Donner Party (1846-1847): Trapped in the Sierra Nevada Snows

The Donner Party was a group of about 87 American emigrants who became trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California in the winter of 1846–1847. Delayed by an untested shortcut, the Hastings Cutoff, they reached the mountains too late in the year. Nearly half died before rescue, and some survivors ate the bodies of the dead to stay alive, making the Donner Party one of the most notorious tragedies of westward migration.

Setting out

The core of the party left Springfield, Illinois, in April 1846: the brothers George and Jacob Donner with their families, and the businessman James F. Reed with his. They joined the great spring migration on the Oregon Trail from Missouri, heading for California, which was still Mexican territory. Other families, including the Breens, Graves, Murphys and Eddys, and the German emigrant Lewis Keseberg, joined them along the way.

In July, at the Little Sandy River in present-day Wyoming, the group decided to try a new route promoted by Lansford Hastings in his Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California. They elected George Donner captain and turned south-west towards Fort Bridger, which they left on 31 July 1846.

The Hastings Cutoff

The cutoff was a disaster. Hastings had crossed it on horseback but never with wagons. In the Wasatch Mountains the party had to hack a road through thick brush and timber, losing weeks. Then they faced the Great Salt Lake Desert, a waterless crossing of about 80 miles that took several days and cost them many oxen and several wagons.

Tempers frayed. On 5 October, in a fight along the Humboldt River, Reed stabbed and killed the teamster John Snyder. The party banished Reed, who rode ahead to California. Food was running short, and the emigrants were now weeks behind schedule.

Trapped by snow

The party reached the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in late October 1846. Snow began to fall early and heavily. Around the end of October and in early November most of the emigrants failed to cross the pass above Truckee Lake, now Donner Lake, and built rough cabins by the lake. The Donner families, delayed by a broken axle, were stranded about six miles back at Alder Creek, where they lived in tents and brush shelters.

Food soon ran out. The emigrants ate their oxen, then their dogs, then boiled hides, bark and bones. Patrick Breen kept a diary of life in the lake camp, one of the most important sources for the story.

The Forlorn Hope

On 16 December 1846, 17 people set out on improvised snowshoes to cross the mountains for help; two turned back, leaving 15 in the group later called the Forlorn Hope. Lost and starving in storms, several died, and the survivors ate their bodies. Two Native American guides from Sutter’s Fort, Luis and Salvador, were shot by William Foster for food. In mid-January 1847 seven survivors, two men and five women, reached a settlement in the Sacramento Valley.

The rescues

The alarm they raised, together with Reed’s efforts, led to a series of relief parties. Rescue was slowed because many able-bodied men in California were away fighting in the Mexican-American War. The First Relief reached the lake on 18–19 February 1847 and led out a group of survivors. The Second Relief, with Reed, arrived at the start of March, and a Third Relief followed in mid-March. Tamsen Donner chose to stay with her dying husband George and died in the camp. When a final party arrived in April 1847, only Lewis Keseberg was still alive.

Aftermath

About 48 of the 87 members survived. Survivors and rescuers confirmed that cannibalism had taken place in both camps, although only the bodies of those who had already died were eaten, apart from the killing of the two guides. Newspapers sensationalised the story, and Keseberg in particular was accused of murder, charges never proved.

Thirteen-year-old Virginia Reed, who survived with her family, wrote to a cousin in May 1847 with advice that became famous: “never take no cutoffs and hurry along as fast as you can.” Most survivors settled in California, where the gold rush began only a year later.

Timeline

• 1846, April: The Donner and Reed families leave Springfield, Illinois.
• 1846, 31 July: The party leaves Fort Bridger on the Hastings Cutoff.
• 1846, 5 October: James Reed kills John Snyder and is banished.
• 1846, late October-early November: Snow traps the party at Truckee Lake and Alder Creek.
• 1846, 16 December: The Forlorn Hope sets out on snowshoes.
• 1847, mid-January: Seven Forlorn Hope survivors reach the Sacramento Valley.
• 1847, 18-19 February: The First Relief reaches the lake camp.
• 1847, April: The last survivor, Lewis Keseberg, is brought out.

Why it matters

The Donner Party became a lasting warning about the dangers of the overland trails and of trusting untested shortcuts. Today Donner Lake, Donner Pass and Donner Memorial State Park recall the tragedy, which remains one of the best-documented and most retold episodes of American westward expansion.