1. the donner party

3. Lansford W. Hastings

4. Hastings Cutoff
The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California, by Landsford W. Hastings
New route enticed travelers by advertising that it would save the pioneers miles on easy terrain.
Hastings Route had never been tested

6. Group ended up with 81 members,
The party
Group ended up with 81 members,
More than half were younger than 18, six were infants
Wagon was an extravagant two-story affair with a built-in iron stove, spring-cushioned seats and bunks for sleeping – took eight oxen to pull the luxurious wagon
Hastings was leaving that same day to explore cutoff

7. Good advice
Old friend advised Reed not to take the Hastings Route, road was barely passable on foot and would be impossible with wagons; also warning him of the great desert and the Sierra Nevadas.
Man carrying a letter from Hastings at - stated that Hastings would meet the emigrants at Fort Bridger and lead them on his cutoff

8. Promises from hastings
Said he would mark trail
Found note from Hastings attached to a stick, trail was harder than imagined, should make camp until he could return to show them another way

9. Slow progress
Hastings never came, group sent a guide up, said to take a different route
Clearing trees and other obstructions, wagon train was lucky to make even two miles per day, taking them six days just to travel eight miles
Oxen ran away, group almost died of dehydration in Great Salt Lake Desert

11. Wagons became entangled Man became frustrated and whipped his oxen
Tensions rise
Wagons became entangled
Man became frustrated and whipped his oxen
James Reed ordered man to stop mistreatment of the animal, stabbed him when he wouldn’t
Party wasted no time administering justice, banished Reed

12. Constructed small cabins and make-shift tents
Donner lake
After trying to get through 20ft of snow, became stranded at what is now known as Donner Lake
Constructed small cabins and make-shift tents
Sent bachelor men to go get food, returned

13. Reed’s rescue attempt
James Reed had attempted to get a search party to rescue his family, couldn’t find able-bodied men
Thought they had plenty of food, oxen to last them for months
Pioneers at Donner Lake killed the last of their oxen for food on November 29th.

14. Next day, five more feet of snow fell
More snow, less food
Next day, five more feet of snow fell
Party cooked their dogs, gnawed on leftover bones and even boiled the animal hide roofs of their cabins into a foul paste, ate boiled leather and tree bark

15. Food ran out on the sixth day
The forlorn hope
Group departed from Donner Lake on snow shoes, hoped to make it through mountains
Food ran out on the sixth day
Next three days, no one ate while they traveled through grueling high winds and freezing weather

16. The forlorn hope Resorted to cannibalism, 7/8 had been cannibalized
Native American guides refused to engage in cannibalism, left group
Found later, exhausted and lying in the snow, a man shot both of them in the head
Native Americans were then butchered and eaten by the hikers
Considered drawing straws or having men duel for a sacrifice

17. Relief parties
Of sixty people at lake, 12 had died, many had gone crazy or were barely clinging to life
Evidence of cannibalism
Reed led second relief group out, got caught in another blizzard
Reed went ahead to find food, others stayed behind in “Starved Camp”
Children unknowingly fed human flesh, sometimes of parents

18. The last to be rescued was Louis Keseberg, supposedly half-mad and surrounded by the cannibalized bodies of his former companions

19. Most who survived lost toes to frostbite
The aftermath
Took two months and four relief parties to rescue surviving Donner Party
41 died, 46 survived
Most who survived lost toes to frostbite
Half of survivors resorted to cannibalism

20. Survivors tried to forget what happened
The aftermath
Newspapers printed letters and diaries, and accused the travelers of bad conduct, cannibalism, and murder
Survivors tried to forget what happened
Had to change their names because they were being harassed

21. http://www.history.com/topics/donner- party/videos/the-donner-party

22. Dangers of living in the west
Natural dangers - droughts, floods, fires, blizzards, locust plagues,
Raids by outlaws and Native Americans
Disease and injuries

23. Trees were scarce, most settlers built homes into the land itself into sides of ravines or small hills
Little light, very small
Haven for snakes, insects, and other pests
Fireproof, but leaked continuously when it rained