donner party

Dates: Tuesday OR Thursday, February 14th/16th, 9:30am

Location: Online - right here!

This week, our class is asynchronous, which means you get to view the lesson at your leisure! This week we journey back in time to explore California history and the Donner Party’s infamous trip over the Sierra Nevadas on their way to California. 

The Donner party is perhaps the most infamous group of travelers to head west to California because it was the worst disaster in the history of U.S. overland migration. 47 survivors finally made it through what is now called Donner Pass, leaving behind 42 perished members of their party. This week we will explore how the Donner Party made their journey and just went wrong, leading to so many deaths and even instances of cannibalism as the travelers fought for survival in the cold and snowy mountains of the Sierra Nevada. 

Before we get to the virtual tour, here are some helpful maps and documentation. While our guide will show very similar materials and reference them, it’s helpful to have them available while she talks, if you want to orient yourself on the journey. 

Stephens-Murphy Townsend Journey

The first group to successfully cross the Sierra Nevadas with wagons (previous crossings were on horseback/walking) was actually the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend party in 1844, two years prior to the ill-fated Donner trip. If not for the later catastrophes, unfortunate choices, and bad luck of the Donners, it would actually be this first party that we would talk about extensively. The traveling party was led by 80 year old Caleb Greenwood and actually ended its journey with more people than it started out with! The first white child in California was actually part of the party - Elizabeth Yuba Murphy was born at Big Bend while the women of the party waited for the men to come back with help so they could finish the treacherous journey. The group utilized experienced mountain men to help guide them through the terrain that was often impassable for wagons. They took wagons apart and used oxen to haul them, piece by piece, up the rocky ledges to reassemble them and tackle the next part of the ascent. 

Our tour guide will talk about this expedition, especially what went ‘right’ with this trip as opposed to the Donner party. You can read more about this trip here: http://www.donnersummithistoricalsociety.org/PDFs/newsletters/news13/November13.pdf

The Donner party started out from Springfield Illinois in the spring of 1846 with 32 members, including 2 servants and 7 teamsters who drove the wagons. Over the course of the journey, their group would swell in size, gathering more travelers along the way. The goal of the Donner Party, like thousands of others who made the journey west, was to seek out better opportunities in the rich and fertile lands of California. They were seeking Sutter’s Fort, a well-stocked location over the Sierra Nevadas that served as a springboard to the rest of the area for many of those who sought their fortunes on the sunshine-filled West Coast. 

The map below shows the possible routes that migrants traveled. The Oregon Trail is the most famed (thanks to the early computer name that shares its name), but the trails to California saw more than 200,000 people travel West during the 1840s and 1850s, despite the dangers they faced.

You eagle-eyed readers will spot on the map above that while the California trail is marked in red, the route of the Donner Party, specifically, has its own color because it doesn’t quite follow the path that the vast majority of travelers took. There are a number of reasons for that difference, which we will explore during our tour. 

In fact, our tour today will actually discuss the journey of another group, named the Stephens-Murphy-Townsend Party. That group of travelers actually crossed the Sierra Nevadas two years before the Donner Party made their trip, just before the severe winter of 1844-1845. The Stephens - Murphy - Townsend Party made it safely over the passes for a number of reasons, including experience and a bit of luck. Their success 

Look at the map below to note the different points of interest along the journey of the party:

The points:

1. Springfield, Illinois - April 16, 1846

The starting point for the Donner Party including the Reed family and the Donner family.

2. Independence, Missouri - May 10 - May 12, 1846

In May 1846, the nine covered wagons made the slow journey from Springfield, Illinois to Independence, Missouri.  The Donner Party would purchase provisions here for their long, arduous journey to California.

3. Fort Laramie, Wyoming - July 3 - July 5, 1846

During a conversation at Fort Laramie with mountain man James Clyman, James Reed is urged "to go the old route."  Reed disregards Clyman's advice and makes the fateful decision to take Hastings Cutoff. 

4. Little Sandy River, Wyoming - July 18, 1846

The parting of ways.  As the bulk of the Springfield, Illinois entourage turned right toward the familiar route, twenty wagons, including the ones belonging to the Donners and the Reeds, turned left toward Fort Bridger and the entrance to Hastings Cutoff. 

5. Fort Bridger, Wyoming - July 24 - July 31, 1846

Expecting to be greeted by Lansford Hastings who would lead them through Hastings Cutoff (pictured below), the Donner Party arrives at Fort Bridger only to find instructions left by Hastings who had left a week earlier with another team of emigrants heading for California.

6. Echo Canyon, Utah - August 4 - August 5, 1846

After a week of steady progress on the new trail outlined by Hastings, the Donner Party found a note at the bottom of Echo Canyon from Hastings.  According to the note, the road up from the canyon was impassable and he advised them to wait until he could find a better route.  When James Reed found Hastings, he refused to join the party and told Reed to lead the party through the canyon and up Big Mountain. 

7. Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah - August 30 - September 3, 1846

The 87 members of the Donner party began their treacherous trek across the Great Salt Lake Desert.  There they encountered conditions they'd never imagined: by day, searing heat that turned the sand into bubbling stew that swallowed their wagons, and at night, frigid winds that blew sand, suffocating their oxen.  Five days and eighty miles later, they stumbled out of the Salt Desert filled with anguish and dismay.

8. Humboldt River, Nevada - October 2 - October 15, 1846

The murder of John Snyder, a driver for the Graves family, occurs at the hands of James Reed.  While the majority of the party deems the murder punishable by hanging, Reed's wife, Margaret, begs for his life.  Reed is instead banished from the party.

9. Sutter's Fort, California

By September, all of the emigrants of 1846 had safely arrived at Sutter's Fort in California.  All except the Donner party, that is.  In late October, the newly arrived emigrants were shocked to see James Reed emerge from the wilderness to tell the unfortunate tale of his fellow travelers.  John Sutter gave Reed horses and supplies to bring back to his starving family and others.  Relentlessly bad weather forced Reed to abandon his hopes of making a rescue for four long months. 

First, check out our virtual tour from the Donner Memorial State Park. Hannah, a Park Interpretive Specialist, will discuss the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party, who successfully crossed the Sierra Nevada before the Donners, as well as the Donner Party trip. 

Next, let’s do a ‘deep dive’ on the Hasting’s Cutoff. As we learned in the video, the man who created the supposed shortcut simply just made it up! He was working to entice more business his way and help people get to his location in California. Unfortunately, while it looked good on a map, it was a disastrous route, especially for the Donner party. 

Lastly, the story did not end in Donner Pass. Some of the party were eventually rescued by a team of searchers. 

Enjoy and be sure to share your thoughts about the tour here: 

https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/american_latino_heritage/california_national_historic_trail.html

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/trails-west-1800s

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/donner-map/

http://www.donnersummithistoricalsociety.org/PDFs/newsletters/news13/November13.pdf

https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-donner-party