Donner Party

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Donner Party

Background information about the Oregon Trail – Valerie

What their mission was – Priya

What actually happened –

Mariam

Lifestyle of the Donner Party – Catherine

July 31st

– Party left Fort Bridger. The group had 74 people in twenty wagons and for the first week,

made good progress at 10-12 miles per day.

August 6th – Party reached the Weber River and found a note from Hastings advising them not to

follow him down Weber Canyon because it was impassible, but take another trail through the Salt

Basin. The group decided to try the new trail.

August 11th

– Wagons had to be abandoned and morale began to sink. Pioneers began to blameLansford Hastings and by the time they reached the shore, they also blamed James Reed.

August 25th

– Caravan lost a member, Luke Halloran. Fear began to set in as provisions ran low.

August 30th – Group began to cross the Great Salt Lake Desert. According to Hastings, it would take

two days. The desert sand was moist and deep and wagons got bogged down. On the third day, their

water supply was nearly exhausted and some of Reed’s oxen ran away. Reed abandoned two of his

wagons and the Donners lost one wagon.

September 10th – 25th – Party followed the trail into Nevada and arrived at Humboldt River on

September 26th

. They finally saw the trail meeting up with Hasting’s original path. They traveled anextra 125 miles through mountain terrain and dry desert. The disillusioned party’s resentment of

Hastings and Reed was increased.

October 5th – At Iron Point, two wagons became entangled. John Snyder, a teamster of one of the

wagons, began to whip his oxen. James Reed killed Snyder when he wouldn’t stop whipping his oxen.

The party voted to banish Reed for his deeds.

October 12th

– The Party’s oxen were attacked by Piute Indians, killing 21 of them with poison tipped

arrows.

October 28th

– George Donner’s wagon axle broke and he cut his hand with a chisel, causing the groupto fall behind.

As the rest of the party continued to move forward to what is now known as Donner’s Lake, snow

began to fall. They made it to the summit, but could go no further. The party retraced their steps

where five feet of new snow had fallen.



Over the next four months, the remaining men, women, and children stayed together in cabins, make

shift lean-tos, and tents.

On Thanksgiving, it started to snow again, and the pioneers at Donner Lake killed their last oxen for

food on November 29th.

The next day, five more feet of snow fell, and the party’s last few cattle were slaughtered for food and

they began to eat boiled hides, twigs, bones, and bark. Some men tried to hunt with little success.

December 15th – Balis Williams died of malnutrition and the group realized that something had to be

done before they all died.

The remaining members of the party decided to travel the 100 miles to Sutter’s Fort, but on the sixth

day of their travel, their food ran out and nobody ate for the next three days while they traveled

through high winds and freezing weather.

More members died and in desperation, the others resorted to cannibalism. The survivors were

reduced to seven by the time they reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 19,

1847. Only two of ten men survived and all five women survived. Of the eight who died, seven had

been cannibalized. Messages were sent to neighboring settlements as area residents rallied to save

the rest of the Donner Party.

March 1st – The second relief party arrived at the lake to find evidence of cannibalism. The next day,

they arrived at Alder Creek to find that the Donners had also resorted to cannibalism. Isaac Donner

died and was cannibalized.

April 17th – The relief party reached the camps and found only Louis Keseberg alive among the

mutilated remains of his former companions. Louis Keseberg was the last member of the DonnerParty to arrive at Sutter’s Fort on April 29

th. It took two months and four relief parties to rescue the

entire surviving Donner Party.

Two-thirds of the men in the party perished, while two-thirds of the women and children lived. Forty-

one individuals died, and forty-six survived.

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Donner Party