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The Donner Party Research Paper

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“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 …show more content…

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

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With them came their three children, Martha or “Patty”, James Jr., Thomas, and Virginia. Margaret Reed’s mother also accompanied the family on the perilous journey west. In total, the family had hired five employees who were Eliza Williams, and her half-brother Baylis, Milford or “Milt” Elliott, Walter Herron, James Smith, and last, Hiram Miller. The Reed family was known for incredible wealth, and it showed during their travels. The family was also known for possessing a “Pioneer Palace Car” which was highly respected, and was a display of great wealth at the time.

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On our trip to California, we (the Donner Party) were forced to face many unexpected hardships. At Alcove springs Grandmother Keyes died. Just past Fort Bridger we took the Hastings Cutoff, which we were informed saved 400 miles. The information was wrong. The shortcut added 100 miles to the journey.

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So they packed up their stuff in 20 wagons and began on there way on May 1846. Little did they know things wouldn't turn out the way they wanted it too. They wanted to get to California. Once they went onto their journey to California they decided they wanted to take a shortcut through Utah to Nevada. The group then decided to try Hasting Cutoff, an alternate route to get to the gold rush faster.

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The trail parted into two routes the norther trail known as the Hastings Cutoff. Here, the train split, with the majority of the large caravan taking the safer route. The group preferring the Hastings route elected George Donner as their captain. Once they split hard comings came from both groups of parties. George Donners wagon broke while James Reed was banished from his group.

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