The Donner Party
The Donner Party
The Donner Party was a group settlers during the 1800’s that planned on moving West to settle for new life. In hopes of reaching California quickly, as they had left late in the season and they decided took a new route. One man that considered himself an expert guide had only traveled this new route. He led them through the Sierra Nevada Mountains by notes he left on the trail for them. This route turned out to be extremely dangerous and cost many people their lives and families.
Donner Party: Emigrating West
George and Jacob Donner led a group of almost 90 emigrants, including their families, through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in hopes for a new life in California. After hearing of a shortcut that would quickly …show more content…
A good percent of the whole party was under 18 and that is even including infants. One child survivor Isabella Breen lived on until 1935. After finally getting the summit of the mountain on October 31, they camped overnight with the plan of passing the summit the next morning leaving what they assumed to be the most terrible part of the whole journey behind them. They woke up to almost 5 feet of snow. After realizing, the shortcut was a terrible waste of time and Hastings was not the man he claimed to be, they set up a camp and tried to wait the winter out. They tried twice more to get over the summit of the mountain but to no avail, December 16, 1846, after five months of being snowbound 15 members tried to walk out of the mountains in search of help. While walking they became tired and hungry with no food or shelter. “They were left starving and on the verge of collapse. The hikers resigned themselves to cannibalism and considered drawing lots for a human sacrifice or even having two of the men square in a duel. Soon enough other members died naturally and they resorted to roasting their bodies and eating them to regain the strength they had lost. Most historians call this hike “The Forlorn Hope.” (Andrew, E, 2016). While trying to hike out of the mountains, two Indians had accompanied them were the only two ever murdered for food. Salvador and Luis had refused to turning to cannibalism …show more content…
After being located rescuers did everything they could and it took four rescue teams to lead them back to safety. One famous survivor by the name of Lewis Keseberg, they claimed he went crazy and ate some of the others. William Eddy happened to be one of the rescuers that encountered Lewis that day, only to realize he was eating the remains of Eddy’s son. The rescuers claimed to have found perfectly preserved horse meat that could have been eaten for food and that’s when lynching made its way into the mind of the others that came about this grizzly sight. However, some of the rescuers stepped and let Lewis come back to safety with them and it was never proven that he actually killed anybody to eat
The Donner Party was a group settlers during the 1800’s that planned on moving West to settle for new life. In hopes of reaching California quickly, as they had left late in the season and they decided took a new route. One man that considered himself an expert guide had only traveled this new route. He led them through the Sierra Nevada Mountains by notes he left on the trail for them. This route turned out to be extremely dangerous and cost many people their lives and families.
Donner Party: Emigrating West
George and Jacob Donner led a group of almost 90 emigrants, including their families, through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, in hopes for a new life in California. After hearing of a shortcut that would quickly …show more content…
A good percent of the whole party was under 18 and that is even including infants. One child survivor Isabella Breen lived on until 1935. After finally getting the summit of the mountain on October 31, they camped overnight with the plan of passing the summit the next morning leaving what they assumed to be the most terrible part of the whole journey behind them. They woke up to almost 5 feet of snow. After realizing, the shortcut was a terrible waste of time and Hastings was not the man he claimed to be, they set up a camp and tried to wait the winter out. They tried twice more to get over the summit of the mountain but to no avail, December 16, 1846, after five months of being snowbound 15 members tried to walk out of the mountains in search of help. While walking they became tired and hungry with no food or shelter. “They were left starving and on the verge of collapse. The hikers resigned themselves to cannibalism and considered drawing lots for a human sacrifice or even having two of the men square in a duel. Soon enough other members died naturally and they resorted to roasting their bodies and eating them to regain the strength they had lost. Most historians call this hike “The Forlorn Hope.” (Andrew, E, 2016). While trying to hike out of the mountains, two Indians had accompanied them were the only two ever murdered for food. Salvador and Luis had refused to turning to cannibalism …show more content…
After being located rescuers did everything they could and it took four rescue teams to lead them back to safety. One famous survivor by the name of Lewis Keseberg, they claimed he went crazy and ate some of the others. William Eddy happened to be one of the rescuers that encountered Lewis that day, only to realize he was eating the remains of Eddy’s son. The rescuers claimed to have found perfectly preserved horse meat that could have been eaten for food and that’s when lynching made its way into the mind of the others that came about this grizzly sight. However, some of the rescuers stepped and let Lewis come back to safety with them and it was never proven that he actually killed anybody to eat