History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of the Sierra

I've read a few books on the Donner Party and have found the cast of characters daunting and the number of rescue missions difficult to sort out. Charles Fayette McGlashan lays out the general travel of the Donner party most clearly and provides the best overview. McGlashan at times writes in a very melodramatic fashion, sometimes peppered with exclamation marks to drive home the plight of the travelers. At one point, he defends the need for the Donner Party to kill some Indian guides for food. Not politically correct for today, it sheds light on the attitude towards Indians at the time. Included are excerpts from letters and diaries written on the trail, and interviews made afterward. I found the interview with Lewis Keseberg most fascinating. He is so often characterized as a willing cannibal. I have never read his account of the story before and it is well worth downloading this book just to read his interview. The last part of the book recounts a short biography of John A. Sutter, who helped supply the rescue operations, and also the fate of each survivor. Some might find that interesting, but the cast of characters is so huge that I found it time consuming and a bit of a drag. The Kindle version does not sport a clickable table of contents. The chapters are numbered, followed by a curious string of words which look like they could be a mass of titles jumbled together in a paragraph. For instance, the first chapter begins with, "Donner Lake A famous Tourist Resort Building the Central Pacific California's Skating Park The Pioneers The Organization of the Donner Party Ho! for California! A mammoth Train The Dangers by the Way . . . ." It went on for another five lines. I made sure to skip it but found it distracting. Altogether, it was a good read with some distractions. For a more personal tale of the Donner party, I recommend The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

A huge wagon train split up at the western end of the great salt lake. Most of the emigrants took the traditional route to California. Some of them decided to go through Hasting's cutoff. Hasting had gone to California on the regular route. He wrote The Emigrant's Guide To California. Inside the book, there was a new route, a route which Hastings thought up. He had never actually tried it out when the Donner Party came. It turned out to be much rougher, and even longer than the regular route. 3 people died before they even reached Donner Lake. At Donner Lake, the party was trapped in the snow. They built several cabins, but the Donners themselves never got to the lake. They put up several tents on Alder Creek. They ran out of food, and sent several small, unsuccessful parties to California. They became desperate, and sent out one last party, "The Forlorn Hope." Those who were strong enough, set out for California. There were 15 people in the Forlorn Hope. The first to die of hunger and cold was a 13 year old, Lemuel. His sister couldn't watch as the rest of the Forlorn Hope ate Lemuel. More people died, but eventually, the remaining seven, reached Sutter's fort. Meanwhile, James F. Reed, who had been banished from the party, assembled a rescue party. The first try to reach the people at the lake was unsuccessful. Eventually they get to the lake, and rescue the people they could. This is a great book about the Donner Party. It was written in a way that makes it hard to read for anyone under 12, but it captured the drama perfectly.

It's hard to believe that what is written down in this book ir real. But, real it is. Once you start reading it you can't put it down. It holds you spellbound. Pulls at your heartstrings as you read what this party had to go through. It would be impossible today for people to stand up to what these people did. This book is well worth the reading. These people had the strength, fortitude that is seldom found today.

The McGlashan book has been in print almost continuously for nearly 120 years. While not the entire story, it is still the book against which all Donner Party stories are measured. It is a compelling story of the classic American tragedy of the western migration, showing the many complex sides of the individuals involved in the story. It is mandatory reading for anyone interested in our western history