Document-Based Questions - Debra J. Housel, M.S. Ed. 2008

Doomed Pioneers: The Donner Party
True Survival Stories

In the spring of 1846, about 800 people headed for California. Among them were the Donner and Reed families. These two families joined together to form their own wagon train. They chose George and Jacob Donner as their leaders. More people joined their group in southern Wyoming. Soon they made a mistake that would leave 90 people stuck in the Sierra Nevadas, a mountain range in eastern California. Of these, only 47 survived that harsh winter.

The trouble started when they left the main trail. They took a shortcut that turned out to be anything but short. It delayed their progress and made them move too slowly. They knew they were in trouble by October. Tension grew. Things started to fall apart when James Reed killed another man during a quarrel. The group abandoned Reed in the desert without food or water. A friend secretly gave him a horse and food. Reed made it to California and that winter led a search party looking for the wagon train.

The second week of October, panic set in. When one man could not keep up, they left him in the desert, too. A week later a man was accidentally shot. They didn’t take time to bury him. By November, deep snows stopped the group from moving. The cattle that had pulled the wagons soon died. But their bodies were buried so far under the snow that the people could not reach them.

They built crude shelters of logs, rocks, and hides. They soon ran out of food and the deep snow made hunting nearly impossible. They ate twigs, mice, and their shoes. In December the group tried a daring plan. Fourteen of the strongest would snowshoe to the nearest settlement. It was a trip of 150 miles. They carried six days’ worth of food, but the trip took 33 days. Along the way half of them died. It is believed that, to keep from starving, the remaining survivors had to resort to cannibalism.

Seven reached the settlement. They sent back food with the First Relief group. The rescuers arrived on February 19. The people in camp were so weak that they thought the men were angels. Some had lost all their hair and their eyesight. Twelve had died since the group had left. A second relief group came to lead the people out of the mountains. Death continued to stalk them. One three-year-old girl died just five miles from the settlement, and a young boy ate so much dried meat that he died.

Despite what the Donner Party faced, people scorned them because of their means of survival. But since no one was murdered, no crime was committed. They did what they had to do to survive.

In June 1918 a monument was erected in memory of the Donner Party in Donner Memorial State Park.

Here is what a plaque on the monument reads:

Donner Party

Near this spot stood near the Breen cabin of the party of emigrants who started for California near Springfield, Illinois in April, 1846, under the leadership of Captain George Donner. Delays occurred and when the party reached this locality on October 29 the Truckee Pass emigrant road was concealed by snow. The height of the shaft of this monument indicates the depth of the snow, which was twenty-two feet. After futile attempts to cross the summit, the party was compelled to camp for the winter. The Graves cabin was situated about three-quarters of a mile to the eastward. The Murphy cabin was about 200 yards southwest of the monument, and the Donner tents were at the head of Alder Creek. Ninety people were in the party and forty-two perished, most of them from starvation and exposure.”

In commemoration of the pioneers who crossed the Plains to settle in California.

The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. “Donner Monument California State Historic Landmark 134.”

http://www.sonic.net/~laird/landmarks/counties/100-199/134.html

1. The Donner Party’s end destination was

a. Nevada.

b. California.

c. Wyoming.

d. Oregon.

2. Cannibalism means

a. killing other people for food.

b. eating one’s own pets.

c. abandoning people in the desert.

d. eating human flesh.

3. The group left James Reed in the desert because he

a. couldn’t keep up.

b. died.

c. had committed a murder.

d. criticized the group’s leaders.

4. The First Relief Group led the settlers out of their snowy encampment. True or False? Explain.

5. According to the plaque, which families had cabins during that terrible winter of 1846-47?

6. Were the people in the Donner party wrong to eat the dead members of the group? Why or why not?