When nearly ninety emigrants, famously known as the Donner Party, embarked on their journey from Illinois towards California in the spring of 1846, their hearts were filled with the promise of fertile lands, a welcoming climate, and the allure of a fresh start. Little did they know, their westward dream would soon transform into a nightmare of unimaginable suffering, death, and desperation. Within a year, almost half of the group would perish, and the survivors would be forced to confront the most extreme measures to stay alive, including resorting to cannibalism.
Their ill-fated journey was plagued by delays from the outset. A late departure and a disastrous decision to take a purported “shortcut” would compound their troubles, setting them on a path toward tragedy. This shortcut, in particular, would cost them precious time, ultimately leading to their entrapment in the unforgiving Sierra Nevada mountains during an early and brutal winter. Starvation and disease decimated their numbers, and those who remained, along with those who bravely sought help, faced agonizing choices in their desperate fight for survival. The Donner Party’s ordeal remains etched in history as one of the most appalling tragedies of the American westward expansion, a stark reminder of the perils and unforeseen horrors faced by pioneers.
Alt text: Donner Party Trail Map: Illustrating the route taken by the Donner Party, highlighting the Hastings Cutoff and their tragic path through the Sierra Nevada mountains.
1. Fatal Timing: The Donner Party’s Dangerously Late Start
The California Trail, the primary artery for westward migration, demanded strict adherence to a seasonal schedule. Pioneers needed to commence their journey late enough in spring to ensure ample grazing for their livestock, yet early enough to traverse the formidable mountain passes before the onset of winter. Mid to late April was generally considered the ideal departure window. However, the core group of what would become the Donner Party inexplicably did not leave Independence, Missouri, their designated jumping-off point, until May 12th. This placed them as the last major wagon train of 1846, a dangerously late start that allowed virtually no room for error. One astute emigrant, Patrick Breen, prophetically noted in his diary, “I am beginning to feel alarmed at the tardiness of our movements, and fearful that winter will find us in the snowy mountains of California.” His fears would tragically materialize.
2. The Allure and Deception of Hastings Cutoff
Upon reaching Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the established California Trail veered north through Idaho before turning southward across Nevada. However, in 1846, Lansford Hastings, an unscrupulous guidebook author, aggressively promoted a supposedly faster and more direct route known as “Hastings Cutoff.” This route was advertised to slice through the rugged Wasatch Mountains and across the vast Salt Lake Desert. The fatal flaw? No wagon train, including Hastings himself, had ever successfully navigated this untried path. Despite the evident risks and the strong warnings from experienced mountain man James Clyman, a fateful decision was made. The leaders of the Donner Party, James Reed and George Donner, swayed by the prospect of saving time, convinced approximately 20 wagons to diverge from the well-trodden path and gamble on Hastings’ untested shortcut. This decision proved catastrophic.
The Hastings Cutoff was far from the promised shortcut. The emigrants were forced to become trail-blazers, laboriously clearing dense forests and forging roads where none existed. The harsh terrain of the Wasatch Mountains slowed their progress to a crawl. Then came the brutal crossing of the Salt Lake Desert, a parched and desolate expanse. Instead of saving time, Hastings’ “shortcut” added nearly a month to the Donner Party’s arduous journey, depleting precious resources and pushing them further behind schedule as winter approached.
3. A Race Against Winter Lost by Days
Despite the calamitous detour of Hastings Cutoff, the majority of the Donner Party managed to reach the foothills of the Sierra Nevada by early November 1846. They were tantalizingly close to their destination, with only about a hundred miles remaining. However, nature intervened with cruel timing. Just as the pioneers were poised to ascend the mountains, an unseasonably early and ferocious blizzard descended upon the Sierra Nevada, blanketing the high passes in several feet of snow. Mountain passes that had been passable just days before were now impassable walls of ice and snow. The Donner Party was forced to retreat to the shores of Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake), where they hoped to wait out the winter in hastily constructed tents and crude cabins. Tragically, much of their vital supplies and livestock had already been lost or depleted during the grueling journey and the ill-fated shortcut. Starvation began to set in swiftly.
Alt text: Donner Party Campsite: A depiction of the Donner Party’s winter encampment at Truckee Lake, illustrating the harsh conditions and makeshift shelters.
4. A Caravan of Children: The Demographics of Disaster
Like many wagon trains venturing west, the Donner Party was composed largely of families, their wagons filled with young children and teenagers. Of the 81 individuals trapped at Truckee Lake, over half were under the age of 18, and six were infants, highlighting the vulnerability of the group. Tragically, children also constituted a significant portion of the survivors, testament to their resilience despite the horrific circumstances. Isabella Breen, for instance, was just one year old during the ordeal and lived until 1935, becoming a symbol of the Donner Party’s enduring legacy and the long lives some survivors managed to lead after such a traumatic beginning.
5. The Forlorn Hope: A Desperate Trek for Survival
As desperation mounted, fifteen of the Donner Party’s strongest members, in a bid for survival, embarked on a perilous journey on December 16, 1846. They fashioned crude snowshoes and attempted to hike out of the mountains to seek help for the stranded group. Their ordeal, later known as “The Forlorn Hope,” lived up to its name. After days of agonizing travel through the frozen wilderness, they were reduced to starvation and teetered on the brink of collapse. Facing imminent death, the hikers made the horrifying decision to resort to cannibalism. Initially, they considered drawing lots for a sacrificial victim or even staging a duel to decide who would be consumed to save the others. However, before such drastic measures were taken, some members succumbed to starvation and exposure. The survivors, in a grim act of necessity, roasted and consumed the bodies of their deceased companions. This gruesome sustenance provided them with the energy needed to continue. After a harrowing month of walking, seven of the original fifteen reached a ranch in California, their arrival heralding the beginning of rescue efforts.
6. Murder and Desperation: The Darkest Deed
Within the “Forlorn Hope” expedition were two Native American guides named Salvador and Luis, who had joined the Donner emigrants shortly before the winter entrapment. These men refused to partake in cannibalism and, fearing they would be killed for food once supplies ran out, attempted to leave the group. Days later, Salvador and Luis were found weak and collapsed in the snow. In a chilling act of desperation, William Foster, a member of the hiking party, fatally shot both men in the head. Their bodies were then butchered and consumed by the remaining hikers. This act stands as the only documented instance of murder committed for cannibalism within the Donner Party saga, a stark illustration of the extreme desperation and moral decay that the ordeal engendered.
7. The Unthinkable Sustenance: Not All Engaged in Cannibalism
As their meager supplies dwindled to nothing, those stranded at Truckee Lake were forced to consume increasingly repulsive substances. They slaughtered their remaining pack animals, even their loyal dogs, gnawed on discarded bones, and desperately boiled the animal hide roofs of their cabins into a revolting, gelatinous paste. Many succumbed to malnutrition and starvation, but a number managed to prolong their lives by subsisting on scraps of boiled leather and tree bark until rescue parties finally arrived in February and March 1847. However, not all were strong enough to be rescued immediately, and those left behind at the camp resorted to cannibalizing the frozen corpses of those who had perished. In total, it is estimated that roughly half of the Donner Party survivors ultimately engaged in cannibalism, a testament to the unimaginable horrors they faced.
8. Protracted Rescue: Months of Agony and Relief
The Donner Party’s ordeal in the mountains stretched for five agonizing months, and remarkably, nearly half of this time transpired after they had been located by rescuers. The first relief parties reached the desperate settlers in February 1847. However, the deep snowdrifts prevented pack animals from traversing the mountains, limiting the rescuers to carrying only what they could on their backs. By this point, many emigrants were too weakened by starvation and exposure to travel, and tragically, some perished during the attempted evacuations. It took four separate relief teams and over two and a half months to shepherd all the surviving members of the Donner Party back to civilization. The last survivor to be rescued was Lewis Keseberg, a Prussian immigrant, who was found in April 1847, reportedly in a state of near madness, surrounded by the gruesome remains of cannibalized bodies. Keseberg was later subjected to accusations of murdering other emigrants for food, but these charges were never substantiated.
9. Stark Heroism: A Single Rescuer’s Unwavering Resolve
Among the many heroes of the Donner Party rescue, John Stark stands out. A robust California settler, Stark participated in the third relief party. In early March 1847, he and two other rescuers encountered eleven emigrants, primarily children, who had been left behind in the mountains by a previous relief group. While the other two rescuers each took one child and began the arduous trek down the mountain, Stark refused to abandon anyone. He rallied the exhausted adults and gathered the remaining children, embarking on a grueling solo rescue mission. Many of the children were too weak to walk, so Stark tirelessly carried two at a time for short distances, setting them down in the snow, and returning for others. He repeated this back-breaking process all the way down the mountainside, single-handedly leading nine individuals to safety. Years later, one of the survivors attributed her rescue to “nobody but God and Stark and the Virgin Mary,” a powerful testament to his extraordinary courage and determination.
10. Intact Families: Rare Survivors Amidst Devastation
Of the 81 pioneers who began the Donner Party’s horrific winter in the Sierra Nevada, only 45 ultimately emerged alive. The ordeal was particularly devastating for the 15 solo travelers within the party; all but two perished. Families also suffered immense losses. George and Jacob Donner, along with their wives and four of their children, all died. Pioneer William Eddy lost his wife and both of his children. Among the nearly dozen families that constituted the Donner wagon train, only two—the Reeds and the Breens—miraculously arrived in California without a single fatality within their immediate family, a rare beacon of hope amidst the widespread tragedy.
Alt text: Donner Party Gravesite Memorial: A somber image of the Donner Party gravesite memorial at Donner Memorial State Park, commemorating the lives lost during the tragic winter of 1846-47.
