The Tragic Story of the Donner Party
“My father, with tears in his eyes, tried to smile as one friend after another grasped his hand in a last farewell. Mama was overcome with grief. At last, we were all in the wagons. The drivers cracked their whips. The oxen moved slowly forward, and the long journey had begun.”
— Virginia Reed, daughter of James Reed
The year was 1846. A hopeful band of pioneers, their eyes fixed on the promise of a new life in California, embarked on a journey that would forever be etched in American history, not as a tale of triumph, but as a chilling saga of survival against unimaginable odds. This is the Tragic Story of the Donner Party.
On April 16th, nine covered wagons, laden with dreams and aspirations, rumbled westward from Springfield, Illinois. Their destination: the alluring landscapes of California, a staggering 2,500 miles away. Unbeknownst to them, their pursuit of a better future would soon transform into a harrowing fight against starvation, the unforgiving elements, and the depths of human desperation. This journey has become the Tragic Story of the Donner Party
At the heart of this ill-fated expedition was James Frasier Reed, an ambitious Illinois businessman fueled by the prospect of wealth and the hope that the California climate would soothe his wife Margaret’s persistent headaches. Reed’s decision to lead his family and others west was heavily influenced by Lansford W. Hastings’s book, The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California. This guide touted a new shortcut across the Great Basin, promising a significant reduction of 350-400 miles and easier terrain. However, Reed was unaware of the deceptive nature of Hastings’s claims, which was crafted to promote Sutter’s Fort. This shortcut had never been tested. Hastings, envisioning a personal empire near Sutter’s Fort (present-day Sacramento), had embellished the route’s ease and practicality. This misinformation would tragically seal the fate of the Tragic Story of the Donner Party.
Soon, Reed’s vision attracted others yearning for opportunity in the vast, untamed West. Families like the Donners, Graves, Breens, Murphys, Eddys, McCutcheons, and Kesebergs, along with a collection of teamsters and single men, joined the burgeoning group. The initial party comprised 32 individuals, men, women, and children, all sharing a common ambition. This group would be know as the Tragic Story of the Donner Party.
The Reed family consisted of James, his wife Margaret, their four children – Virginia, Patty, James, and Thomas – Margaret’s elderly mother, Sarah Keyes, and two hired servants. Despite Sarah Keyes’s frail health, she refused to be parted from her daughter. James Reed was determined to ensure his family’s comfort during the arduous journey, outfitting his wagon with an iron stove, spring-cushioned seats, and sleeping bunks. His 12-year-old daughter, Virginia, playfully christened it "The Pioneer Palace Car."
These pioneers, with their nine brand-new wagons, anticipated a four-month trek across plains, deserts, mountains, and rivers. Their initial destination was Independence, Missouri, a bustling hub for those embarking on the Oregon and California Trails.
Among the families were those of George and Jacob Donner. George, a successful 62-year-old farmer, had relocated multiple times before settling in Springfield, Illinois, alongside his brother Jacob. Driven by a spirit of adventure, the brothers resolved to make one final journey to California, a decision that would prove to be their last.
George was accompanied by his third wife, Tamzene, their three children – Frances, Georgia, and Eliza – and George’s two daughters from a previous marriage, Elitha and Leanna. Jacob Donner and his wife, Elizabeth, brought their five children – George, Mary, Isaac, Samuel, and Lewis – as well as Elizabeth’s two children from a prior marriage, Solomon and William Hook.
Accompanying them were two teamsters, Noah James and Samuel Shoemaker, and a friend named John Denton. Tucked away in Jacob Donner’s saddlebag was a copy of Lansford Hastings’s Emigrant’s Guide, its enticing promises of a faster route to the promised land.
Ironically, as the Illinois party ventured westward, Lansford Hastings was journeying eastward from California, intending to survey the shortcut he had so confidently promoted.
Approximately three weeks later, the wagon train reached Independence, Missouri, where they replenished their supplies. On May 12th, 1846, they resumed their westward course amidst a thunderstorm. A week later, they merged with a larger wagon train led by Colonel William H. Russell, camped on Indian Creek, roughly 100 miles west of Independence. As the journey progressed, more individuals joined their ranks, swelling their numbers to 87.
On May 25th, the train was delayed for several days by high waters at the Big Blue River near present-day Marysville, Kansas. It was here that the group experienced their first loss: Sarah Keyes passed away and was buried alongside the river. After constructing ferries to navigate the waters, the party resumed their journey, following the Platte River for the next month.
Along the way, William Russell relinquished his role as captain, and William M. Boggs assumed the leadership position. After encountering a few challenges, the pioneers reached Fort Laramie on June 27th, 1846, just one week behind schedule.
At Fort Laramie, James Reed encountered James Clyman, an old friend from Illinois who had recently traversed the new route eastward with Lansford Hastings. Clyman cautioned Reed against taking the Hastings Route, warning that it was barely passable on foot and would be impossible for wagons. He also alerted Reed to the dangers of the Great Salt Lake Desert and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Despite Clyman’s strong recommendation to take the established wagon trail, Reed later disregarded his advice, hoping to expedite their journey.
Joined by other wagons at Fort Laramie, the pioneers were met by a messenger carrying a letter from Lansford W. Hastings at the Continental Divide on July 11th. The letter indicated that Hastings would meet the emigrants at Fort Bridger and guide them along his cutoff, which bypassed Fort Hall (present-day Pocatello, Idaho) by passing south of the Great Salt Lake.
The letter quelled any doubts the party may have harbored regarding the Hastings cutoff. On July 19th, the wagon train arrived at the Little Sandy River in present-day Wyoming, where the trail bifurcated into two routes – the established northern route and the untested Hastings Cutoff. Here, the train split, with the majority of the caravan opting for the safer route. The group favoring the Hastings route elected George Donner as their captain and began their southward journey, reaching Fort Bridger on July 28th. However, upon arriving at Fort Bridger, Hastings was nowhere to be found. A note left with other emigrants stated that Hastings had departed with another group and that later travelers should follow and catch up. Jim Bridger and his partner Louis Vasquez reassured the Donner Party that the Hastings Cutoff was a viable route. Reassured, the emigrants rested at the fort for a few days, repairing their wagons and preparing for what they believed would be a seven-week journey.
On July 31st, the party left Fort Bridger, accompanied by the McCutchen family. The group now numbered 74 individuals in 20 wagons and made good progress, averaging 10-12 miles per day for the first week.
On August 6th, the party reached the Weber River after passing through Echo Canyon. They encountered another note from Hastings, advising them against following him down Weber Canyon, claiming it was virtually impassable, and suggesting an alternate trail through the Salt Basin.
While the party camped near modern-day Henefer, Utah, James Reed and two other men rode ahead to catch up with Hastings. They found Hastings on the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, who accompanied Reed partway back to point out the new route, estimating it would take about one week to traverse. In the meantime, the Graves family joined the Donner Party, bringing their total to 87 people in 23 wagons. After a vote, the group decided to try the new trail rather than backtracking to Fort Bridger.
On August 11th, the wagon train commenced the arduous journey through the Wasatch Mountains, clearing trees and other obstacles along the new path. Initially, they struggled to make even two miles per day, taking six days to travel eight miles. Along the way, they were forced to abandon some of their wagons, and morale plummeted. The pioneers began to vehemently blame Lansford Hastings and, increasingly, James Reed.
On August 25th, the caravan suffered another loss when Luke Halloran died of consumption near present-day Grantsville, Utah. Fear began to grip the party as provisions dwindled and time was running out. In the 21 days since reaching the Weber River, they had advanced only 36 miles.
Five days later, on August 30th, the group began to cross the Great Salt Lake Desert, believing the trek would take only two days, according to Hastings. However, the desert sand was moist and deep, causing wagons to become mired, severely hindering their progress. By the third day in the desert, their water supply was nearly depleted, and some of Reed’s oxen ran away. When they finally emerged from the desert five days later, on September 4th, the emigrants rested near the base of Pilot Peak for several days. During their 80-mile ordeal through the Salt Lake Desert, they had lost 32 oxen. Reed was forced to abandon two of his wagons, and the Donners and Louis Keseberg each lost one wagon.
On the far side of the desert, an inventory of food revealed that it was insufficient for the remaining 600-mile trek. Ominously, snow dusted the mountain peaks that very night. They reached the Humboldt River on September 26th.
Realizing the difficult journey through the mountains and the desert had depleted their supplies, two young men traveling with the party, William McCutcheon and Charles Stanton, were dispatched to Sutter’s Fort, California, to procure provisions.
From September 10th through the 25th, the party followed the trail into Nevada around the Ruby Mountains, finally reaching the Humboldt River on September 26th. It was here that the "new" trail converged with Hastings’s original path. Having traveled an extra 125 miles through strenuous mountain terrain and desert, the disillusioned party’s resentment of Hastings and, ultimately, Reed intensified.
The Donner Party soon reached the junction with the California Trail, approximately seven miles west of present-day Elko, Nevada, and spent the next two weeks traveling along the Humboldt River. As their disillusionment grew, tempers flared.
On October 5th at Iron Point, two wagons became entangled, and John Snyder, a teamster of one of the wagons, began to whip his oxen. Incensed by the teamster’s treatment of the oxen, James Reed ordered him to stop. When Snyder refused, Reed drew his knife and stabbed the teamster in the stomach, killing him. The Donner Party swiftly convened to administer their own justice. Despite Lewis Keseberg’s call for Reed’s execution, the group voted to banish him instead. After bidding farewell to his family, Reed was last seen riding westward with Walter Herron.
The Donner Party continued along the Humboldt River, their remaining draft animals exhausted. To ease the burden on the animals, everyone who could walk did so. Two days after the Snyder killing, on October 7th, Lewis Keseberg turned out an elderly Belgian man named Hardcoop, who had been traveling with him. The old man, unable to keep pace with the rest of the party due to his severely swollen feet, pleaded for shelter at other wagon doors, but no one would take him in. He was last seen sitting beneath a large sagebrush, completely exhausted and unable to walk, left there to die.
The caravan’s trials continued to escalate when, on October 12th, their oxen were attacked by Paiute Indians, resulting in the deaths of 21 animals, some by poison-tipped arrows, further depleting their draft power.
Facing relentless obstacles, on October 16th, they reached the gateway to the Sierra Nevada on the Truckee River, almost entirely devoid of food supplies. Miraculously, just three days later, on October 19th, Charles Stanton, one of the men sent to Fort Sutter, returned laden with seven mules carrying beef and flour, two Indian guides, and news of a clear but difficult path through the Sierra Nevada. Stanton’s partner, William McCutchen, had fallen ill and remained at the fort. The caravan camped for five days, 50 miles from the summit, resting their oxen for the final push. This decision to delay their departure was one more in a series of decisions that would contribute to their tragedy.
On October 28th, an exhausted James Reed arrived at Sutter’s Fort, where he met William McCutchen, who had recovered. The two men began preparations to return to their families.
Meanwhile, as the wagon train continued towards the base of the summit, George Donner’s wagon axle broke, causing him to fall behind the rest of the party. Twenty-two people, including the Donner family and their hired men, remained behind while the wagon was repaired. While cutting timber for a new axle, a chisel slipped, and Donner severely cut his hand, further delaying the group.
Snow began to fall as the rest of the party pressed on towards what is now known as Donner Lake. Stanton and the two Indians traveling ahead reached the summit but could go no further. Defeated, they retraced their steps, finding five feet of new snow had already fallen.
With the Sierra Pass just 12 miles away, the wagon train, after attempting to cross the pass through the heavy snow, finally retreated to the eastern end of the lake, where level ground and timber were abundant. At the lake, they found one existing cabin. Realizing they were stranded, the group constructed two more cabins, sheltering 59 people, hoping the early snow would melt and allow them to continue their journey.
The 22 people with the Donners were approximately six miles behind at Alder Creek. As the snow continued to fall, they hastily erected three shelters from tents, quilts, buffalo robes, and brush to shield themselves from the harsh conditions.
At Donner Lake, two more attempts were made to cross the pass through 20 feet of snow until they finally accepted that they were snowbound for the winter. More small cabins were constructed, many shared by multiple families. The weather and their hopes continued to deteriorate. Over the next four months, the remaining men, women, and children would huddle together in cabins, makeshift lean-tos, and tents, enduring unimaginable hardship.
Meanwhile, Reed and McCutchen had ventured back into the mountains, attempting to rescue their stranded companions. Two days after they started, it began to rain. As the elevation increased, the rain turned to snow, and twelve miles from the summit, they could go no further. Caching their provisions in Bear Valley, they returned to Sutter’s Fort, hoping to gather more men and supplies for the rescue. However, the Mexican War had depleted the available manpower, forcing any further rescue attempts to be postponed. Not knowing how many cattle the emigrants had lost, the men believed the party would have enough meat to last them several months. On Thanksgiving, it began to snow again, and the pioneers at Donner Lake killed the last of their oxen for food on November 29th.
The next day, five more feet of snow fell, dashing any hopes of departure. Many of their animals, including Sutter’s mules, had wandered off into the storms, their bodies lost beneath the snow. A few days later, their last few cattle were slaughtered for food, and the party resorted to eating boiled hides, twigs, bones, and bark. Some of the men tried to hunt with little success.
On December 15th, Balis Williams died of malnutrition, and the group realized that desperate measures were necessary to survive. The next day, five men, nine women, and one child departed on snowshoes for the summit, determined to travel the 100 miles to Sutter’s Fort. However, the group faced a daunting ordeal, weakened by hunger and equipped with meager rations. On the sixth day, their food ran out, and for the next three days, they traveled through grueling high winds and freezing weather without eating. One member of the party, Charles Stanton, snow-blind and exhausted, was unable to keep up and urged them to continue without him. He never rejoined the group. A few days later, the party was caught in a blizzard and struggled to keep a fire lit. Antonio, Patrick Dolan, Franklin Graves, and Lemuel Murphy soon died, and in desperation, the others resorted to cannibalism.
Sustaining themselves on the bodies of those who perished along the way, the snowshoeing survivors dwindled to seven by the time they reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 19th, 1847. Only two of the ten men survived, William Eddy and William Foster, but all five women survived the journey. Of the eight dead, seven had been cannibalized. Immediately, messages were dispatched to neighboring settlements, and residents rallied to save the remaining members of the Donner Party.
On February 5th, the first relief party of seven men left Johnson’s ranch, and the second, led by James Reed, departed two days later. On February 19th, the first party reached the lake and found what appeared to be a deserted camp. Then, the ghostly figure of a woman emerged. Twelve of the emigrants were dead, and of the 48 remaining, many were mentally unstable or barely alive. However, the nightmare was far from over. Not everyone could be evacuated at once, and with no pack animals available, few food supplies were brought in. The first relief party departed with 23 refugees, but during the journey back to Sutter’s Fort, two more children died. En route down the mountains, the first relief party met the second relief party, who came the opposite way, reuniting the Reed family after five months.
On March 11th, the second relief party arrived at the lake, finding grisly evidence of cannibalism. The next day, they arrived at Alder Creek to find that the Donners had also resorted to cannibalism. On March 3rd, Reed left the camp with 17 starving emigrants, who were caught in another blizzard just two days later. When it cleared, Isaac Donner had died, and most of the refugees were too weak to travel. Reed and another rescuer, Hiram Miller, took three refugees with them, hoping to find food they had stored on the way up. The remaining pioneers stayed at what would become known as "Starved Camp."
On March 12th, the third relief party led by William Eddy and William Foster reached Starved Camp, where Mrs. Graves and her son Franklin had also died. The three bodies, including that of Isaac Donner, had been cannibalized. The next day, they arrived at the lake camp to find that both of their sons had died. On March 14th, they arrived at the Alder Creek camp to find George Donner was dying from an infection in the hand that he had injured months before. His wife Tamzene, though in comparatively good health, refused to leave him, sending her three little girls on without her. The relief party soon departed with four more members, leaving those too weak to travel. Two rescuers, Jean-Baptiste Trudeau and Nicholas Clark, were left behind to care for the Donners but soon abandoned them to catch up with the relief party.
A fourth rescue party set out in late March but was soon stranded in a blinding snowstorm for several days. On April 17th, the relief party reached the camps to find only Louis Keseberg alive among the mutilated remains of his former companions. Keseberg was the last member of the Donner Party to arrive at Sutter’s Fort on April 29th. The rescue of the surviving members of the Donner Party spanned two months and involved four relief parties.
In the end, two-thirds of the men in the Donner Party perished, while two-thirds of the women and children survived. Forty-one individuals died, and 46 survived. Five died before reaching the mountains, 35 perished at the mountain camps or while attempting to cross the mountains, and one died shortly after reaching the valley. Many survivors lost their toes to frostbite.
The story of the Donner Party tragedy spread rapidly across the country. Newspapers published letters and diaries, accusing the travelers of misconduct, cannibalism, and even murder. The surviving members held differing viewpoints, biases, and recollections, making it difficult to ascertain the precise events that transpired. Some blamed Lansford W. Hastings for the tragedy, while others faulted James Reed for ignoring Clyman’s warnings about the deadly route.
In the aftermath of the publicity, emigration to California declined sharply, and Hastings’s cutoff was abandoned. However, in January 1848, gold was discovered at John Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, igniting a renewed rush westward. By late 1849, over 100,000 people had flocked to California, seeking gold near the streams and canyons where the Donner Party had suffered. This is the Tragic Story of the Donner Party