Donner Party
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The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. They became known for resorting to cannibalism while snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. The nucleus of the party consisted of the Donner and Reed families and their hired hands, some 31 people from Springfield, Illinois.
The story
They left Independence, Missouri on May 12 1846, traveling with a larger wagon train until they reached the Little Sandy River in Wyoming, where they camped alongside several other emigrant parties. There those emigrants who had decided to take a new route, Hastings Cutoff (named after its promoter Lansford Hastings), formed a new wagon train and elected George Donner captain, creating the Donner Party on July 19 1846.
The party encountered great hardships crossing the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert in present-day Utah. When they finally rejoined the California Trail near modern Elko, Nevada they had lost three weeks' time on the "shortcut." They encountered further setbacks and delays while traveling along Nevada's Humboldt River.
When they finally reached the Sierra Nevada a snow storm blocked the pass. Demoralized and low on supplies, about two-thirds of the emigrants camped at a small lake (now called Donner Lake), while the Donner families and a few others camped about six miles away at Alder Creek.
In mid-December fifteen of the trapped emigrants set out on snowshoes for Sutter's Fort, about 100 miles (160 km) away. Soon they were lost and their rations ran out. Caught without shelter in a raging blizzard, four of the company died. In desperation, the others resorted to cannibalism. Three more died and were cannibalized before finally, nearly naked and close to death, seven of the fifteen snowshoers reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 19 1847.
Californians rallied to save the Donner Party and equipped a total of four rescue parties. By the time the second of these parties arrived in March, the emigrants at the two camps had also resorted to cannibalism. On April 29 the last refugee arrived at Sutter's Fort.
Of the original 87 emigrants, 41 died and 46 survived; about half the survivors had been compelled to eat their dead companions.
Historical interest
The Donner Camp has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
In August 2003 archaeologists investigated the Donner family camp at Alder Creek, recovering many small artifacts and pieces of bone. One of the largest bone fragments, from a "large mammal," bears butcher marks from an axe. A second excavation in July 2004 recovered more artifacts and fragments of bone. As of this writing (May 2005), the species of animal represented by the bone fragments have not been identified; if some turn out to be human, it will be the first physical evidence of cannibalism from a Donner Party site.
In October 1992 Ric Burns' critically-acclaimed documentary "The Donner Party" was aired on the PBS series The American Experience.
External links
- New Light on the Donner Party (http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty/)
- New York Times on the Donner Party (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/20/national/20BRFS1.html)
- PBS on the Donner Party (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/donner/)
- Museum of San Francisco on the Donner Party (http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/donner.html)de:Donner Party