The Donner Party

Daniel M. Rosen

In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Donner Party, I created a daily diary of the Donner Party's journey. The daily information includes diary entries and quotes from original sources and histories. Now that the anniversary is over, I will keep the diary on the web for your research, education and enjoyment.

The Donner Party was the most famous tragedy in the history of the westward migration. Almost ninety wagon train emigrants were unable to cross the Sierra Nevada before winter, and almost one-half starved to death. Perhaps because they were ordinary people -- farmers, merchants, parents, children -- their story captures the imagination. The logs on this site contain the words of the participants from their diaries, letters and first-hand accounts, balanced by the perspective of later historians. The logs describe the locations of their trail and camps in detail so you can follow in the Donner Party's wagon tracks and footsteps.

One-hundred and sixty-two years ago this month, the emigration of 1846 began from Independence, Missouri. The old Trail is shown in a photograph of the time. Reports of cheap productive farmland and good weather led people to leave the US for the foreign territories on the Pacific. Approximately 2,700 people set out on the Trail in 1846, about 1,500 for Mexican California, the rest for British Oregon. The journey was 2,000 miles long, by oxen or horses at 15 miles a day, which meant a voyage of about five months. The emigrants would follow one of the two recently established wagon "roads:" From the Missouri to the Platte River over South Pass to the Snake River, the Oregon emigrants would follow the Snake River to the Columbia River. The California emigrants would turn off the Snake River and cross to Mary's or Ogden's River (now called the Humboldt), and follow it to a steep pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But a few California emigrants would look for a "cut-off" that would save miles by taking a more direct route.

Looking for a "nigher way" were James and Margaret Reed, Margaret's mother, their four children, five employees and one friend, from Springfield, Illinois. Also from Springfield were two brothers and their families, George and Tamsen Donner and Jacob and Elizabeth Donner, and between them, thirteen children and three teamsters. From Keokuk, Iowa came Patrick and Margaret "Peggy" Breen, their seven children and a friend. William and Eleanor Eddy and their two children were from Belleville, Illinois. Lewis and Philippe Keseberg set out with one child and expecting another. These and many other emigrants joined the large party of Col. Russell as they set out from Independence. Setting out after the Russell Party were other emigrants. Lavinia Jackson and her seven children, two sons-in-law and three grandchildren were from Tennessee. Franklin and Elizabeth Graves, their nine children, son-in-law and a teamster, from Sparland Illinois. There were others on the Trail, including loners like Charles Stanton from Chicago; and poor families like William and Amanda McCutchen and their infant daughter from Jackson County, Missouri.

At the same time, a man known to the emigrants only by his reputation was heading east from California. Lansford W. Hastings had written "The Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California," an influential book that praised these new lands. Hastings intended to meet the emigration at the South Pass, and lead them over the "cut-off" around the Great Salt Lake. But for the emigrants heading west, the troubles had already begun. The Big Blue River was flooded, and the Russell Party had to halt. While waiting for the waters to subside, Margaret Reed's mother Sarah Keyes died, and was buried at Alcove Springs, right.

Read the Donner Party Diary:

View maps of the Donner Party's route (the Hastings Cut-off), the camps at Alder Creek and Donner Lake, and the route of the Snowshoe Party.

Read what happened to the members of the Donner Party, those who survived, and those who didn't.

Read about the salvage operations, and the remains of the Alder Creek campsites and the Lake Cabins.

Read reports from other Donner Party buffs who visited historic sites and made new discoveries, or re-discovered a bit of history.

Fortunate Families

This winter we had three examples of ordinary people lost in a storm and facing death, and fortunately surviving.

On January 26, a couple from Salt Lake City, with their dog, were at a spring in Beaver County in eastern Nevada to photograph wild horses. A storm moved in and their pickup truck became stuck in deep snow. They stayed in the truck and rationed the little food they had. They started the truck occasionally for warmth. On February 4, when they were nearly out of food, they set out on foot, wearing jeans and light coats, through waist-deep snow. The husband used seat cushions from the truck as snowshoes to break trail, and the wife followed in tennis shoes. They stayed warm at night by lighting fires with aerosol deodorant and carburetor fluid. After three days of walking, on February 7, they reached a crew clearing a remote road. The couple were treated for dehydration and minor frostbite, and the dog was fine. Rescuers had searched thousands of square miles of snow-covered high desert but found no signs of the couple. One searcher died after apparently over-exerting himself after getting stuck in the snow. You can read stories in the Desert Morning News and the Austin American-Statesman.

On Friday, January 4, six members of two families set out on a snowmobile trip in a remote region of southwestern Colorado. As a storm moved into the area, the snowmobilers ran out of gas near the 10,000 foot Cumbres Pass. They eventually found shelter in a cabin at Osier Station, which is used in the summer by a scenic railway that crosses the pass. The snowmobilers were able to call for help on a cell phone, and reported that they were hungry but alive. Rescuers risked becoming stuck in the deep snow but reached the snowmobilers on Monday January 7. You can read stories in the Las Cruces Sun-News and the Charlotte Observer.

On Sunday, December 16, 2007 (161 years to the day that the Snowshoe Party set out to cross the mountains), a father and his three children parked their pickup truck near the town of Inskip in Northern California, which is at an elevation of 4,800 feet. The family hiked into the woods to cut down a Christmas tree, carrying a saw but no food, camping equipment or other survival gear. As a snowstorm began, the family became lost. The first night they built a shelter by cutting down trees, and woke to eight inches of snow on the ground. They couldn't find their way back to their truck, but they found shelter in a culvert, surviving over a foot of snow followed by cold rain that flooded the culvert. They were rescued Wednesday morning when a search helicopter spotted a "HELP" message they wrote in the snow with branches. The helicopter was about to stop searching as a second storm was moving in. The family suffered only hypothermia and minor frostbite. You can read stories in The Chico Enterprise Record and on Yahoo News.

What's New

Poet Shana Youngdahl has written a long poem entitled "Donner: A Passing." This is not a history in poem form, but the author's attempt to convey the emotional difficulty of the journey and tragedy. Each of the 25 poems describes a particular event, from leaving Springfield to the rescue of Keseburg. The poems are short and terse, similar to haiku, but they cause the reader to pause and consider the event. Ms. Youngdahl is originally from Paradise, CA and draws on the history and landscape of the west in her poetry. Her poetry has been anthologized is the book White Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood (Demeter Press, 2007), and appeared in many national literary magazines including Shenandoah, Margie and Paper Street. She has received writing residencies from Norcroft and Devil's Tower national monument. She holds a BA in English from Mills College and an MFA in Poetry from the University of Minnesota. The book will be released June 13 and is available for preorder from Finishing Line Press as a chapbook (a short book of 26 pages).

The Metropolitan Playhouse in New York presented Mortal Decisions: a diary of the Donner Party, a one-man show written by and starring Stu Richel. Mr.Richel explores the questions surrounding the Donner Party, such as "why them?" and "how would I have measured up?" Mortal Decisions was premiered by Northside Theater Company in San Jose, California in 1994, and Mr. Richel performed it at the 150th Anniversary gathering in Reno, Nevada. The show ran on February 8, 9, 15 and 16, 2008.
.

Author and photographer Mark McLaughlin received the Northern California Publishers and Authors award for Best Nonfiction Book of 2006, for his new book The Donner Party: Weathering the Storm. a history of the Donner Party enhanced with research into the weather conditions. The Donner history is well written and includes numerous quotations from primary sources, especially concerning the weather. Among other topics, Mark addresses the evidence that the winter of 1846-47 was unusually wet, and the evidence that the snow depth at Donner Lake was 22 feet. He supplements the history with recent archaeology including the excavations at Alder Creek. The book is available from Mark's website. The website also includes climate data, snowfall and snowpack measurements from 1879, a collection of weather stories and other interesting information.

"The Donner Party," Ric Burns' 1992 documentary for the PBS series The American Experience, is now available on DVD, and for only $19.98, from Shop PBS. This is an excellent documentary that tells the story of the Donner Party using traditional sources and the then-new research of Prof. Joseph A. King. With readings from primary sources, and footage of scenes from the Trail and the cabins, this is an easy way to learn a lot about the Donner Party in 90 minutes of enjoyable viewing For other Ric Burns films, including The Way West, about the conflict between the Native Americans and the European, visit Steeplechase Films.

Thanks to the efforts of the Historic Donner Trail Committee a portion of the California Trail from Donner Lake to the Summit won't be abandoned as a public road. This section of the Trail saw less use after the discovery of Roller Pass in 1846, but it became the main route with the construction of the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road in 1852, and later the Lincoln Highway. It decayed after the construction of US Highway 40 and became a "Jeep" trail until a landowner blocked it. A group of citizens has been fighting to preserve the old trail, and has stopped an attempt by Nevada County to abandon the road. The fight isn't over so visit the Historic Donner Trail Committee website to see how you can help.

Frankye Craig, Donner Party buff and author of the soon to be released book, "The Fateful Journey of Tamsen Donner" hosted a very successful Donner Party cross-country bus tour and symposium in October, 2006. The guided bus tour went from Independence, Missouri to Donner Lake The guides were Trail historian Ross Marshall and Donner Party historian Frank Mullen author of the Donner Party Chronicles. The commemoration and symposium was held at Boomtown Hotel near Reno, Nevada, and included a dinner with Frank Mullen Jr. as a story-teller. The commemoration included a bus tour of the trail from Verdi through the encampments and the summit. Thanks to symposium and tour organizer Frankye Craig, E-Mail: FrankyeEBD@aol.com, Phone: +1 (775) 747-1139

The Meadow Brook Theater presented "Devour the Snow", described as "a riveting courtroom drama drawn from the harrowing saga of the ill-fated Donner Party and encompasses the struggles of man vs. nature and man vs. man. One of the earliest recorded slander trials in American history this factual account follows Lewis Keseberg, a German emigrant and survivor of the tragic Donner Party expedition, and his suit for slander against several other survivors, who have accused him of being a grave robber and murderer. Directed by David Regal this production features award winning MBT actor Dennis E. North (Art, Of Mice and Men)." Actually Keseburg did not sue other survivors, he sued Ned Coffeemeyer of the Fourth Relief. The Meadow Brook Theater is on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. The performances ran from March 15 to April 9, 2006.

Cathy Ward and Eric Wright mounted an exhibition entitled "Destiny Manifest - Eden's End" at Cafe Gallery Projects London, The Gallery by the Lake, Southwark Park, London SE 16 2UA from 13th July to 7th August 2005. Destiny Manifest is a body of work inspired by a 7500 mile journey that traced the wagon roads of pioneer America. This journey was precipitated by a long-standing interest in the tragic Donner Party story. The exhibit comprised a 10ft by 40ft panoramic painting, sculptures, video projections and photographs. Visit the exhibition website for more information.

You'd have to be pretty brave to write a Donner Party Cookbook, and Terry Del Bene, Ph.D. is. His book combines a history of the Donner Party with recipes for meals similar to those prepared by wagon train emigrants. Mr. Del Bene is an anthropologist who has participated in archaeological digs and living history demonstrations of life on the Oregon-California Trail. So he knows what it takes to survive for five months on the Trail. He also knows what it takes to sell books, so in the proud tradition of previous Donner Party books he plays on the lurid aspects of the story. He includes sample invitations to a "Donner Party ... Lose Weight and Party All at the Same Time!" But other than the gory cover art and a few shocking statements such as "None of the members had any recipes for human flesh before starting their journey," the book is a solid history of the Donner Party and a solid cookbook of trail food. Recipes range from home style favorites such as corn bread and mince meat to camp-out specials such as antelope pudding and elk roast. The recipes use modern ingredients and methods, although Mr. Del Bene details how food was prepared in the 19th Century. Mr. Del Bene puts his own spin on history, such as calling Stanton's return and Reed and McCutcheon's attempted return "Relief Expeditions" when that title is usually associated with the parties that reached the survivors in the Spring, which Del Bene calls "Rescue Parties." But other than a few minor points, this is a well-researched history with endnotes to explain the more subtle points, even though Del Bene says in the preface that he "tried to refrain from the cumbersome system of footnoting." Available from the publisher Horse Creek Publications and from bookstores near you, including Amazon.com.

The Discovery Channel showed an episode about the Donner Party on its Unsolved History series. The Discovery Channel sponsored a dig at the Donner family campsites along Alder Creek, led by Oregon state archaeologist Julie Schabilitsky. The dig uncovered fire-cracked rocks, bone fragments and various artifacts. The bones exhibit evidence of butchering and are being analyzed at the University of Oregon to determine if they are human remains. You can buy the show on DVD or VHS.

Michael Bitterman and T.G. Harper have written a musical Forlorn Hope: A Donner Party Musical, based on the writings of Virginia Reed and focuses on the Reed family. The play follows the Reeds from their hopeful sendoff in Springfield, Illinois, through their troubles on the Trail and entrapment at the Lake, to James Reed's rescue of his family. Michael Bitterman is a veteran Broadway composer.

Disney's "One More Mountain" is no longer available from Disney. This made-for-TV movie tells the story from Margaret Reed's viewpoint, and emphasizes her struggle to keep her family alive. Starring Meredith Baxter. When it was available, Disney charged $99 a copy.

Trails West Inc., is a non-profit corporation formed by volunteers dedicated to preserving trail markers on the California Trail through Nevada. Starting June 23, 2000 Trails West volunteers revised some signs, and relocated others, to reflect new research about the trail from the Humboldt Sink to Truckee. This created a controversy, as reported by Frank Mullen, Jr. in the Reno Gazette-Journal of June 10, 2000. You can also judge for yourself by examining maps and reading diaries describing the Truckee Meadows.

The preservation of the Emigrant Trail is an ongoing battle. The County of Washoe, Nevada considered a request by A&K Earthmovers to build a new gravel pit in the southeast Truckee Meadows area. The proposed plans include leveling a 200-foot knoll covering 68 acres that overlook the Emigrant Trail. According to retired high school teacher and trail historian Fred Horlacher, the gravel pit won't disturb the Trail, but it will be an eyesore. Read the complete story in the Reno Gazette-Journal of October 11, 1999,

Marian Calabra has written The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party, a highly regarded book for readers aged 9 to 12. Ms. Calabra tells the story from Virginia Reed's point of view, supplemented by other sources and historical details. The book has been critically praised for its sensitive handling of the issue of cannibalism, allowing young readers to understand the hard choices faced by the Donner Party. Includes a complete transcript of Virginia Reed's 1847 letter. My then 9 year old daughter read the book to prepare for her trip to Sutter's Fort, where she portrayed Virginia Reed. My daughter enjoyed the book almost as much as I did. Published by Clarion Books. Available at Amazon.com.

The 3rd edition of Winter of Entrapment by Joseph A. King has been published posthumously. The late Prof. King offered a new perspective on the Donner Party, and explored the biases in the previous histories. The older editions are carried at most of the historical sites and visitor centers in "Donner County". The new edition is also available from the publisher: K&K Publication, P.O. Box 564, Lafayatte, CA 94549, phone and fax: 925-228-9205. The price is $13.95 plus $3 shipping plus 8.25% for California residents. Shipping multiple copies are $0.50 extra each. Discounts are available for retailers. Also available at Amazon.com

The Emigrant Trail Museum at Donner Memorial State Park, Donner Pass Road, 2 miles west of Truckee, contains displays about the emigrant trail over the Sierra, including artifacts from the Donner Party. Artifacts include William Foster's rifle, right, Tamsen Donner's china, and wagon parts excavated from the Salt Desert. The bookstore sells many of the histories of the Donner Party. The rangers lead regular Donner Party History hikes at least twice and some-times three times a week which start at 10:00 am in front of the museum. They are free to the public. For information and reservations for trips, call (530) 582-7892.

The Oregon-California Trails Association conducts numerous events to preserve the emigrant trail. Local chapters include Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, California/Nevada, and the Northwest.

Donner Party Descendants

The survivors of the Donner Party settled throughout California, and some became quite famous. As it happens, I used to live in Elk Grove, California, the final resting place of Elitha Cumi Donner Wilder, daughter of George and Mary Blue Donner. John Jameson, a descendant of Elitha Donner, has opened a Web page and is interested in keeping track of other Elitha Donner descendants.

If you are searching for genealogical information about your family, the US Gen Web Project is an excellent source.

Sources

On January 16, 1847, The California Star, Yerba Buena, reported a "most distressing situation" for "a party of emigrants." Ever since then, there has been no shortage of printed material about the Donner Party. The challenge has been to find accurate accounts. Often, the contemporary sources have not been the most reliable, such as the newspaper reports of the Relief parties and the first book published about the Donner Party. There have been almost as many fictional accounts as histories. The best selling "history" is actually told as a "dramatized" story. I have tried to rely on first-person accounts and well-researched histories, as listed in my bibliography of Donner sources.

Links to Other Donner Party Websites

Visit other websites for more information on the Donner Party, and related history websites.

Send a Message

I am very much an amateur historian. You are welcome to assist in this effort. If you have any corrections, information, pictures, maps or other Donner memorabilia to share, let me know. If you want to send me a message about the Donner Party, or any other topic...E-mail me.

visitors since April, 2008

Thank you everyone