The Donner Party (best documentary)

it is odd to watch with what feverish ardor americans pursue prosperity ever tormented by the shadowy suspicion that they may not have chosen the shortest route to get it they cleave to the things of this world as if assured that they will never die and yet rush to snatch any that comes within their reach as if they expected to stop living before they had relished them death steps in in the end and stops them before they have grown tired of this futile pursuit of that complete felicity which always escapes them alexis de tocqueville [Music] it began in the 1840s spurred on by financial panic in the east by outbreaks of cholera and malaria and by the ceaseless american hankering to move west [Music] when the pioneer movement began fewer than 20 000 white americans lived west of the mississippi river ten years later the immigration had swelled to a flood and before it was over more than half a million men women and children had stepped off into the wilderness at places like independence missouri and headed out over the long road to oregon and california in places their wagon wheels carved ruts shoulder deep in the rocky road the settlers themselves knew they were making history it will be received one immigrant wrote as a legend on the borderland of myth but of all the stories to come out of the west none has cut more deeply into the imagination of the american people than the tale of the donner party high in the sierra nevada in the winter of 1846 [Music] human endeavor and failure blunders mistakes ambition greed all the elements and if you call a rescue of the surviving parties the happy ending it's a happy ending but what about those that didn't make it that terrible terrible i think we're curious you know about people who who've experienced a hardship uh who've gone through terrible ordeals and certainly the donner party you know 87 people went through uh a crisis the like of which few human beings have ever faced and we're curious about that it can tell us something i think about ourselves about the limits of human experience march 3rd 1846 the tide of immigration is unparalleled in the annals of history the eyes of the american people are now turned westward and thousands are gazing with the most intense interest and anxiety upon the pacific shores with a full determination to make one more one last move more to the far west lansford w hastings as 1846 began thousands of americans were on the move west eager to bring oregon texas new mexico and california into the american sphere no one was keener to possess california than lanceford w hastings an ambitious 27-year-old lawyer from mount vernon ohio whose visions of empire would be the donner party's doom in 1842 he wandered west to california what he saw there amazed him he dreamed of taking california from mexico and of establishing an independent republic with himself at its head hoping to send a tide of americans flooding west to occupy the province he published the immigrants guide to oregon and california it painted california as a second eden and advertised a new and faster route across the great basin a shortcut no one had ever seen including hastings himself lancer hastings probably ambitious probably very sure of himself and he says come with me i'll take you i've been there and that is not quite the truth it was good enough for him but it killed people it's a siren call of bad news bad news it's all mixed up with the romance and the so-called heroism of the westward migration and the big american dream the american dream has some nightmares attached to it and this is this is one of the ways the american dream could go the american dream probably resulted in for for most of the people who followed it like a marshlight in disaster on april 16 1846 nine brand new covered wagons rattled slowly out of springfield illinois and headed west the families of george and jacob donner and james frazier reed are off to make a new life for themselves in the valley of california george donner was a 62 year old farmer who had migrated five times before settling in springfield for he and his older brother jacob had made enough money never to have to move again then land fevers swept illinois and kindled the urge to move one last time the originator of the springfield party was an intelligent headstrong businessman named james frazier reed who was proud of the fortune he'd made in illinois but convinced he could do even better out west his wife margaret suffered from terrible sick headaches they hoped would improve in a better climate with them were their four children virginia patty james and little thomas [Music] margaret's elderly mother sarah keys came too so sick with consumption she could barely walk but unwilling to be separated from her only daughter the donners and the reeds made a lavish entourage 32 men women and children in all counting the reed's two hired servants and the seven teamsters who had answered george donner's ad to drive the big wagons [Music] but the most extravagant luxury was the reed's family wagon a two-story affair with a built-in iron stove spring cushion seats and bunks for sleeping it took eight oxen to pull the mammoth arc the 12 year old virginia reed called the pioneer palace car no one had ever seen anything like it my father with tears in his eyes tried to smile as one friend after another grasped his hand in the last farewell mama was overcome with grief [Music] 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 reid their immediate destination was independence missouri the main jumping-off point for the oregon and california trails once beyond independence however they were stepping off into the unknown all they knew was that the long and dangerous journey would take them five hundred miles across a huge windswept plain three great mountain ranges and half a dozen scorching deserts [Music] time was everything the grueling journey couldn't begin until the spring rains had subsided and had to be over before snow blocked the sierra nevada mountains [Music] that spring talk was everywhere of a new and faster way in the bottom of jacob donner's saddlebag was a copy of lansford hastings immigrants guide with its tantalizing talk of a faster route to the garden of the earth the same day the donners and the reeds rolled west out of springfield lansford hastings prepared to head east from california to see what the shortcut he was promoting was really like he'd heard that you could go south of the lake the idea was to depart just before you got to fort bridger going through the wasatch south of the lake across the salt desert through the rubies into california problem was he had never really done it had never done it with a wagon and yet it was his ambition to lead what people thought to be 7 000 wagons heading west that year in lansford hastings was going to try and lead his share back [Music] mr hastings our pilot is looking for some force from the states with which it is designed to revolutionize california he's anxious to try this route but my belief is that it is very little nearer and not so good a road is that by fort hall james climan [Music] independence may 11 1846 my dearest only sister i can give you no idea of the hurry of this place at this time it is to be 7 000 wagons this season we go to california to the bay of san francisco a four-month trip [Music] i am willing to go and have no doubt it will be an advantage to our children and to us farewell my sister you shall hear from me as soon as i have an opportunity tams and donner [Music] the donners and the reeds reached independence missouri in the second week of may [Music] heavy spring rains had turned the unpaved streets to mud wagons bogged to the hubs drivers cursed and whipped the straining oxen immigrants hurried from store to store purchasing supplies and anxiously inquiring after the latest news singular as it may appear there is as much electioneering here for the captaincy of this expedition as there is for the presidency of the united states edwin bryant [Music] we have some of the best people in our company and some two that are not so good tams and donna day by day week after week wagons rolled out of independence the donners and the reeds got started on may 12th not a living or a moving object of any kind appears upon the face of the vast expanse the white-topped wagons and the men and animals belonging to them are the only relief to the tomb-like stillness of the landscape a lovelier scene was never gazed upon nor one of more profound solitude a few days out two riders overtook them they brought mail from independence and knows that hostilities had broken out between the united states and mexico on the rio grande each night violent thunderstorms broke over the wagon train scattering cattle and drenching the encampments [Music] each morning the skies cleared but the trail had turned to mud the reed's palace wagon had to be laboriously double-teamed over even moderate inclines to the immense irritation of those forced to crawl along behind on may 27th the wagon train came to a standstill on the east bank of the big blue river too swollen by rain to be forwarded the company went into camp to build a makeshift ferry [Music] by then the journey had become too much for margaret reed's mother grandma became speechless the day before she died we made a neat coffin and buried her under a tree we miss her very much every time we come into the wagon [Music] we look at the bed for her virginia read on may 31st two days after the burial of sarah keys the last of the wagons was ferried safely over the big blue [Music] june 16th we are now on the plat 200 miles from fort laramie i never could have believed we could have traveled so far with so little difficulty indeed if i do not experience something far worse than i have yet done i shall say the trouble is all in getting started tams and donner on june 27th just one week behind schedule the donners and the reeds reached fort laramie an isolated trading post in the foothills of the rocky mountains there james reed found an old friend from illinois a 54 year old mountain man named james kleiman who had just come east from california using hastings cut off we camped with them climbing remembered and continued the conversation until a late hour reid anxious to make up for lost time asked climbing what he thought of hastings new route i told him about the great desert and the roughness of the sierras and that a straight route might turn out to be impracticable i told him to take the regular wagon track and never leave it it is barely possible to get through if you follow it and it may be impossible if you don't climbing who has just been south of the lake on horseback coming east with lansford hastings says don't do it don't do it because you can't take wagons that way go the old route be safe you'll perish and reed says there's a nire route and we might as well take it why reed didn't take the advice he got it for laramie is i don't know if there's an answer to that question he was an intelligent man decisive i don't know it's always i guess our insatiable desire to take a shortcut in life thinking it'll get us there and invariably it doesn't [Music] the next day climbing bid read goodbye and continued east moving fast down the plat [Music] on july 15th he crossed the big blue river and came to the grave of margaret reed's mother for a long time he stood looking down at the inscription wondering what drove his countrymen west [Music] this stone shows us that all ages and all sects are found to undertake this long tedious and even dangerous journey for some unknown object never to be realized even by those the most fortunate and why because the human mind can never be satisfied never at rest always on the stretch for something new some strange novelty [Music] sarah keys had been a member of what would soon be called the donner party she was the first to die [Music] on july 17th as the reeds and the donners toiled slowly up towards the continental divide a lone horseman came riding down from south pass bearing an open letter from lansford hastings addressed to all immigrants now on the road it urged them to press on in one group to fort bridger where hastings himself would be waiting to escort them over the new trail [Music] on july 18th they crossed the continental divide they were in what the mountain men called oregon country now a thousand miles from independence with more than a thousand miles still to go they moved on spellbound by the altitude in the landscape and the endless sea of sage [Music] once you got beyond fort laramie there was no turning back a lot of immigrants turned back when by the time they got to poor laramie realizing they were into something that they didn't want but after that you're pretty much committed all the way even though you might like to be able to there was hardly a chance or opportunity it just wouldn't work on july 20th the wagon train reached the little sandy river it was the parting of the ways most of the immigrants heeded james climan's warning and turned right but 20 wagons including the nine belonging to the donners and the reeds turned left towards fort bridger and the entrance to hastings cut off [Music] the next day the new party met to elect a captain james reed was the obvious choice but his aristocratic manner and his wealth had rubbed too many families the wrong way they chose george donner instead one week later the donner party rolled into fort bridger two log cabins in a corral run as a trading post by a celebrated mountain man named jim bridger lansford hastings wasn't there the promoter had started west a week earlier at the head of another group of wagons leaving instructions for any immigrants who wished to follow along behind they spent four days resting their oxen and making repairs july 31st 1846 hastings cut off is said to be a saving of 350 or 400 miles and a better route the rest of the californians went the long route feeling afraid of hastings cut off but mr bridger informs me that it is a fine level road with plenty of water and grass [Music] it is estimated that 700 miles will take us to captain sutter's fort which we hope to make in seven weeks from this day james reid on july 31st the nine families and 16 single men of the donner party left fort bridger and entered hastings cut off [Music] for a week they made good time 10 sometimes 12 miles a day working their way deeper into the rugged mountains following the track of hastings wagons then on august 6th at the bottom of echo canyon the party came to a halt stuck in the top of some sage near the trail was a note it was from lansford hastings it stated that the road ahead was virtually impassable and advised them to wait until he could show them a better way it took james reid five days to find hastings when he did the promoter refused to come back to lead the company himself pointing out what he thought might be a more manageable route from a high peak instead the next day with james reid as their pilot the party turned off the track into the tangled wilderness when they committed themselves to cross a wasatch to when they when they decided legitimately to enter the great basin to tackle [Music] immigration canyon as we know an echo canyon as we know it they were eating up days that were vital to them and they had no way of knowing it they crawled along making scarcely two miles a day fighting their way through a chaos of canyons choked with willow trees cottonwoods and aspen time and again the hostile terrain brought them to a standstill while the men cursed and toiled and hacked a road through the dense undergrowth [Music] it took six days alone to chop their way eight miles up big mountain we reached the end of the canyon where it looked as though our wagons would have to be abandoned it seemed impossible for the oxen to pull them up the steep hill and the bluffs beyond but we double teamed and the work was at last accomplished born with travel and greatly discouraged we reached the shore of the great salt lake it had taken an entire month instead of a week on august 22nd the 87 members of the donner party spilled out of the mountains exhausted and shaken [Music] some blamed reed for the delay but there was little time for recrimination summer was unraveling fast and there were still 600 miles to go [Music] tuesday august 25th lou caller and died of consumption this evening [Music] we made him a coffin and buried him at the forks of the road in a beautiful place james reed the worried immigrants hurried on following the track of hastings wagons west then sharply south for a few miles to a cluster of clear fresh springs there they found the tattered remnants of another note mother knelt down and began thoughtfully fitting the ragged edges of paper together the process was watched with spellbound interest by the anxious group around her the writing was that of hastings and her patchwork brought out the following words two days two nights hard driving cross desert reach water eliza donner [Music] taking on as much water and grass as they could the immigrants climbed through a range of gnarled hills beyond them to the west stretched a glittering plane of salt on august 30th they started across well you wouldn't want to get caught out on the salt desert even today it's a man killer but for people who thought they could go through in two days and equip a wagon with with grass and water foolishness in the heat of the day the moisture under the surface bubbles to the top turns it into a gumball if you're in a wagon you can count on going down a couple of feet in some of those things i'm not saying a few inches but you go right up to the hubs [Music] on the third day the water ran out that night crazed with thirst the reed's oxen bolted into the desert and could not be found the family took what belongings they could carry and started out papa carried thomas and all the rest of us walked we got to the donner's wagon and they were all asleep so we laid down on the ground we spread one shawl down and spread another over us and then put the dogs on top the wind blew very hard and if it had not been for the dogs we would have frozen the next day the shattered emigrants stumbled out of the salt desert it had been a disaster it had taken them five days to cross the 80 mile desert hastings had assured them was only half as wide several immigrants had almost died of thirst 36 oxen were lost wagons would have to be abandoned the reeds pioneer palace car among them anguish and dismay now filled all hearts husbands bowed their heads appalled at the situation of their families some cursed hastings for the false statements in his open letter and for his broken pledge at fort bridger [Music] they cursed him also for his misrepresentation of the distance across this cruel desert mothers in tearless agony clasped their children to their bosoms with the old old cry father thy will not mine be done it was plain that try as we might we could not get back to fort bridger we must proceed regardless of the fearful outlook eliza donner an inventory of provisions was taken and it was found that the supply was not sufficient to last us through to california as if to render the situation more terrible a storm came on during the night and the hilltops became white with snow [Music] someone would have to ride ahead to california and bring back relief a big missouri farmer named william mccutchen and charles stanton a bachelor from new york volunteered finally on september 26th the donner party reached the humboldt river where the shortcut rejoined the old trail hastings cutoff had proved not only more treacherous than the older route it was 125 miles longer as well [Music] they did seem to be doomed everything went wrong for them and they had started so blindly with such big expectations and such loads of possessions and everything they were going into the new country and then win it by storm but they made the great mistake of listening to lands for hastings he was the one who caused all their trouble because they they lost their way in the wasatch and they lost half of their animals and a lot of their hope crossing the the desert south of grace salt lake in early september lansford hastings rode into sutter's fort at the head of a battered train of 80 wagons except for the donner party all the immigrants of 1846 had made it safely through to california [Music] by the time they get certainly under the humble river tempers are pretty afraid very easy to trigger off and there's a lot of incidents anger uh again i think that's a human condition when we're under an enormous amount of stress uh very often i can bring out the most heroic in us and it can also bring out you know the worst in us on october 5th the immigrants were doubling their teams up a steep sandy hill when the graves family wagon became entangled with the reed wagon tempers flared and the graves driver john snyder began beating the oxen with a butt of his bullwhip [Music] james reed hurried over to stop it but only enraged snyder further who struck him savagely on the head with his whip drew his hunting knife and his snyder raised his arm to strike again drove it into the teamster's chest just below the collarbone snyder staggered a few yards up the hill and died mr reed and family were taken to their tent and guarded by their friends an assembly was convened to decide what should be done the majority declared the deed murder and demanded retribution [Music] a german immigrant named louis keysberg propped his wagon tongue on end and demanded that reed be hanged from it when margaret reed begged for mercy the company chose banishment instead at first reed refused to go but there was no choice the next day he helped bury john snyder then rode west out of camp [Music] we traveled on but the hours dragged slowly along every day we would search for some sign of papa who would leave a letter by the wayside but a time came when we found no letter and no trace of him virginia reid [Music] the donner party limped down the humboldt as fast as it could go everyone who still could walked beside the wagons now to spare the exhausted oxen they were racing against time and the weather desperate to get over the mountains and into california before snow blocked the heights there was no sign of stanton or mccutchen or of the relief they promised to bring from sutter's fort with the death of snyder and the banishment of james reed the donner party was coming apart on october 7th lewis keysberg turned an aging belgian immigrant named hardcoop out of his wagon no one else would take him in the old man fell farther and farther behind and was last seen sitting by the road unable to walk [Music] on the night of october 12 paiute indians killed 21 oxen with poisoned arrows the company had now lost more than a hundred head of cattle from the bluffs above the river they could hear the paiutes laughing at their plight on october 16th the battered party finally reached the truckee the narrow rushing river that served as gateway to the sierra the weather was already very cold and the heavy clouds hanging over the mountains to the west were strong indications of an approaching winter some wanted to stop and rest their cattle others in fear of the snow were in favor of pushing ahead as fast as possible john breen on october 19th their food was nearly all gone when charles stanton finally returned from sutter's fort with seven mules loaded with food two indian guides and news that the high pass of the sierra wouldn't be blocked by snow for another month the immigrants hopes rose they were going to make it after all they camped for five days 50 miles from the summit resting their oxen for the final push the party started up the river again on october 31st the front axle of george donner's family wagon broke cutting timber for a new one george gashed his hand and the family fell further behind the rest of the party hurried on towards the summit we pushed on as fast as our failing cattle could haul our almost empty wagons at last we reached the foot of the main ridge near truckee lake it was sundown the weather was clear but a large circle around the moon indicated an approaching storm john breen [Music] that night they camped a thousand feet beneath the dark granite summit waiting anxiously for the donner wagons to catch up praying that the weather would hold the donners didn't come and up on the summit during the night it began to snow [Music] the next morning the party made a frantic dash for the pass but five feet had already fallen higher up and the wagons began to slip on the steep rocky ascent despair drove many nearly frantic the farther we went up the deeper the snow got the wagons could not go the mules kept falling down in the snow head foremost and the indian said he could not find the road the women were so tired carrying their children that they could not go over that night stanton and one of the indians made it as far as the summit then turned back the exhausted immigrants they were guiding could go no farther as darkness came they sat or lay huddled against the side of the mountain the wind picked up the temperature dropped and the snow and sleet came lashing down [Music] we made a fire and got something to eat ma spread down a buffalo robe and set up by the fire the indians knew we were doomed and one of them wrapped his blanket about him and stood all night under a tree when they awoke next morning the pass was completely blocked they had come 2500 miles in seven months to lose their race with the weather by one day only 150 miles from safety at sutter's fort in california [Music] they retraced their steps to the lake and started building a winter camp down by the lake and up on the dark summit above them it snowed and it snowed and it snowed [Music] november 6th sutter's fort all things remain quiet here the weather is bad i am fearful the snow is too deep for the last company of immigrants to cross the mountain george mckinstry for weeks the americans at sutter's fort had waited anxiously for the donner party to come in they were shocked when in late october james reed stumbled out of the mountains more dead than alive desperate to save his family reed pressed john sutter for horses and supplies and rushed back up into the mountains two days out it started to rain higher up the rain turned to snow 12 miles from the summit reed could go no further and turn back again to sutter's fort for help [Music] this time sutter had none to give every able-bodied man in the valley had gone south to fight the mexicans the relief effort would have to wait thanksgiving it began snowing again sunday november the 29th still snowing now about three feet deep killed my last oxen today [Music] monday november the 30th snowing fast about four or five feet deep looks as likely to continue as when it commenced no living thing without wings can get about [Music] december the first tuesday our cattle all killed but three or four of them the horses and stanton's mules gone supposed lost in the snow no hopes of finding them alive [Music] they began to mix what little meat remained with anything they could chew and swallow boiled hides charred bones twigs bark leaves on december 15 one of the reeds hired men bayless williams died of malnutrition [Music] in mid-december 15 of the strongest immigrants five women nine men and the boy of twelve resolved to make another attempt to break out an old vermont farmer franklin graves fashioned crude snowshoes from oxbows and rawhide on december 16th with william eddie and the indians louis and salvador in the lead they started out the 10 surviving members of the forlorn hope butchered what remained of their four dead friends wrapped and carefully labeled the pieces so that no one had to eat their kin and staggered on through the wilderness cursing lansford hastings three days later there was again nothing left to eat william foster proposed murdering the indians for food william eddy tried to talk him out of it then told lewis and salvador of the white man's plan [Music] the indians stood disbelieving for a moment then silently disappeared into the snowy [Music] woods [Laughter] on january 10 1847 the united states marines took los angeles from the mexicans in all but name california now belonged to the united states with the fighting over james reed rushed to san francisco to raise money and men for the relief of his family and friends at sunset on january 17th in the foothills of the sierra nevada harriet richie heard a knock on the door of her family's cabin in the doorway stood a bleeding skeleton of a man in a faint voice he asked if he could have some bread harriet burst into tears and helped william eddie into bed the six other survivors of the forlorn hope lay a short way up the trail only two of the ten men had made it through all five women had survived when he was well enough to speak william eddie told a hellish story he spoke of the camp of death and of wandering 18 days more lost in the deep mountain snows of sarah fosdick who had to watch her husband die then see his heart roasting on a stick [Music] of the bloody footprints that led them to where the indians louis and salvador who had fled as far as they could were lying side by side in the snow too weak to move how william foster insane shot each of the men through the head and how the starving survivors used the murdered men for food the alarm went out february third they gave the alarm that the people would all die without assistance it was two weeks before any person would consent to go finally we concluded we would go or die trying for not to make any attempt to save them would be a disgrace to us and california as long as time lasted daniel rhodes on february 5th the first small relief party left johnson's ranch and struggled slowly up into the snowy mountains a second party led by james reed was two days behind them friday february the 5th peggy very uneasy for fear we shall all perish with hunger we have but a little meat left and only part of three hides mrs reed has nothing left but won't hide and it has engraved shanty [Music] eddie's child margaret died last night monday the eighth spitzer died last night about three o'clock he will bury him in the snow [Music] mrs eddie died on the night of the [Music] seventh [Music] wednesday the 10th milt eliot died last night at murphy's shanty mrs reed went there this morning to see after his effects patrick breen [Music] everyone had gone to bed but i could not sleep looking up through the darkness with my hands clasped i made a vow that if god would send us relief and let me see my father again i would be a catholic virginia reed one afternoon peggy breen motioned margaret reed outside to tell her that her daughter virginia was dying they were all dying on february 19 1847 seven freezing exhausted men of the first relief party struggled over the summit and came within sight of the lake at sunset we crossed truckee lake on the ice and came to the spot where we had been told we should find the immigrants we looked all around but no living thing except ourselves was in sight we raised a loud hello and then we saw a woman emerge from a hole in the snow as we approached her several others made their appearance in like manner coming out of the snow they were gaunt with famine and i never can forget the horrible ghastly sight they presented the first woman spoke in a hollow voice very much agitated and said are you men from california or do you come from heaven the rescuers were shocked by what they found 12 immigrants had died and bodies lay everywhere on top of the snow covered with quilts 48 still clung to life but some had gone mad and others were too far gone to be revived somehow margaret reed had managed to keep all her children alive so had peggy breen and tamson donner so far none of the survivors at the lake had been forced to eat human flesh there was no time to waste the rescuers could take only 24 of the starving immigrants out with them the brains agreed to wait for the next relief party so did the donors george was too sick to move and thampson would not leave his side on february 22nd the first relief party started back there was almost no food despair for the 31 desperate people left behind friday february the 26th hungry times in camp mrs murphy said she thought you would commence on milt and eat him i don't think she has done so yet it is distressing patrick brain [Music] the ordeal of the donner party was far from over [Music] for two more months four relief parties battled the terrible snow and cold of the sierra nevada to try to save the starving emigrants the scenes enacted in the mountains during those two months would never be forgotten when the first relief party left the lake eight-year-old patty reed volunteered to stay behind to care for her three-year-old brother thomas who was too small to walk through the huge drifts well ma she told her anguished mother if you never see me again do the best that you can we went over a great high mountain as steep as stair steps and snow up to our knees [Music] little james walked the whole way over and snow up to his waist [Music] he said every step he took he was getting nire paw and something to eat two children had died and more were failing fast when the first relief party caught sight of something moving towards them through the trees it was the second relief party james reid was leading it here i met my own wife and two of my little children two still in the mountains i cannot describe the death-like look of them bread bread bread was the baking of every child and grown person when she heard her husband's voice margaret reed stumbled in the snow and almost fainted they had been separated for five months reid was certain his family had perished [Music] when james reid and the second relief party reached the lake patty and thomas were still alive [Music] the rest of the camp was a shambles ten more immigrants had died and the survivors had begun to eat the dead among the cabins lay the fleshless bones and half-eaten bodies of the victims of the famine there lay the limbs the skulls and the hair of the poor beings who had died from want and whose flesh preserved the lives of their surviving comrades who shivering beneath their filthy rags and surrounded by the remains of their unholy feast looked more like demons than human beings they had fallen from their highest state though compelled by the fell hand of dire necessity the fiercest storm of the winter broke over the second relief party as they struggled to cross the mountains for two days the immigrants and rescuers huddled around a fire that sank slowly into the snow it was there that the third relief party found them ten days later picture of distress was shocking indeed they had consumed two children of jacob donner mrs graves body was lying there with almost all the flesh cut away from her arms and limbs her breasts were cut off her heart and liver taken out her little child about 13 months old sat at her side one arm upon the body of its mangled mother sobbing bitterly right oh when the third relief party reached the lake only seven immigrants remained alive thampson donner was among them still remarkably strong for all she'd been through george who was dying begged her to leave tamson refused she would not let her husband die alone [Music] the fourth relief party was delayed one full month by the ninth and final blizzard of what was the worst winter ever recorded in the sierra nevada mountains they found louis keesburg in his cabin delirious surrounded by the half-eaten dead no one else was alive thampson donner's body was never found keysberg confessed to eating her remains on april 21st the last relief party left the lake on april 25th they reached bear valley all of the survivors of the donner party had now come out of the mountains it had been one year almost to the day since the donners and the reeds had left their homes in springfield illinois it was long after dark when we got to johnson's ranch so the first time i saw it was early in the morning the weather was fine the ground was covered with green grass the birds were singing from the tops of the trees and the journey was over i could scarcely believe that i was alive the scene that i saw that morning seems to be photographed on my mind most of the incidents are gone from memory but i can always see the camp near johnson's ranch john breen california may 16th 1847 [Music] my dear cousin [Music] i take this opportunity to write to you to let you know that we are all well at present i am going to write to you about our troubles in getting the california we had good luck till we come to big sandy [Music] we had to stay in the california mountains all winter without pie we had not the first thing to eat [Music] of the 87 men women and children in the donner party 46 survived 41 died five women 14 children and 22 men counting john sutter's indians louis and salvador who had risked their lives to save the immigrants two-thirds of the women and children made it through two-thirds of the men perished [Music] of all the families the donners suffered the most all four adults and four of the children died all of the reeds survived so did all of the brains [Music] the story of the donner disaster quickly spread across the country newspapers printed every word of all the letters and diaries along with wild tales of men and women who had gotten to enjoy eating human flesh immigration to california fell off sharply and hastings cut off was all but abandoned then in january 1848 gold was discovered in john sutter's creek by late 1849 more than 100 000 people had rushed to california to dig and sift near the streams and canyons where the donner party had suffered so much in 1850 california entered the union as the 31st state [Music] year by year traffic over what was now called donner pass increased the lake became a tourist attraction and a favorite vacation spot year round the terrible ordeals of the donner party passed into history and legend relics from the camps bits of china buttons and nails wood shavings from the cabins became popular souvenirs almost a century later trees the immigrants had shorn off at snow level still stood as a vivid reminder of the fierce winter of 1846 oh it's got everything it's a greek tragedy it's a great test of human character some people came through it heroically and some of the people in that party were far from heroes and they got worse as the conditions got worse so that it was as if the sheep and the goats the blessed and the unblessed sorted themselves out against a background of terrible hardship and tragedy most of the men women and children of the donner party were rapidly absorbed into the population of california mary graves survivor of the forlorn hope was married in may before the snows had even melted the breens settled in san juan batista where patrick became a prominent rancher [Music] alone among the survivors louis keysberg spoke openly of eating human flesh and was reviled as a man-eater and ghoul [Music] during the gold rush he made his fortune and in 1851 opened a restaurant in sacramento george and tamson donner's orphaned children were soon split up eliza and georgia were adopted by a swiss couple who lived near sutter's fort [Music] my dear cousin we are all very well pleased with california it is a beautiful country [Music] it ought to be a beautiful country to pay us for our trouble getting there tell henrietta if she wants to get married to come to california she can get a spaniard anytime to her father's dismay virginia reed kept the vows she'd made in the cabin by the lake and converted to catholicism [Music] when eight-year-old patty reed arrived in california she pulled from her ragged dress a little bundle [Music] in it was a lock of her grandmother's hair and a tiny doll she had carried with her all the way from springfield she died in 1931 at the age of 93. [Music] james reid never spoke in public of the killing of john snyder he settled his family in san jose made money in real estate and gold and became one of the town's leading citizens margaret reed's sick headaches disappeared and never returned lansford hastings moved to san francisco and went back into law but was too restless to make a go of it during the civil war he proposed leading an army west to seize arizona for the confederacy after the war he published the immigrant's guide to brazil and died in 1870 trying to establish a colony of ex-confederates in south america oh mary i have not wrote you half of the trouble we have had but i have wrote you enough to let you know what trouble is but thank god we are the only family that did not eat human flesh we have left everything but i don't care for that we have got through with our lives don't let this letter dishearten anybody remember never take no cutoffs and hurry along as fast as you can virginia reed [Music] [Music] [Music] american experience is made possible by the alfred p sloan foundation to enhance public understanding of the role of technology the foundation also seeks to portray the lives of the men and women engaged in scientific and technological pursuit at the scots company we help make gardens more beautiful lawns greener trees taller if there's a better business to be in please let us know liberty mutual insurance is a proud supporter of the american experience and by helping people live safer more secure lives we are also proud supporters of the american dream this program has been made possible by a grant from the national endowment for the humanities additional funding provided by the california council for the humanities and the missouri humanities council american experience is also made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you thank you

Channel: Spoopy Stuff

Views: 310,155

Rating: 4.8363595 out of 5

Keywords: The Donner Party, Cannibalism, Cannibals, eating, human, flesh, starvation, lost, wilderness, scary, creepy, spoopy, shit

Id: KQBGxzu0edA

Length: 74min 57sec (4497 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020