The Donner Party

It's one of the greatest tragedies of all time, yet few of us know the whole story. The story is of the misled, inexperienced Donner Party. It is the story of eighty-one emigrants who traveled in hopes of reaching the land of California. Forty-seven, whose hopes were crushed by many contributing factors. The most horrible and misleading factor of all was the human mind and its persistent need to explore and conquer everything, whether within reach or not in the shortest and fastest way possible. This aspect of taking the shortest route that led to the downfall, and in some cases, to death, of the Donner Party.

It was advertised as a new and shorter route west to California and saved pioneers 350 to 400. Unfortunately some crucial things weren't mentioned in this advertisement, one of which was the fact that the new route had never been traveled upon; and two, that the writer was a power hungry man whose only motive was to lure settlers into California under his direction so he could establish the area as an independent republic. This route was known as Hasting's Cutoff and was mentioned in Lansford W. Hasting's book, "The Emigrant's Guide to California and Oregon." Many pioneers eager to make their fortun

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At first they thought that it was deserted, but a ghostly figure of a woman soon appeared followed by anyone who was able to move. The party was stranded for two days before the third relief party found them. Their 2500 mile journey to San Francisco would take them approximately four months and they would cross three mountain ranges, deserts, plains, and rivers. The Indians would not engage in this act of cannibalism, and left when they were told that many were planning to eat them after the others were roasted. Desperate and starving, the survivors began to eat Patrick Dolan. The members of the Donner Party were furious at this point.

On July 20, they reached the Sandy River, which was the parting of the routes. Two days later the cattle were all killed (except three or four), and the party began eating boiled hides, twigs, bones, bark, etc. On August 30, the party began to cross the desert. Forty-one individuals died, and forty-six survived. They believed it would only take them two days and two nights (according to Hastings). His family, however, couldn't protect him. Only two out of the ten men survived, but all five women lived through the journey. On December 15, Bails Williams died of malnutrition and realizing that something had to be done before they all died, five men, nine women, and one child departed for the summit.

Approximate Word count = 2843
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

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