Donner Party Notes

Westward Migration

  • it was rapid

  • there was always a sense of migration since the first colonies that mirated out of England and into the New World

Donner Party

  • set out from Illinois, 1846

  • 87 members

    • half women adn children

    • refused to help one another

    • shortcutted through Utah that held them up a month

      • reached Sierra at the summit

    • 15 men adn women trudged through makeshift snowshoes for help

      • 1 made it to a Californian settlement

    • 40 dead by April

    • San Francisco press sensationalized it

Wagon Trains

  • gatherig of wagons and caravans for convenience purposes

  • many people took the same rout to reach a location, usually somewhere on the West Coast, which is pioneered and tested by a train

    • “The caravan of 1842, organized by Dr. Elijah White, traveled as far as Fort Hall (in present-day Idaho) before the wagons were abandoned. From there the people traveled on foot, horseback, or by raft down the Snake and Columbia Rivers. The following year more than one thousand immigrants moved over the same route in many wagons, some of which reached the banks of the Columbia River.”

  • for formation, there needs to be order and coordornation amongst the caravans, as it was dangerous

    • mormons had a somewhat militairy formtion

    • some of these trains went through Native land

      • sometimes there is a Native guide

  • by the 1880s, wagon trains turned into more about transporting goods than people, although poorer families elected to use one wagon to carry their families

    • stagecoaches

    • relocation of Rocky Mountain and Great Plains Natives

Primary Source

Notes

  • Breen is an Irish imigrant that came to America in 1828

  • started journey April 1846 with wife and 7 kids

    • whole family lived

Journal

  • starts Nov 20th, rouhgly 3 weeks since they stopped moving

    • party traped in the snow and decided to stay until the Spring of next year

  • most of cattle was killed and eaten

    • fighting for food

      • Jan/Feb 23

        • this dude got some humor

  • Staton & Graves

    • WHO are they?

  • takes note of the wind direction

  • …it snows a lot and its windy fr

    • 6ft deep Dec. 3rd

      • SOME sunshine

  • dec. 6th, they made snow shows

  • as January rolls by, there is mention of religion

    • calls himself a sinner

    • indication of desperation?

  • jan 19th, 7 California men came with provisions

    • mentions Donnos Camp/Party

  • Feb 26, they said they would start eating their dead if they didn;t mae it out or fidn their cattle

  • Feb 28th, Native man passed by and gave some food (roots resembling onions and taste like sweet potatoes)

  • Mar. 1st, 10 men arrive from Bear Valey with provisions

    • amongst the men, some of the hold heads say teh snow will last till June

      • they will start leaving in 2-3 days