The Donner Party, sometimes referred to as the Donner-Reed party started their journey west from Springfield, Illinois on April 16th, 1846. The Donner Party consisted of 32 members including a group of teamsters, employees, and Reed’s two servants. The trip to California ranged to take four to six months to make it there. They were convinced to go there mainly because of economic difficulties and the dreams of Manifest Destiny. The head of the families, James Reed and George and Jacob Donner were drawn in by the idea of being promised free land, and a better climate.
The Donner Party traveled to Independence, Missouri, which took three weeks to be there. They arrived on May 10th, 1846. After arriving in Independence, they would buy provisions to prepare for their 2,500-mile-long trek to California. The main objective they wanted to achieve was to join a wagon train consisting of 35 people. The Donner-Reed party and the rest of the wagon train left on the morning of May 12th, 1846. Before arriving at Fort Laramie, they would be delayed by the high waters of the Big Blue River (Present day Marysville, Kansas). Unfortunately, while waiting for the water to subside, the wagon train would experience the death of Sarah Keyes. She was buried next to the river. After the river subsided they continued their journey to Fort Laramie (now Southeastern Wyoming). They traveled roughly 650 miles in six weeks and arrived about one week behind schedule. After arriving James Reed had a conversation with one of his old friends named James Clyman who recently crossed a new path named “Hastings Route” and warned him not to take the shortcut and stay on the original path. He ignored the warning in an attempt to make the journey quicker. Hasting’s Cutoff is the place where The Donner Party would make a fatal decision. Hasting’s Route was a newly constructed path by “Lansford Hasting’s”. Lansford Hastings is a man who previously made the trek to California, but instead of taking the original route, he made his own, hence the name. The pioneers were met by a man carrying a message from Lansford at the Continental Divide on July 11th. The message said he would meet the pioneers at Fort Bridger and lead them on his shortcut. This letter successfully reduced all the fear that the party had regarding the Hastings Cutoff. On July 19th the wagon train arrived at the Little Sandy River. where the trail split into two routes - the northerly known route, and the recently created Hastings Cutoff. The group decided to vote on who should be the new expedition captain, and it was decided that George Donner would lead the wagon train. The Wagon train split into two groups, with most of the wagon train taking the safer route. On July 28th they arrived at Fort Bridger. Fort Bridger was a vital resupply point in which the Pioneers would rest there for about 2 days. When they arrived they saw no sign of Hastings although they noticed a note that Hastings left stating that he left with another group and that they should catch up with him. A man named Jim Bridger and his partner Louis Vasquez convinced the Donner Party that the Hastings Cutoff was a good trail and should rest for a few days. Reassured, the Party would rest for a few days making any repairments and restocking they needed to do, thinking that it would be a seven-week Journey. On July 31st the train left Fort Bridger, joined by the McCutchen family which would accumulate to about 74 people, and for the first week, they made good progress each day traveling about 10-12 miles per day. On August 6th after making steady progress they found a note left at the bottom of the mountains from Hastings that revealed that they shouldn’t follow him down Weber Canyon because it was virtually impossible to pass through and recommended that they should take another trail through Great salt lake. The train comes to a halt and stays near what is now present-day Henefer, Utah. After setting up camp James Reed accompanied by two men went off to catch up with Hastings. They found the party on the south shore of the Salt basin and Hastings joined them partway back to show them the new trail and said that it would take them a week to travel. Meanwhile, the Graves party caught up which would now number 87 people in 23 wagons. The group would take a vote resulting in them taking the new trail instead of turning back and heading back toward Fort Bridger. On August 11th the wagon train began its journey through the mountains clearing trees and any other obstacles when going through the new path. At the start of the trip, they would only be able to travel at least two miles or less a day. It would take six days to travel just eight miles which is a significantly lesser amount than traveling on the original path traveling 10-12 miles a day. Along the way, they found out they would have to abandon some of their wagons. Sooner or later the morale would decrease and the pioneers would start to blame Langsford Hastings. By the time they reached the shore of the Great Salt Lake, they would end up blaming James Reed as well. About 14 days later another member named “Luke Halloran” died of consumption (another name for tuberculosis). Fast foward a couple of weeks they would be making their way across the Salt Lake Desert where they lost 32 oxen. Going through the desert resulted in losing a majority of their food supply. On September 26th, 1846 they finally reached the Humboldt river where they found the path that met up with the original cutoff they were supposed to take. After traveling an unnecessary 125 miles the resentment of the party increased against Hastings and Reed. The Donner Party soon arrived at the junction with the California trail. They spent the next two weeks traveling along the river and as disillusionment increased inside the party their tempers rose as well. On October 5th two wagons became entangled and John Snyder who was a teamster (, driver, for animals or in present-day a truck driver) for the Graves family began to whip one of the oxen, frustrated James Reed would instruct him to stop but he didn’t listen. Infuriated James Reed would grab his knife and thrust it into Snyder’s stomach killing him. The Donner Party wasted no time in serving justice, and though a member named Lewis Keseberg voted for the man to get hung the party ultimately chose to banish him. The last he was seen at this moment in time was riding into the west with a man named Walter Herron. Two days later it turns out that Keesberg was an old Belgium man whose actual name was Hardcoop and he wasn’t able to keep up with the wagon train and was later seen under a large sagebrush completely exhausted and was left there to die. On October 12th the wagon train was attacked by Piute Indians shooting poison arrows at them killing 21 of their Oxen reducing the number of draft animals(any type of animal capable of carrying heavy loads) significantly. On October 16th they finally made it to the entrance into the Sierra Nevada and three days later, fortunately, Charles Stanton who was sent out to retrieve supplies from Fort Sutter came back with 7 mules equipped with sacks of Beef and Flour. On October 28th the recently banished James Reed finally made it to Sutter's Fort which was located in present-day Sacramento, California. There he met William McCutchen and prepared to go back with supplies to help their families. During this time George Donner's axle broke off his wagon and fell behind the rest of the party. 22 people consisting of the Donner Family and his hired servants stayed until the repairment was done. In the process of cutting timber for a new axle George Donner cut his hand and was severely injured setting them even further behind the rest of the party. While the party was setback a couple of miles the rest of the party arrived at what is now known as Donner lake. During this time snow was beginning to fall and Charles and two Indians made it to the summit, but that was as far as they were able to go. With no hope left to spare they retraced their steps only to find out that it would be covered by snow up to five feet. The Donner family was about six miles behind at Alder Creek and snow kept on falling which resulted in the party building three shelters made of tents, quilts, buffalo robes, and brush to shield them from the cold. On November 29th the party at Donner lake was starting to run out of food so they killed the last of their Oxen for food. December 15th, 1846 another member passed away due to malnutrition and determined to make the 100-mile journey to Sutter fort they set off. Although they would face many challenges including the fact that they didn’t have many rations and the fact that they were already weakened by the hunger they were facing. After most of the men passed away, the remaining two in desperation resorted to cannibalism. After many months of struggling on February 5th, 1847 the first relief party left, and two days later James Reed left as well. The first party arrived on February 19th, and at first sight, it looks like the camp was deserted, but a ghostly white figure of an old woman steps out. The party would soon discover that 12 emigrants have died and the 48 remaining many of them have gone crazy or were on the brink of death. The party was able to bring only 23 pioneers, but unfortunately, two children died on the way back to Sutter's fort. On the way back the second party met the first party and after a long five months, the Reed family was finally reunited. On March 1st the second party arrived a the lake only to discover sickening evidence of cannibalism, and the next day they arrived at Alders Creek where the Donners were staying to also see that they resorted to cannibalism.
The Donner Party Tragedy quickly spread across the country through newspapers and diaries. The news accused the party of bad conduct, cannibalism, and murder, but the survivors had different viewpoints, were biased, and had recollections so it was never really clear what happened. Many people blamed Langsford Hastings for wanting power, and some people blamed James Reed for not listening to Clymans warning about the route. The route was abandoned and emigration to California stopped, but in January 1848 gold was discovered and John Sutter’s mill and gold-thirsty pioneers quickly rushed out west again and 1849 almost 100,000 people have come to California. In honor, Donner Lake was named after the party and now it’s a popular mountain resort near Truckee, California and the camp is now a national historic landmark.
