When the Donners Were Done For

"Never take no cut offs, and hurry along as fast as you can."
Virgina Reed, aged 13.

In the 1840's, after gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, there was a tremendous rush to the West.  And one wagon train in particular carved out a name for itself on the journey.  Let's face it, everyone wants to know what happened, and why, to the Donner Party.  So here we go.

The family was the hub of several others, including the Breens, the Kesebergs, the Reeds, and the Murphys, belonging to a band headed for California.  The beginning of the trip for these 32 people was in Independence, Missouri, which seems innocuous enough.  But it was already May, 1846, unusually wet, and they did not reach Fort Laramie, in Wyoming, until the end of June.  Still, at that point they were only one week behind schedule.

This is where things became calamitous.  Donner had a copy of Lansford Hasting's guidebook to the west, which outlined a "cut off" through the Wasatch Mountains much further south.  It was designed to take weeks off the journey, and James Reed became interested.

In July, the group elected George Donner captain and within a month were on the Hastings Cutoff.  Most people walked, with only the infirm or infants riding in the wagons.  But this was rugged country, and, unknown to potential settlers, the "guide" had never taken this route, only speculating on its feasibility.  To put it bluntly, though they were in virgin territory, their little band was screwed.

As they crossed the Great Basin of the Salt Lake Desert, they began to lose animals and people due to hard going and a lack of preparation.  They sent two men on ahead to Sutter's Fort for supplies, walked through treacherous mountain territory, and, in August, they finally reached a trail that settlers had used before.  Unfortunately, they had gone 125 miles out of their way--mostly on foot.

And the damage was done.  James Reed was banished for killing another man.  Struggling travellers were being left by the side of the road.  It seemed there was always more desert.  Division and infighting were the standards.  And in October, they were in the Truckee River Valley of the Sierras (now Reno) when the worst snowstorm in recorded history began as they ran out of supplies.  California dreaming does not start to address this issue.

The party was forced to camp.  They had arbors, tents, cabins, shanties, and lean-tos.  George Donner cut his hand while trying to repair a broken axle and would die of an infection, his wife Tamsyn by his side.  Others would succumb as well, with starvation being the culprit. 

In December, ten men and five women made up a contingent known as the Forlorn Hope.  They trudged through several feet of snow in an effort to make it across the pass, but it was useless.  Soon they were snow blind and exhausted, drawing straws to see who would be cannibalized.

Among them, Franklin Graves was the first to die, instructing both his daughters to use the body for sustenance.  The day after Christmas, Mary and Sarah did so in shame and through their tears.  This was only the beginning.

By mid-January, 1847, most families in the camp had consumed human flesh, and William Foster had killed two Indian guides of the Forlorn Hope solely for that purpose.  He and the survivors made it back to the settlement only to find themselves no better off.  But the two who had gone on to Sutter's Fort had not forgotten them.

So it was that on February 19th, a rescue party arrived to take some of the survivors to safety over the ridge.  On March 1, the outcast James Reed was reunited with the surviving members of his family when he, too, rode into the camp.  The last person taken out was Lewis Keseberg, who was surrounded by the half-eaten bodies of former companions.  He had developed quite a taste for them.

No one knows how many were eaten, but almost half the party died.  It is amazing what people will do when their hope is truly forlorn.  Virginia Reed encouraged her cousin back East to come to California, where she could find a husband easily enough.  But she gave the aforementioned stipulation.  She also stated that she was thankful that her family alone had not eaten anyone else.

Keseberg opened a successful restaurant.  Maybe that is why it is called a "twist" of fate.  Go figure.

V K