The+Tragic+Tale+of+the+Donner+Party

The Tragic Tale of the Donner Party There were many families that made up the Donner Party, not just the Donners. The focus of this paper will be on the Graves family. I chose them not only because of their morbidly ironic last name, but because amongst the horrors and tragedies everyone faced, theirs were the some of the most heart-shattering and terrifying. And myself, not even able to remotely imagine what these people went through, only feeling sympathy not empathy, call these facts and stories interesting, and let’s face it, true interesting facts make a stellar story.  Franklin Ward Graves and his family decided to leave the frontier of Steuben Township, Illinois and move across the country to the fertile lands of California. The swarming insects, which often lead to infection and death, the “auge”, freezing winters and the declining economy is what lead the Graveses to leave their home and travel to a place they believed had fair weather, good economy, and barely any nuisances. “A land of milk and honey.”  Most all emigrants, including the Donners, Reeds, and Graveses, had gotten this perspective of California and Oregon from //The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California//, a book written by Lansford Hastings. In his book he gave travel and packing tips and mislead many people into believing there was no need to worry about the Native Americans. In his greed, Hastings added his own cut-off through the Rockies. In reality he never taken this route only glanced at a map and saw a route that could shave a few miles off the trip, said it was safe, when really it was nearly impassable for wagons.  In early April of 1846, while the Graves were preparing to leave and Sarah Graves married her love, Jay Fosdick, Hastings was making a deal with John Sutter. Sutter wanted Hastings to lead more people to his new settlement, Suttersville, via Hastings route, therefore adding to Sutter’s increasing fortune. In return, Hastings would get his own huge house and a store. So Hastings, along with experienced mountain-man John Clyman, rode out to catch emigrants who would come months later, like the Donner Party, and lead them through a route that would ultimately determine their fate.  About the same time the Graves, the Fosdicks, and John Snyder were heading out for California, another group of emigrants from the Springfield area were also California bound: the Donners and the Reeds. All of the families were heading for St. Joseph, Missouri. St. Joseph was the last place the emigrants could stock up on food, supplies, and essentials. The Donners and Reeds were ahead of the Graves and they went along and joined the Russell Party. The Graves joined other travelers and began their journey across the country. When the Graves left St. Joseph, it was the third week in May, three weeks past the deadline to travel.  Life on the wagon trail was extremely tough. Emigrants walked to spare the strength of their oxen. There were no bridges or roads to follow, just the wagon ruts of the previous travelers. The trail was hard, miserable and full of paranoia. They were constantly battered by the elements and the emigrants were constantly expecting a Native American attack.  As the emigrants neared the Western Frontier, their oxen began to tire and they were forced to alleviate their load by tossing supplies from their wagons. California or Oregon? On June 27, the Donners and the Reeds had already heard from John Clyman, warning them not to take Hastings route, saying that it was nearly impassable. Later, the Graves heard the same thing, also choosing not take his advice. On July 11, Wales B. Bonney—a man from Oregon who actually was rumored as a murderer—was carrying an open letter from Lansford Hastings, addressed to all California-bound emigrants, said he would be waiting at Fort Bridger to guide them to California, via his route. A group of emigrants separated from the Russell Party and chose to follow Hastings and headed for California, naming there party after their voted upon captain: George Donner. Captain of the Donner Party.  As all the parties were trying to catch up with each other, Hastings was leading a separate party through his cut-off. He must have figured this was a terrible route. He left a note for the Donner Party that said the route ahead was poor and wait and to send someone ahead to meet him. James Reed and two others set out and found Hastings, who pointed out a route, a narrow gap, and after agreeing, they started back to where the Donner Party was camped. By August 10, the Graves, the Fosdicks, and John Snyder had caught up with the Donner Party.  Reed convinced the party the route was easy and passable. The route turned out to be choked with brush ten to twelve feet tall and huge inclines and declines that were extremely tough on wagons and the oxen. By the time they were out of the Wasatch Mountains, or Hastings “cut-off,” sixteen days had passed and traveled a total of 35 miles. This should have taken a week. They still had the salt flats of Utah, the hundreds of miles of dry desert of Nevada, and the Sierra Nevada.  The salty water of the salt flats was undrinkable and the heat, unbearable. Soon, the Donner Party had to start tossing aside more of their possessions. James Reed had lost nearly all his oxen. Patty Reed, his daughter, hid away a wooden doll. That same doll, making it through the mountains along with Patty, now lies in a museum. On September 10, Charles Stanton and William McCutchen rode ahead to California to bring back supplies.  By September 26, the Donner Party came back to the established emigrant rode, ending Hastings cut-off. Using Hastings advice, the Donner Party had added an unnecessary month to their travel. On October 5, after an argument got violent, John Snyder was stabbed by James Reed. Reed was outcast with only his horse, basically a death sentence.  On October 17, the Donner Party finally got to the fresh water and game of the Truckee Meadows; next was the Sierra Nevada. On October 19, Stanton returned with supplies from Sutter’s Fort as well as two Miwoks, Luis and Salvador. McCutchen had fallen ill. But Stanton also said he had seen James Reed in Bear Valley, past the Sierra Nevada with Walter Herron, one of his teamsters. They had made it to California, and by him being outcast, it had most definitely saved his life.  Late October 29 or 30, the Donner Party made camp some five or six miles from Truckee Lake, now named Donner Lake. When they awoke in the morning, a few inches of snow covered the ground, making some of them slightly anxious. Over the next few days, they tried two escape attempts and failed, finally just camping out at the lake. They would try again when it stopped snowing. It snowed for eight straight days.  The Donners, stranded at Alder Creek, set up tents to shelter themselves. At the lake camp, many made cabins, including the Graves. The Graves built a double cabin, one for themselves and Amanda McCutchen and her infant, the other for the Reeds, who only had a cook and dogs, some bachelors including Charles Stanton, and the two Miwoks, Luis and Salvador.  The members of the Donner Party, realizing they were stranded, decided to slaughter their remaining livestock. The Graves had lost most of their cattle and all of their horses, but still had many of their oxen. Margaret Reed bought two oxen off of the Graves and two off the Breens. When they slaughtered their animals, they preserved and used everything. The organs, the bones, they even used the hides to make new blankets. But they all knew this was not going to last long. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> On November 12, when the snow stopped falling, Franklin Ward Graves ordered another escape attempt. Only the women with no children and healthy men would go. Soon they had to turn back because the powdery snow made it impossible to walk on. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> By November 21, it had not snowed for more than a week. They tried another escape plan. The snow had a thin crust, light enough for a man to walk on, but soon, as the sun came out and began to thaw, the mules began to sink into the snow. Most wanted to abandon the mules and press on, but the guides Stanton, Luis and Salvador refused to go any farther without the mules, saying they needed to return them to Sutter. So they turned back. Later that night, a storm would hit and all the mules would wander away and die. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> Franklin Graves, a Vermonter, ordered his family to start to make snowshoes out of what they had. Fifteen pairs of snowshoes were made. On December 17, seventeen set out, the two without snowshoes returned to the camp. Guided by the Miwoks and Stanton, they brought six-days-worth of beef jerky. Four days later, Charles Stanton died; his bones would be found by another party five months later. The next day while suffering from snow blindness and other ailments the 14 surviving members made a wrong turn and headed into longer, more dangerous land. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> Without a compass or the wagon ruts to guide them, the Snowshoe Party was completely lost. On December 23, Patrick Dolan gave the idea that the men should draw straws and the shortest straw was to be shot and provide flesh for them. Patrick Dolan himself drew the fatal straw, but the idea was soon brushed aside and no one was shot. On Christmas Eve, the Mexican drover, Antonio, died, and Franklin Graves, telling his daughters Sarah and Mary Ann on his deathbed to use his body for food. Later Patrick Dolan would freeze to death. Back at the lake camp, the Donner Party was surviving on charred oxen bones and burned and boiled hides. Late on the night of December 26, Lemuel Murphy died in his sister’s, Sarah Foster’s, lap. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> The next day, the ten surviving members, five women and five men, butchered the bodies, cutting off its head, hands, and feet, trying to dehumanize their meal, and made a fire. They separated each other so no one would have to eat their own kin and set about, except for Luis and Salvador who turned their backs on the whites. Sadly, the Snowshoe Party could have survived a lot longer without eating. They thought the others had died of starvation, when in reality, they died of hypothermia. They then dried the remaining flesh, stuffed it in their packs, and set out again, their bellies full. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> On January 2, they realized they could make more progress without the snowshoes and abandoned them and on January 3, they began to encounter country that was snow-free. On January 4, William Foster proposed the idea of killing Luis and Salvador for food to William Eddy. He argued against it, and later that night, Luis and Salvador ran away. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> On January 5, William Eddy and Mary Ann Graves shot down a deer. The first real food they’d had in days. But later that night, Jay Fosdick died, leaving Sarah Fosdick a widow. Jay was soon devoured as Sarah ate what remained of the venison. On January 7, the Snowshoe Party was beginning to go crazy. Foster proposed to Eddy that they should kill Amanda McCutchen for food, or Sarah and Mary Ann Graves. The idea was dramatically silenced when a knife was pulled. Later, they came across the emaciated Miwoks, Luis and Salvador, looking for and eating different plants. William Foster heartlessly shot both. The Snowshoe Party then stripped the flesh off the Miwoks and continued on, hobbling lost and blindly until they came across human footprints and stumbled into an Indian village. The Indians fed them food and moved them from one village to the next. And on late January 17, William Eddy, with aid of an Indian, hobbled into Johnson’s Ranch and told them of the six others sitting back along the trail. They were all rescued and taken to Johnson’s Ranch and told of the Donner Party still stranded in the Sierra Nevada. The survivors would lay in bed with swollen feet for weeks, Mary Ann not able to where shoes for three months. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> A party known as the First Relief went up to the mountain and took down a number of surviving members. Many of the bachelors and infants were dead as well as Jacob Donner. The Second Relief was headed by the one and only James Reed who was reunited with his family. But the Second Relief was soon lost and the fire they made sunk into the snow making a pit where they all huddled. The Reeds, along with some others who were strong enough, moved on leaving the others in the snow pit. Elizabeth Graves, along with a few others, died and soon the people in the pit were starving and Mary Donner brought up the idea of eating the bodies. Patrick Breen brought down scraps of meat for them to eat, meat that Nancy Graves, only 8-years-old, ate, and would later find out, used to be her own mother. A fact that would haunt her for the rest of her life. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> The ones in the pit were then rescued by the Third Relief on March 12, which brought more to safety out of the mountains. The Fourth Relief, really just an expedition to take the treasures and money left behind, discovered Louis Keseberg alive with George Donner’s head split open and the brains removed as well as scattered human remains. He made it out of the mountains, and would die as a known cannibal and rumored murderer of Tamzene Donner. Out of the original 81 members, less than half made it out. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 125%;"> Through the ages, the Donner Party has made a lasting impression on American culture, inspiring books, parodies, and even a movie. If I have anything to say about them, well, I’d say that there’s no party like the Donner Party.