By the middle of the 19th century, the eastern United States was densely populated. The land there was expensive, and the work was low-paying. Therefore, more and more people were looking for happiness in the western part of the continent. Huge territories were empty there, the climate was favorable, and besides, gold was mined. California has become a real promised land for those who have not found themselves near the Atlantic coast. But the way there was not easy. Crossing the continent took months, and on the way there were deserts, mountains, deep rivers and unfriendly Indians. Therefore, in order to reduce the risk, travelers hired experienced guides for money.
A short route
One of those who earned money from immigrants was the lawyer Landsfort Hastings. This man had been to California many times and was considered an experienced guide. In addition, he knew a path that was 600 km shorter than those suggested by others. Hastings’ authority was weighty, so three families decided to use his services: the Donners, the Murphys and the Reeds.
Migrants near the tents. Photo of the 19th century
Hastings, who had the gift of eloquence, managed to convince his clients that the trip would be a pleasant walk. He also said that the mountains marked on the maps are just hills that can be crossed without the slightest difficulty. In May 1946, the expedition set out, hoping to reach sunny California before the first cold weather.
The squad turned out to be quite a big one. It included more than 90 people, among whom there were no more than 30 healthy, strong men. The rest of the travelers were women, children and the elderly, among whom there were those who moved with difficulty themselves. The leader of the group was George Donner, a brave and determined man. He trusted the guide completely and, as it turned out, in vain. It later turned out that Hastings had never walked the new route before and had no idea what difficulties awaited the travelers on the way.
James and Margret Reed
One journalist knew that the conductor was a liar. He had already made an unsuccessful attempt to reach California by a short route. He left a letter addressed to him at the store where Donner bought groceries. But by an unfortunate coincidence, it did not reach the addressee. Interestingly, Hastings himself promised to join the group later, but did not do so. The travelers had only a map he had drawn up.
The hardships of the path
The first few weeks of the trip passed without incident. But then the problems started to arise one by one. At first, wagons that could not withstand days of driving on rocky roads began to fail. The migrants had to stop for a long time to repair the wheels. Men endured the hardships of the road without a murmur, but it was very difficult for women, children and the elderly.
The route of the Donner group
The short cut suddenly turned out to be longer than the traditional one. Impenetrable forests and swampy swamps appeared on the way of Donner’s group. They had to be bypassed, wasting time and effort. After one of the crossings, the wanderers lost half of their cattle. He was kidnapped by Indians who were constantly circling around the caravan. After that, the first quarrels began among the travelers. Members of the Reed family accused the Donners of stealing and appropriating their cattle and some of their provisions. The atmosphere gradually heated up.
Soon the first conflict with the victim occurred. James Reed stabbed one of his companions, John Snyder, during an argument. By a general decision, the killer was expelled from the group, leaving him without provisions and weapons in the wilderness. As it turned out later, it saved Reed’s life. His daughter secretly left him everything he needed to survive and, unlike most of his companions, he did not die.
After this incident, conflicts began between the Donners and Murphy. The heads of the families stopped trusting each other, and the once close-knit team split into two warring camps. Every day the travelers found the route harder for the travelers. The oxen pulling the wagons were getting weaker, and the provisions were running out. Soon, the weakest migrants began to get sick and die.
Hunger and frost
So the story of the Donner group came to a tragic end. The Wasatch Mountains, which Hastings called the hills, appeared on the way of the travelers. There was only one way to escape — to cross the barrier before the first snowfall. But on November 4, 1846, the air temperature suddenly dropped and a severe snowstorm began. It was impossible to move further, and the settlers set up camp.
Wasatch Mountains in Utah
The food was over by this point, and there were not enough warm clothes. People started dying one by one. To feed themselves, the remaining oxen were slaughtered. But their meat was not enough for a long time and soon the hunt for mice and other small rodents began. They even ate cowhide hides, from which shelters from the weather were made.
Soon, the survivors made a difficult decision — there are bodies of those who could not stand the hardships and died. People raised on Christian values accepted this idea with horror. But there was no other way out. The first to be eaten was Patrick Dolan, who went crazy and then died. Later, two more corpses were consumed. The survivors claimed that they only ate those who died themselves. But later rescuers found the bodies of a woman and a child near the camp. They were gnawed to the bone and clearly did not die a natural death.
Salvation
The missing people came to their senses only in January 1847. On February 4, a rescue expedition from California went in search of Donner’s group. On February 18, the military and hunters found the camp in distress. Murphy’s wife was the first to greet them. She asked the newcomers, “Are you from California or from heaven?”
Even the battered soldiers were amazed by the sight of the camp. Corpses lay everywhere, lightly sprinkled with earth and snow. Exhausted people wandered between them, some of whom lost their minds. George Donner was dying. He suffered an accidental injury that led to infection and gangrene. Rescuers managed to take 23 people from the camp. This group included the weakest and sickest.
On March 1, 1847, rescuers returned and took away the surviving children. Unfortunately, not all of them survived the difficult journey to California — some died on the way. When the third group of soldiers arrived at the camp, cannibalism reigned there again. This time, we managed to bring out another group of people. Unfortunately, this was the last raid. The weather prevented the military and volunteers from reaching the camp for the fourth time, and the people who remained in the mountains died.
Wasatch Mountains in Utah/div>
Among those who never saw the coveted California were George Donner and his wife and Murphy’s wife. Of the 90 people who set out in the spring, only 48 managed to survive. About this terrible journey, the writer Alma Katsu wrote the book “Hunger”, the plot of which the author supplemented with mysticism. In 2009, a film of the same name was made based on her motives.
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