Donner Party
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2008-07-13T22:13:25Z
Someguy1221
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/64.77.199.103|64.77.199.103]] to last version by Lightbot (using [[WP:HG|Huggle]])
[[Image:Donner Party Memorial.jpg|thumb|The Donner Party Memorial at [[Donner Memorial State Park]].]]
The '''Donner Party''' was a group of [[California]]-bound [[United States|American]] settlers caught up in the "westering fever" of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] in the winter of 1846–1847, some of the emigrants resorted to [[cannibalism]]. Although this aspect of the tragedy has become synonymous with the Donner Party in the popular imagination, it was actually a minor part of the episode.<ref name="faq">{{cite web|url=http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty/FAQ.htm#Cannibalism|title=Donner Party FAQ|accessdate=2007-10-15}}</ref> .
==History==
{{details|Donner Party timeline}}
The nucleus of the party consisted of the families of [[George Donner]], his brother Jacob, and [[James F. Reed]] of [[Springfield, Illinois]], plus their hired hands, about 33 people in all. They set out for California in mid-April 1846, arrived at [[Independence, Missouri|Independence]], [[Missouri]], on [[May 10]], [[1846]], and left two days later.
On [[May 19]], [[1846]], the Donners and Reeds joined a large [[wagon train]] captained by William H. Russell. Most of those who became members of the Donner Party were also in this group. For the next two months the travelers followed the [[California Trail]] until they reached the [[Little Sandy River (Wyoming)|Little Sandy River]], in what is now [[Wyoming]], where they camped alongside several other overland 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. They elected [[George Donner]] their captain, creating the Donner Party, on [[July 19]].<ref name="chronology">{{cite web|url=http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty/Chronology.htm|accessdate=2006-05-04|title=Donner Party Chronology}}</ref> At its height it numbered 87 people.<ref name="statistics">{{cite web|url=http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty/Statistics.htm|title=Donner Party Statistics|accessdate=2007-07-28}}</ref>
The Donner Party continued westward to [[Fort Bridger]], where [[Hastings Cutoff]] began, and set out on the new route on [[August 31]]. They endured great hardships while crossing the [[Wasatch Mountains]] and the [[Great Salt Lake Desert]], finally rejoining the [[California Trail]] near modern [[Elko, Nevada|Elko]], [[Nevada]], on [[September 26]]. The "shortcut" had taken them three weeks longer than the customary route. They met further setbacks and delays while traveling along Nevada's [[Humboldt River]].<ref name="chronology"/>
When they reached the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada]] at the end of October, a [[snowstorm]] blocked their way over what is now known as [[Donner Pass]]. Demoralized and low on supplies, about three quarters of the emigrants camped at a lake (now called [[Donner Lake]]), while the Donner families and a few others camped about six [[mile]]s (ten [[kilometer]]s) away, at [[Alder Creek (Donner Party)|Alder Creek]].<ref name="chronology"/>
The emigrants slaughtered their remaining oxen, but there was not enough meat to feed so many for long. In mid-December, fifteen of the trapped emigrants, later known as the [[Forlorn Hope]], set out on crudely fashioned snowshoes for [[Sutter's Fort]], about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, to seek help. This group consisted of 10 men and five women. When one man gave out and had to be left behind, the others continued, but soon became lost and ran out of food. Caught without shelter in a raging [[blizzard]], four of the party died. The survivors resorted to cannibalism, then continued on their journey; three more died and were also cannibalized. Close to death, the seven surviving snowshoers—two men and all five of the women—finally reached safety on the western side of the mountains on [[January 18]], [[1847]].<ref name="chronology"/>
[[Image:Donner Pass kingp053.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Donner Pass]] in the 1870s.]]
Californians rallied to save the Donner Party and equipped a total of four rescue parties, or "reliefs". When the First Relief arrived, 14 emigrants had died at the camps and the rest were extremely weak. Most had been surviving on boiled ox hide, but there had been no cannibalism. The First Relief set out with 21 refugees on [[February 22]].
When the Second Relief arrived a week later, they found that some of the 31 emigrants left behind at the camps had begun to eat the dead. The Second Relief took 17 emigrants with them, the Third Relief four. By the time the Fourth Relief had reached the camp, only one man was alive. The last member of the Donner Party arrived at Sutter's Fort on [[April 29]].<ref name="chronology"/>
Of the original 87 pioneers, 39 died and 48 survived.<ref name="statistics"/>
==Legacy==
*[[Donner Memorial State Park]], bear the eastern shore of Donner Lake, commemorates the disaster; the area where the Donner families camped at Alder Creek has been designated a [[National Historic Landmark]].
*Several places in western states take their names from the Donner Party: Donner Hill, Donner-Reed Pass, and Donner Spring in Utah; Donner Springs in Nevada; and Donner Lake, Pass, Peak, and Summit in California.
*The road created by the Donner Party into the [[Salt Lake Valley]] via Emigration Canyon was used the following year by the vanguard company of [[Mormon pioneers]]. The section from Fort Bridger to the valley became part of the [[Mormon Trail]] and remained the main route to Salt Lake City into the 1860s.
*The memory of the Donner disaster prompted Californians to fund relief teams during the gold rush years. They sent men eastward along the trails to take food and water to overland emigrants, saving many lives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty/FAQ.htm#effect|title=Donner Party FAQ|accessdate=2007-03-26}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
* [[J. Roderic Korns|Korns, J. Roderic]] and [[Dale L. Morgan]], ''West from Fort Bridger: the pioneering of the Immigrant Trails across Utah, 1846-1850''; revised and updated by Will Bagley and Harold Schindler. Publisher: [[Logan, Utah]]: [[Utah State University]] Press, 1994. ISBN 0874211786. Contains original diaries and journals edited and with introductions by historians Korns and Morgan.
==External links==
*''[http://www.utahcrossroads.org/DonnerParty New Light on the Donner Party]'', by Donner Party historian Kristin Johnson, features biographical information, a chronology, primary documents, and more.
*''[http://www.donnerpartydiary.com/ The Donner Party]'', a website by Dan Rosen, features a comprehensive chronology of the disaster and much additional material.
*[http://content.cdlib.org/view?docId=tf10000759&doc.view=items&brand=oac The diary] kept during the period [[November 20]], [[1846]] – [[March 1]], [[1847]], by Patrick Breen, one of the travelers, is available in [[hypertext]] as well as color [[image scanner|scans]] of the pages, at the [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ Online Archive of California] website.
*[[wikisource:Statement of Daniel Rhoads, Bancroft Library 1873|Statement of Daniel Rhoads]], statement given by [[Daniel Rhoads]], member of the first rescue party.
*[http://discovermagazine.com/1992/mar/livingthroughthe4 Living Through the Donner Party] by [[Jared Diamond]]
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3410/04.html Archaeologist Julie Schablitsky describes what she and colleagues discovered at the Donner family campsite].
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[[Category:Donner party]]
[[Category:Incidents of cannibalism]]
[[Category:History of California]]
[[Category:Deaths by starvation]]
[[Category:American cannibals]]
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[[fr:Expédition Donner]]