Isaac Donner, had been cannibalized. [1] The band consisted of Melanie Clarin on drums and accordion, Sam Coomes on guitar, violin, and banjo, and Reinhold Johnson on bass. On March 12th the third relief led by William Eddy and William Foster reached Starved Camp where Mrs. Graves and her son Franklin had also died. If it had worked out differently, the group of settlers that came to be known as the Donner Party would have slipped over the Sierra Nevada into California —and obscurity. Our cookies are delicious. Their third album, quirkily titled "The Donner Party" was recorded in 1989 but not released until 2000 on the anthology The Donner Party: Complete Recordings 1987-1989 which contains all three albums plus some live tracks. The terrible ordeals of the caravan continued to mount when on October 12th, their oxen were attacked by Piute Indians, killing 21 one of them with poison-tipped arrows, further depleting their draft animals. A few days later their last few cattle were slaughtered for food and party began eating boiled hides, twigs, bones and bark. Long the subject of dark humor, the Donner party's struggle to survive is known more by reputation than by knowledge of the facts. Hastings, who had promised to lead migrants along the trail, left Fort Bridger with a different company of wagons, and it fell to Reed to act as the company’s guide. The Donner Party was a San Francisco-based indie rock band, performing between 1986-1989. The individual that wrote this story is a good writer. Chain Reaction by The Donner Party, released 06 March 2013 1. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... James Frazier Reed and Margaret Keyes Reed, survivors of the Donner party. This is a part of history; if you are a descendant of the Donor party, be proud of your heritage. In the Donner Party tragedy, two-thirds of the men in the party perished, while two-thirds of the women and children lived. The Donner Party: A terrifying tale of modern cannibalism First hearing the story of the Donner Party, it’s natural to think it’s some kind of tribute to Jeffery Dahmer by someone who can’t spell Dahmer. The story of the Donner tragedy quickly spread across the country. The rest of the pioneers stayed at what would become known as “Starved Camp.”. They then took 23 of the starving emigrants, including 17 children, back to the settlements; several deaths occurred on the way. When they finally reached the end of the grueling desert five days later on September 4th, the emigrants rested near the base of Pilot Peak for several days. In the meantime, while the wagon train continued to the base of the summit, George Donner’s wagon axle broke and he fell behind the rest of the party. Illustration of the camp at Donner Lake, California, November 1846. As the disillusionment of the party increased, tempers began to flare in the group. To spare the animals, everyone who could, walked. The letter stated that Hastings would meet the emigrants at Fort Bridger and lead them on his cutoff, which passed south of the Great Salt Lake instead of detouring northwest via Fort Hall (present-day Pocatello, Idaho.). Five days later, on August 30th, the group began to cross the Great Salt Lake Desert, believing the trek would take only two days, according to Hastings. The 22 people with the Donners were about six miles behind at Alder Creek. Your email address will not be published. Britannica now has a site just for parents! Their first destination was Independence, Missouri, the main jumping-off point for the Oregon and California Trails. Hopeless, they retraced their steps where five feet of new snow had already fallen. It was here that the train would experience its first death when Sarah Keyes died and was buried next to the river. The men, women and children of the Donner Party crossed the Missouri River in May of 1846 and aimed their covered wagons west, toward the promised land of California. Their height indicates the depth of the snow during the winter of 1846–47. The weather and their hopes were not to improve. “On the Donner Party, you absolutely want to be a couch potato, not a marathoner,” Grayson says. The old man, who could not keep up with the rest of the party with his severely swollen feet, began to knock on other wagon doors, but no one would let him in. On July 31st, the party left Fort Bridger, joined by the McCutchen family. Isolated in horrific conditions, about half of the original group of nearly 90 people died of starvation or exposure. In nine brand new wagons, the group estimated the trip would take four months to cross the plains, deserts, mountain ranges and rivers in their quest for California. The first relief party soon left with 23 refugees, but during the party’s travels back to Sutter’s Fort, two more children died. More small cabins were constructed, many of which were shared by more than one family. Like most pioneer trains, the Donner Party was largely made up of family wagons packed with young children and adolescents. The settlers of California organized a relief party which left Fort Sutter (Sacramento) on January 31, 1847. The Donner party stranded in the Sierra Nevada Range, 1847 The dates and facts that followed were interesting and made me feel as though I was traveling with the Donor-Reed party. Chain Reaction 5. While at Fort Laramie, Reed had been warned against attempting the route by an old friend from Illinois who had just completed the west-to-east journey through “Hastings Cutoff,” but the group chose to press ahead. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. It was the worst disaster of the overland migration to California. However, what was not known by Reed was that the Hastings Route had never been tested, written by Hastings who had visions of building an empire at Sutter’s Fort (now Sacramento.) Also in the group were the families of George and Jacob Donner. On Thanksgiving, it began to snow again, and the pioneers at Donner Lake killed the last of their oxen for food on November 29th. On February 19th, the first party reached the lake finding what appeared to be a deserted camp until the ghostly figure of a woman appeared. About this time, fear began to set in as provisions were running low and time was against them. Reed had recently read the book The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California, by Landsford W. Hastings, who advertised a new shortcut across the Great Basin. However, the Mexican War had drawn away the able-bodied men, forcing any further rescue attempts to wait. Though member, Lewis Keseberg, favored hanging for James Reed, the group, instead, voted to banish him. Donner party, also called Donner-Reed party, group of American pioneers—named for the expedition’s captain, George Donner—who became stranded en route to California in late 1846. A false shortcut The Donner Party’s journey began with laughter and hope in the spring of 1846. Forty-one individuals died, and forty-six survived. Breen’s account of the winter of 1846–47 would provide the only contemporary written record of the Donner party’s ordeal. With George were his third wife, Tamzene, their three children, Frances, Georgia, and Eliza, and George’s two daughters from a previous marriage, Elitha and Leanna. Your email address will not be published. Ominously, snow powdered the mountain peaks that very night. The party elected George Donner to serve as its leader, and at its peak the Donner party would number some 87 people—29 men, 15 women, and 43 children—in a column of 23 ox-drawn wagons. The Donners, whose progress was delayed by a wagon accident, made a similar camp a few miles farther east on the trail near Alder Creek. However, once again the author of this article infers the Donor-party resorted to cannibalism. In the end, five had died before reaching the mountains, thirty-five perished either at the mountain camps or trying to cross the mountains, and one died just after reaching the valley. Donner Lake, named for the party, is today a popular mountain resort near Truckee, California and the Donner Camp has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. One member of the party, Charles Stanton, snow-blind and exhausted was unable to keep up with the rest of the party and told them to go on. On August 11th, the wagon train began the arduous journey through the Wasatch Mountains, clearing trees and other obstructions along the new path of their journey. There, on May 12, they became a part of a main wagon train headed west. As they broke a new trail through the nearly impassible terrain of the Wasatch Mountains, they lost about two weeks’ time. During their first week in the Cutoff, the Donner party made good progress. Five of the emigrants died before reaching the mountain camps, 34 at the camps or on the mountains while attempting to cross, and one just after reaching the settlements. On March 3rd, Reed left the camp with 17 of the starving emigrants but just two days later they are caught in another blizzard. Liven Rising 2. Hastily, as the snow continued, the party built three shelters from tents, quilts, buffalo robes. Newspapers printed letters and diaries and accused the travelers of bad conduct, cannibalism, and even murder. HISTORY OF THE DONNER PARTY TRUCKEE LAKE December 26, 1846 Satd.... 20th Cleared off in the night to day clear & pleasant Snowd. Here, the train split, with the majority of the large caravan taking the safer route. Two men who had joined the party at the lake also died. It was an excellent read. On July 20, 1846, the company divided, with most of the wagon train then turning north toward Fort Hall (modern southeastern Idaho) and using the well-known Oregon Trail to continue the journey west. The group had elected to use a “shortcut” to California that had been recommended to them by an unreliable guide named Lansford Hastings. 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