The Donner Party
In the winter of 1846-47, a wagon train became trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains. As snow piled higher and supplies ran out, survivors made an unthinkable choice. Of 87 emigrants, 48 survived - some by eating those who didn't. The site is said to be haunted by those who perished.
The Donner Party has become synonymous with survival horror in American history - a tale of ambition, miscalculation, and impossible choices when death came knocking at a snowbound camp in the Sierra Nevada. Of the 87 emigrants who set out for California in 1846, only 48 survived the winter. Some did so by consuming the bodies of the dead.
The Journey Begins
In the spring of 1846, a group of emigrants led by George Donner and James Reed departed from Springfield, Illinois, bound for California. They were part of a larger wagon train following the established Oregon Trail before turning south toward California.
At Fort Bridger in Wyoming, the Donner Party made a fateful decision: they would take the Hastings Cutoff, a “shortcut” that promised to save hundreds of miles. The route had been promoted by Lansford Hastings but was largely untested by wagon trains.
The shortcut proved catastrophic. The route crossed the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert, costing the party precious time and livestock. They emerged from the desert weeks behind schedule, their provisions depleted, their animals dying.
Trapped
By late October 1846, the party reached the Sierra Nevada mountains - the last barrier before California. But early winter storms had already begun. On October 31, they attempted to cross Truckee Pass (now Donner Pass) but were turned back by snow.
The party split into two camps: the larger group at Truckee Lake (now Donner Lake), the smaller group at Alder Creek five miles away. They built crude shelters and settled in to wait out the storm.
The storm didn’t stop. Snow fell day after day, eventually reaching depths of 22 feet. Livestock that hadn’t been slaughtered froze in the snow. Supplies ran out. People began to starve.
The Forlorn Hope
In mid-December, fifteen of the strongest survivors set out on improvised snowshoes to cross the pass and seek help. They carried six days of rations for a journey they hoped would take six days.
It took over a month.
The group, called the “Forlorn Hope,” became lost in the mountains. Storms pinned them down. Their rations ran out. People began to die.
Around Christmas Day, the survivors made the decision to consume those who had died. They were careful to ensure no one ate their own family members. Of the fifteen who set out, seven survived to reach Johnson’s Ranch in California on January 19, 1847.
The Camps
Back at the lake and Alder Creek, conditions deteriorated. People ate ox hides, tree bark, and eventually mice. As emigrants died of starvation and exposure, survivors made the same decision the Forlorn Hope had made.
Physical evidence and contemporary accounts confirm that cannibalism occurred at both camps. Bodies were dismembered and the flesh removed. Bones were split for marrow. The dead sustained the living through the brutal winter.
The Rescues
When word reached California, four relief parties were organized:
First Relief (February): Reached the lake camp and evacuated 23 survivors, mostly children and women.
Second Relief (March): Found conditions worsening. More survivors evacuated, but some were too weak to travel.
Third Relief (March): Discovered Lewis Keseberg alone at the lake, surrounded by evidence of cannibalism. He was accused of murder but later cleared.
Fourth Relief (April): Recovered property and buried remains.
Of 87 emigrants, 48 survived. More women and children survived than men, possibly due to differences in starvation physiology.
The Haunting
Donner Lake and the surrounding area have long been considered haunted:
- Campers report hearing screams and cries in the night
- Spectral figures have been seen wandering the lakeside, dressed in 19th-century clothing
- The smell of cooking meat has been reported where no fire exists
- Some visitors report overwhelming feelings of despair and hunger
- Apparitions of children have been seen near the former camp sites
The emotional imprint of so much suffering in such a concentrated area may have left something behind.
Legacy
The Donner Party became a cautionary tale about the dangers of western expansion and the desperation that isolation could bring. Donner Pass became a major route across the Sierra Nevada, later carrying the first transcontinental railroad.
The site is preserved as Donner Memorial State Park, where a monument commemorates the pioneers. The stone base stands 22 feet high - the depth of snow that trapped them.