The Donner Party was a group of families traveling with their hired hands to California via covered wagon. They departed Independence, MO on May 12, 1846. This was considered a late departure, standard would have been mid to late April. They were at the tale end, but not straggling behind, the general wagon train traversing the Oregon Trail that summer. The first half of the journey was generally uneventful.

Although the established California trail had existed for decades, it was only passable on foot or with mules/horses. The first group to attempt to traverse it using covered wagons did so the year before in 1845. So although the route was established in 1846, the practice of traveling the California trail by covered wagon was not.

In 1845, an explorer named Lansford Hastings published a guide for emigrants in an attempt to encourage more people to come to California rather than Oregon. Hastings stood to benefit financially from increased settlers coming to California due to a partnership with a land developer there. Hasting’s guide suggested a short cut, which he claimed to have discovered, that would be 300 miles shorter than the established California trail. Rather than traveling north to Ft. Hood in Idaho, then cutting down through Utah and Nevada, Hasting told emigrants to continue due west from Ft. Hall in Wyoming. They would pass through the Wasatch Mountains, then exit into what is now Salt Lake City. From there, they should continue across the Salt Lake Desert and continue to push west until they met back up with the established California trail in what is now northeast Nevada. Essentially instead of following the established trail north around the Salt Lake area, they should cut a path just south of the Salt Lake. This was called the Hastings Cutoff. Hastings portrayed that he personally had traveled this route and assured his readers that it was a fit trail for wagons. This was a lie. Hastings did not travel his suggested route until the spring of 1846 when he crossed it with another mountain man with only two mules. It was completely unfit for wagons.

The book had begun to circulate among the travelers prior to their departure, who discussed the potential of it during the journey. Once they reached Ft. Hall, the families who comprised the Donner party voted to take the Hastings Cutoff and departed from the normal trail. The group elected George Donner as the party’s leader. Ironically, George’s wife Tamsen was the only person in the group to vote against taking the cutoff.

The Cutoff was an unmitigated disaster. The book claimed this route took two to three weeks to traverse, but instead took two months. The Donner Party entered the cutoff in early August and reached the established California trail in early October. Not only had this depleted their supplies, but some families lost their wagons and all their oxen in the Salt Lake Desert. They came through the other side much worse for wear.

The Donner Party pressed on as quickly as they could, but realized they were in trouble. In addition to losing supplies to the extended time on the trail and having to abandon wagons in the desert, the party suffered raids by a Native American tribe who killed their cattle, thus further reducing their dwindling supplies.

The party reached the Sierra Nevada mountain range in late October. They began the trek upwards. As they reached the top, snow already covered the ground and a blizzard was starting. The group tried to push towards the summit but couldn’t pass. They took shelter a mile from the summit, quickly erecting small cabins and tents.

Once the storm passed days later, there were feet of snow on the ground. The group was trapped, they could not make it over the summit. To make matters worse, what remained of the cattle had become lost. There were 80 people, many of whom were children under 10, who had next to no food. Hunting and fishing attempts were unsuccessful.

The group became trapped on November 1, 1846. A group of fifteen left to try and reach the nearest settlement in California, which was 95 miles away, on December 16. Only seven made it. They survived a month while lost in the Sierra Nevada mountains with no provisions before coming to their intended destination, Sutter’s Fort, on January 17, 1847.

After the seven Donner party survivors reached Sutter’s Fort, a rescue plan began to be organized. In the end, the rescue would take place in four waves. The first wave left on February 4th and reached the Donner Party on February 18th. The fourth and final wave arrived in mid-April, a month after the third wave had departed.

Of the 87 people who set out in the Donner Party at Hastings Cutoff, 48 survived. The deaths that occurred in the Sierra Nevada mountains were from a combination of starvation, exposure/hypothermia, and exhaustion.