The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, were a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada.

Mar 27, 2025 · Donner party, group of American pioneers stranded en route to California in 1846. The group was named for the expedition’s captain, George Donner. It was widely circulated that members of the party resorted to cannibalism after their food ran out, giving the party its …

Mar 5, 2010 · The Donner Party was a group of 89 emigrants from Illinois who purportedly turned to cannibalism to survive after getting trapped by snowfall while on a westward journey in 1846.

Mar 2, 2020 · When the Donner Party got trapped in the Sierra Nevadas in 1846, they turned to cannibalism. Here's what happened to the 40 survivors that made it out alive.

On April 16, 1846, the Donner Party left Springfield, IL on the 2500 mile journey to California, in what would become a great tragedy in westward migration.

Apr 14, 2016 · When a group of nearly 90 emigrants known as the Donner Party left Illinois in the spring of 1846, heading westward to California in covered wagons, they undoubtedly relished reports of the...

The following timeline provides an almost day-to-day basic description of events directly associated with the 1846 Donner Party pioneers, covering the journey from Illinois to California—2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers), over the Great Plains, two mountain ranges, and the deserts of the Great Basin.

Feb 12, 2019 · In 1846, one Lansford W. Hastings claimed to have found a new, timesaving route to California. Hastings then tried to persuade settlers in Missouri to allow him to lead them to California. Known as the Hastings Cutoff, his route lay directly through the Great Salt Lake desert in …

The terrible fate of one wagon party headed down the Oregon Trail–the Donners and Reeds – sealed its place in the history of great American tragedies. In 1846, the ill-fated Donner Reed party, bound for settlement in California, became trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains by …

Jun 27, 2018 · Donner Party, group of emigrants to California who in the winter of 1846–47 met with one of the most famous tragedies in Western history. The California-bound families were mostly from Illinois and Iowa, and most prominent among them were the two Donner families and the Reed family.