Donner Party

The Donner Party Memorial at Donner Memorial State Park.

The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, some of the emigrants resorted to cannibalism. Although this aspect of the tragedy has become synonymous with the Donner Party in the popular imagination, it actually was a minor part of the episode.

History

Further information: Donner Party timeline

The nucleus of the party consisted of the families of George Donner, his brother Jacob Donner, and James F. Reed of Springfield, Illinois, plus their hired hands, about 33 people in all. They set out for California in mid-April 1846, arrived at Independence, Missouri, on May 10, 1846, and left two days later.

On May 19 the Donners and Reeds joined a large wagon train captained by William H. Russell. Most of those who became members of the Donner Party were also in this group. For the next two months the travelers followed the California Trail until they reached the Little Sandy River, in what is now Wyoming, where they camped alongside several other overland parties. There, those emigrants who had decided to take a new route ("Hastings Cutoff", named after its promoter, Lansford Hastings), formed a new wagon train. They elected George Donner their captain, creating the Donner Party, on July 19. At its height it numbered 87 people.

The Donner Party continued westward to Fort Bridger, where Hastings Cutoff began, and set out on the new route on August 31. They endured great hardships while crossing the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert, finally rejoining the California Trail near modern Elko, Nevada, on September 26. The "shortcut" had taken them three weeks longer than the customary route. They met further setbacks and delays while traveling along Nevada's Humboldt River.

When they reached the Sierra Nevada at the end of October, a snowstorm blocked their way over what is now known as Donner Pass. Demoralized and low on supplies, about two thirds of the emigrants camped at a lake (now called Donner Lake), while the Donner families and a few others camped about six miles (ten kilometers) away, at Alder Creek.

The emigrants slaughtered their remaining oxen, but there was not enough meat to feed so many for long. In mid-December, fifteen of the trapped emigrants, later known as the Forlorn Hope, set out on crudely fashioned snowshoes for Sutter's Fort, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, to seek help. This group consisted of 10 men and five women. When one man gave out and had to be left behind, the others continued, but soon became lost and ran out of food. Caught without shelter in a raging blizzard, four of the party died. The survivors resorted to cannibalism, then continued on their journey; three more died and were also cannibalized. Close to death, the seven surviving snowshoers—two men and all five of the women—finally reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 18, 1847.

Donner Pass in the 1870s.

Californians rallied to save the Donner Party and equipped a total of four rescue parties, or "reliefs." When the First Relief arrived, 14 emigrants had died at the camps and the rest were extremely weak. Most had been surviving on boiled ox hide, but there had been no cannibalism. The First Relief set out with 21 refugees on February 22.

When the Second Relief arrived a week later, they found that some of the 31 emigrants left behind at the camps had begun to eat the dead. The Second Relief took 17 emigrants with them, the Third Relief four. By the time the Fourth Relief had reached the camp, only one man was alive. The last member of the Donner Party arrived at Sutter's Fort on April 29.

Of the original 87 pioneers, 39 died and 48 survived.

In popular culture

• Ric Burns' documentary The Donner Party aired on PBS in the fall of 1992.
• George, R. Stewart's Ordeal by Hunger, 1936
• Richard Rhodes' The Ungodly: A Novel of the Donner Party is a fictional account of the Donner Party's ordeal.
• The song "Donner Party (All Night)" on Alkaline Trio's Good Mourning album is told from the viewpoint of one of the party's members.
• Rasputina's Thanks for the Ether album has a track called "Donner Party," a monologue comparing the Donner Party to the "colonial Pilgrims."
• The thriller/black comedy movie Ravenous incorporates numerous elements of the Donner Party story.
• Patty Reed's Doll: The Story of the Donner Party, by Rachel K. Laurgaard, tells the story from the point of view of a child survivor's doll.

External links

• New Light on the Donner Party, by Donner Party historian Kristin Johnson, features biographical information, a chronology, primary documents, and more.
• The Donner Party, a website by Dan Rosen, features a comprehensive chronology of the disaster and much additional material.
• The diary kept during the period November 20, 1846 – March 1, 1847, by Patrick Breen, one of the travelers, is available in hypertext as well as color scans of the pages, at the Online Archive of California website.
• Statement of Daniel Rhoads, statement given by Daniel Rhoads, member of the first rescue party.
• Living Through the Donner Party by Jared Diamond
• Archaeologist Julie Schablitsky describes what she and colleagues discovered at the Donner family campsite.

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