Donner Party History

In the spring of 1846 a group of 87 people would leave their homes and head west in the hope and promise of free land. This group of 87 individuals would later be known as the infamous “Donner Party” (McGill). The Donner Party consisted of the Donner family and the Reed family. Led by George Donner, this group of pioneers, like many other groups, were exceedingly eager to make it to California, but unlike the other groups the Donner Party planned to take a short cut. “This short cut was known as ‘Hastings Cutoff’, which was made

On the other hand, they also had to hurry because they still had to walk through three mountain passes, the Sierra Nevada to California, and had only time from Spring to Fall. One of the travelers had 'The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California' with them. Since different people meet and had to live with different characters, Tamsen Donner wrote: “We have of the best people in our company and some, too, that are not so good.” Since it was Spring, rain and storm were pretty common and stopped the group on the Big Blue River. For a few people it was already too much of what they can withstand and the first death was by Reeds grandma, the loss of her was tragically written down by Virginia Reed: “..We made a neat coffin, and buried her under a tree... We miss her very much.” So far, there were no other major difficulties for the travelers, it was a pretty smooth trip. Arriving to Fort Bridger about just a week behind schedule, there James Reed meets James Clyman, an old friend who thought that the Hastings shortcut is unpractical, the old way would be more safer, but Reed did not take the advice, he wanted to take the shortcut, probably by the thought that a shortcut in our life also gets us to our target faster.

During the time of crossing the overland trail, many people instead chose to take the ship route which went around Cape Horn at the tip of South America. The points that we are given to keep in mind are:

In the early 1800’s, the United States had an escalating number of settlers looking to conquer and create new lives in the West. Many also joined the movement inspired by Manifest Destiny, the idea that the land between the Atlantic and Pacific was American therefore should be established by settlers. A group traveling westward as part of the movement in 1846 suffered sorrow at every turn consequently ending in the 34 casualties of 87 original settlers. This group was led by Jacob and George Donner, later the pioneers inherited the name the Donner Party. In the Spring of 1846 the settlers left Springfield, Illinois and pursued a route that was supposedly a shorter course for California. After multiple delays the Donner Party became caught in many snowstorms high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. As a result the group reduced to cannibalism to survive the harsh winters. Despite the dangerous trek ahead, the Donner Party traveled westward in hopes of creating new lives in California, they also traveled in aspirations of finding jobs

The Donner party was like a group of people in wagons that headed west. They thought that by doing that they would get better life's. Baisicly what the meant was to start a new life. The leader of the Donner party was George Donner.

At midnight on May 3-4, 1864, the Union army of the Potomac and the Independent Ninth Corps, about 120,000 men, left their winter camps in Culpeper County and marched south toward the Rapidan River fords. At early dawn, Union cavalry swam across Germanna Ford, scattered Confederate cavalry pickets there and allowing Union engineers to build two pontoon bridges. General Gouverneur Warren’s Fifth Corps marched across the ford at 6 a.m., entering a dense woodland known as the Wilderness. Meade planned to push through the Wilderness, wheel his army to the right, and attack Lee’s army, which he thought would take up a defensive position behind Mine Run several miles to the west. Confident that Federal cavalry was between him and Confederate army,

The 1,500-foot Picacho Peak has been used as a landmark by travelers since prehistoric times. One of the first recordings was in the 1700’s by the Anza Expedition as it passed through the area. The Mormon Battalion constructed a wagon road through Picacho Pass in 1848. On their way to California, the forty-niners used this road. In the late 1850’s the Butterfield Overland Stage was carrying

Lansford Hastings’s shortcut sounded enticing and the Donner brothers planned to use it to save time traveling to California; however, the short cut was nonexistent and the advice cost the Donner’s both time and human lives. In April of 1846, the Donners packed up and headed west joining other pioneers on the westward trek to California. At first, the trail was smooth for the great wagon train. People gathered around the campfire at night to sing and tell stories, open-air church services were held, women formed sewing circles, and children had numerous new friends with whom to entertain themselves; however, times became treacherous as food became scarce. Well into their journey, the Donners met a scraggly looking man by the name of James

We are leaving Fort Kearny and following the South side of the Platte River until we get the the California Crossing. When we get there we have to cross over to the North Platte River so we can get to Oregon instead of California. There are no ferries and there is no bridge so we have to walk on the sandbars. 4 days have passed and we get the the California Crossing FINALLY. We cross the sandbars then we see that we have to go up a hill. Our wagon is very heavy so we have to throw something off, we decide to throw off a water jug. If we need more water we could just use some from the other families or when we stop just drink straight from the fresh water. We get to the top then we see that we also have to down. We decide that to get down the

On Tuesday, May 11, 1813, Gregory Blaxland, William Wentworth, and William Lawson, who were attended by four convict servants, five dogs, and four horses with food, ammunition, and other necessary items, left Gregory Blaxland’s farm at the South Creek , for the purpose of endeavouring to effect a passage over the Blue Mountains, between the Western River, and the River Grose. They crossed the Nepean, or Hawkesbury River, at the ford, on to Emu Island , at four o’clock p.m., and having proceeded, according to their calculation, two miles in a south-west direction, through forest land and good pasture, encamped at five o’clock at the foot of the first ridge. The distance travelled on this and on the subsequent days was computed by time, the rate being estimated at about two miles per hour. Thus far they were accompanied by two other gentlemen.

Carey Voeller’s article, “a man is a fool who prefers poor California beef to human flesh: (re)definitions of masculinity in nineteenth-century US Donner party literature” focuses on the analysis of Thornton’s cannibalism narrative. Barton Beebe’s essay on “Shanzhai, Sumptuary Law, and Intellectual Property Law in Contemporary China”, apparently has a different subject with Voeller’s. However, the two articles share a connection under the obvious difference that moral boundaries can be challenged or even denied under certain circumstance.

Ordeal by Hunger is a true story that shows the struggles that the Donner Party had to go through trying to reach California. They were just one of many wagon trains that were migrating to California. Some of the migrants were trying to find a better life, and get rich. Others were already rich, but wanted a nice place to stay at. Many people had heard how great California was. They migrated by wagons pulled by oxen, and traveled about 30 miles per day. This trip was long, it was suppose to take a couple of months to reach their destination of California, but along the way they met some difficulties. They tried to take a shortcut, but it resulted in a longer route. They faced hunger, thirst, and fatigue. Many didn’t make it, but those that did faced terrible experiences. The Oregon trail is a very important event in history. The Donner Party is just one story of many that migrated to California on this trail.

Reassured, the group of 89 emigrants left Fort Bridger with their 20 wagons and headed for Weber Canyon, where Hastings claimed there was an easy passage through the rugged Wasatch Mountains.When they reached the head of the canyon,they founda note from Hastings attached to a forked stick. Hastings warned the Donner party that the route ahead was more difficult than he had thought. He asked the emigrants to make camp there and wait until he could return to show them a better way.

The year 1838 was momentous to Joseph Smith. John Whitmer and David Whitmer were excommunicated from the church. Joseph Smith said God told him to change the name of the church from The Church of the Latter-day Saints to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Three more official histories of Joseph Smith’s first vision are published. John Whitmer refuses to give up his written documents regarding the history of the church.

We had the first stop at Alcove springs where we got water and moved on to the Kansas River. The river was deep and long so we boarded it by taking the wheels off the wagon and taking it to the river and floating it across the river. We got across the river but other wagons tipped over or got stuck on a branch and lost a lot of there stuff. We crossed the river and got to Fort Kearny. We didn't really do much there but go in and look then go out to the trail. The jury to the next place was long and took long hard days to complete, we were at the California crossing but we were going to Organ so we didn't go south. We had the coolest part of the journey was next where we passed Ash Hollow where we saw some stuff that was wired but we just moved on. Then Courthouse Rock and when we saw it it was cool because it was very large and cool. With Chimney Rock the rock was straight up and tall. Scotts Bluff was a huge rock formation with places with rattlesnakes and other creatures.The landmarks are there so when you don't know where to go the travelers tell you to find the marks and go the direction they tell you to go. Once we got passed all that we got to Fort Laramie, now this fort is one of the biggest forts with the best defence and security from the outside world. They had lots of trading for animals parts food and supplies. They had places to sleep and put your stuff. The fort from the outside looks like a small castle with the columns. Next was Fort Casper but after Fort Laramie we didn't need to stop there. We end up at Independence Rock on July 5 the we decided that one day wasn't bad so we stayed there and carved are names in the