Name: What really happened to the Donner Party in California
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What really happened to the Donner Party in California

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AdvertisementA winter of falling out and cannibalism during ill-fated journey to the West CoastWhat really happened to the Donner Party in CaliforniaA winter of falling out and cannibalism during ill-fated journey to the West CoastAdvertisementWhat really happened to the Donner Party in CaliforniaA winter of falling out and cannibalism during ill-fated journey to the West CoastDonner Pass, Donner Lake and the Donner Memorial State Park: all locations the average person passes by when driving through the Sierra along Interstate 80. But the history runs deeper than simply spots on the map.To further understand the namesake of these locations, you have to look back to the 1840s, when a caravan of several families on wagons, spurred by the notion of Manifest Destiny -- the belief that America was destined to stretch "from sea to shining sea" -- began their journey from the Midwest to California. This venture, however, would lead the group to meet with a terrible fate.The Donners set off: April 1846Illinois farmers George and Jacob Donner, along with cabinetmaker James Reed, set off in April 1846 in nine ox-drawn wagons. Traversing through the Midwest, George's wife Tamsen described the travels at this point as "a pleasant journey."The caravan then came to a fork in the road in Wyoming. Following guidance from Ohio attorney Lansford W. Hastings, George Donner chose an alleged shortcut that would save them anywhere from one to two months of travel, cutting through Utah before reaching Nevada.At the fork, the Donners, Breen, Murphy, Eddy, Graves and Keseberg families chose this shortcut, splitting off from a group that decided to take the traditional route, which would take that group farther north, traveling through Idaho before reaching the trail that joins back at Nevada.The price paid for a 'shortcut'The issue with the Hastings Cutoff is that Hastings himself had never been on -- or even seen -- the trail. Hastings wrote his guidebook, touting the trail as a shortcut in 1845. When he took the route in 1846 after returning from a trip in California, he left messages advising travelers to avoid this route. Hastings had also miscalculated the distance it took to travel across the Great Salt Lake Desert in Utah by 40 miles. The group of about 90 who split at the fork made a costly mistake taking this route.The Donner-led group fell behind three weeks after a risky cross down a canyon in Utah's Wasatch Mountains, which led to an 80-mile hike through the Great Salt Lake Desert. Here, the party was forced to abandon many of their supplies, as well as their livestock.Reed, one of the people who set off with the Donners, was exiled from traveling with the caravan after stabbing a man with a knife during an argument. His family was permitted to remain with the group.The winter of disintegration, cannibalism: October 1846The Donner Party made its way to Reno, Nevada, neé, Truckee Meadows in October 1846. Charles Stanton, who went ahead of the group seeking aid in the form of supplies from John Sutter in Sacramento, warned George Donner the road ahead would be extremely difficult. The exhausted group chose to rest for six days, which the group would soon come to regret. Beset by frigid conditions and encounters with the native Washoe, families comprising the Donner Party would start to splinter off from the group.The actual Donner family itself never made it to Truckee Lake (now known as Donner Lake), instead setting up camp for winter a few miles away along Alder Creek. When crossing the pass that would later be named after the Donners proved unsuccessful, the other families took to hunting. That also didn't end well.Tensions rose further between families when it came to sharing the little provisions they had left.Fifteen members of the party, including Stanton, made a desperate scramble on Dec. 15 for Sutter's Fort. A mismatched combination of a three-day snowstorm and poor equipment led to half the group dying, including Stanton.Two men and five women found their way to a ranch 40 miles north of Sutter's Fort around mid-to-late January. The group had survived on a deer they successfully hunted, as well as the bodies of their dead.Rescuing who's left: February 1847James Reed, who was kicked from the group, made it to Alder Creek with a rescue party. There, he spotted George Donner, dying from infection. Reed also noted signs of cannibalism.Reed took a group of survivors with him, but Tamsen Donner opted to stay and perish with her husband. A separate rescue party headed to Truckee Lake to pick up those survivors. Lewis Keseberg, the remaining survivor, was rescued in April, one year after the group initially set out from the Midwest.Roughly 40 people survived the journey to California after a decision George Donner made thinking he was taking a shortcut to the West Coast.Donner Pass, Donner Lake and the Donner Memorial State Park: all locations the average person passes by when driving through the Sierra along Interstate 80. But the history runs deeper than simply spots on the map.To further understand the namesake of these locations, you have to look back to the 1840s, when a caravan of several families on wagons, spurred by the notion of Manifest Destiny -- the belief that America was destined to stretch "from sea to shining sea" -- began their journey from the Midwest to California. This venture, however, would lead the group to meet with a terrible fate.AdvertisementIllinois farmers George and Jacob Donner, along with cabinetmaker James Reed, set off in April 1846 in nine ox-drawn wagons. Traversing through the Midwest, George's wife Tamsen described the travels at this point as "a pleasant journey."The caravan then came to a fork in the road in Wyoming. Following guidance from Ohio attorney Lansford W. Hastings, George Donner chose an alleged shortcut that would save them anywhere from one to two months of travel, cutting through Utah before reaching Nevada.At the fork, the Donners, Breen, Murphy, Eddy, Graves and Keseberg families chose this shortcut, splitting off from a group that decided to take the traditional route, which would take that group farther north, traveling through Idaho before reaching the trail that joins back at Nevada.The issue with the Hastings Cutoff is that Hastings himself had never been on -- or even seen -- the trail. Hastings wrote his guidebook, touting the trail as a shortcut in 1845. When he took the route in 1846 after returning from a trip in California, he left messages advising travelers to avoid this route. Hastings had also miscalculated the distance it took to travel across the Great Salt Lake Desert in Utah by 40 miles. The group of about 90 who split at the fork made a costly mistake taking this route.The Donner-led group fell behind three weeks after a risky cross down a canyon in Utah's Wasatch Mountains, which led to an 80-mile hike through the Great Salt Lake Desert. Here, the party was forced to abandon many of their supplies, as well as their livestock.Reed, one of the people who set off with the Donners, was exiled from traveling with the caravan after stabbing a man with a knife during an argument. His family was permitted to remain with the group.The Donner Party made its way to Reno, Nevada, neé, Truckee Meadows in October 1846. Charles Stanton, who went ahead of the group seeking aid in the form of supplies from John Sutter in Sacramento, warned George Donner the road ahead would be extremely difficult. The exhausted group chose to rest for six days, which the group would soon come to regret. Beset by frigid conditions and encounters with the native Washoe, families comprising the Donner Party would start to splinter off from the group.The actual Donner family itself never made it to Truckee Lake (now known as Donner Lake), instead setting up camp for winter a few miles away along Alder Creek. When crossing the pass that would later be named after the Donners proved unsuccessful, the other families took to hunting. That also didn't end well.Tensions rose further between families when it came to sharing the little provisions they had left.Fifteen members of the party, including Stanton, made a desperate scramble on Dec. 15 for Sutter's Fort. A mismatched combination of a three-day snowstorm and poor equipment led to half the group dying, including Stanton.Two men and five women found their way to a ranch 40 miles north of Sutter's Fort around mid-to-late January. The group had survived on a deer they successfully hunted, as well as the bodies of their dead.James Reed, who was kicked from the group, made it to Alder Creek with a rescue party. There, he spotted George Donner, dying from infection. Reed also noted signs of cannibalism.Reed took a group of survivors with him, but Tamsen Donner opted to stay and perish with her husband. A separate rescue party headed to Truckee Lake to pick up those survivors. Lewis Keseberg, the remaining survivor, was rescued in April, one year after the group initially set out from the Midwest.Roughly 40 people survived the journey to California after a decision George Donner made thinking he was taking a shortcut to the West Coast.Loading more articles...

AdvertisementA winter of falling out and cannibalism during ill-fated journey to the West CoastWhat really happened to the Donner Party in CaliforniaA winter of falling out and cannibalism during ill-fated journey to the West CoastAdvertisementWhat really happened to the Donner Party in CaliforniaA winter of falling out and cannibalism during ill-fated journey to the West CoastDonner Pass, Donner Lake and the Donner Memorial State Park: all locations the average person passes by when driving through the Sierra along Interstate 80. But the history runs deeper than simply spots on the map.To...

What really happened to the Donner Party in California

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