The Donner Party Research Paper

“My father, with tears in his eyes, tried to smile as one friend after another grasped his hand in a last farewell. Mama was overcome with grief. At last we were all in the wagons. The drivers cracked their whips. The oxen moved slowly forward and the long journey had begun.” — Virginia Reed, daughter of James Reed. A tragic story of the Donner party is a very harrowing adventure through the journey of the big group and how about half of the people lived to tell the tale. On April 16, 1846 nine wagons were reported departing from Springfield Illinois on a journey of what is now called the Oregon Trail. Formerly known as the northern trail there were a lot of advantages and disadvantages to the Oregon trail there was more land and wonderful

She had two maids. Consumption is basically pulmonary tuberculosis. With that in mind the whole group also had the best state of the art wagons, there were built in wood stoves, spring loaded seats, and beds for sleeping. It was so nice that James’s 12 year old child Virginia dubbed it the “Pioneer Palace”. They were very exquisite wagon that took eight oxen to pull one wagon. With all of the wagons and oxen ready they all took off toward Independence, Missouri. One of the Donner’s was 62 and had moved five times before settling in Springfield, Illinois. He and his brother Jacob decided to make another commute to California which would sadly be their last. Ironically the same day that the Donner party the Hasting’s prepared to go east from California to see what his shortcut was like. After three weeks of easy travel the Donner group ended up in Independence, Missouri. After a good nights sleep and a resupply they headed out the date was May 12, 1846 to the west where there was a thunderstorm. About a week later the party came up upon a large wagon train controlled by colonel William H. Russell. They were camped by Indian creek about 100 miles west from Independence, Missouri. By the 25 the trail of wagons had been at a standstill and this is where the first death took place. Sarah Keyes had died and was buried by the