1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,000 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: a show that proves there's more than one way to 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: make history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today our week of 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,279 Speaker 1: spine chilling stories continues with a look at the infamous 6 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: Donner Party and the desperate measures they took to stay alive. 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:39,919 Speaker 1: The day was October eighty six. A blizzard traps the 8 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: ill fated Donner Party in a high mountain pass in California. 9 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: The pioneers had spent several weeks driving their wagons through 10 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 1: the Sierra Nevada Mountains and only had about a hundred 11 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:56,720 Speaker 1: miles left to go when the storm arrived that night. 12 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: The Sierras were buried in several feet of snow, leaving 13 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: the Donner Party with no path forward. They were forced 14 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: to backtrack to a nearby lake, where they tried to 15 00:01:08,319 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: survive the winter by building makeshift tents and lean twos. 16 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: But the blizzard had come at the tail end of 17 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 1: the pioneer's journey, so most of the group's livestock and 18 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:23,680 Speaker 1: supplies had already been exhausted on the trail. It wasn't 19 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: long before the food ran out and the pioneers began 20 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: to starve. The snowstorm may have sealed the Donner's fate, 21 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: but they had put themselves in its path by traveling 22 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: through the Sierras so late in the season. The rest 23 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 1: of the wagon trains bound for California that year had 24 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: arrived early enough to cross the treacherous mountain passes before 25 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: winter arrived, but a few bad decisions delayed the Donner 26 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: Party by a full month. This left them with a 27 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 1: hard choice turned back and wait until spring to reach 28 00:01:58,960 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: their destination, or press on through potential bad weather and 29 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: hope the path remained clear. Despite their late arrival, the 30 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,839 Speaker 1: twenty wagons of the Donner Party had actually set out 31 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,960 Speaker 1: in April of that year, around the same time as 32 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: other pioneers on the California Trail. When the party started 33 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:23,359 Speaker 1: out from Springfield, Illinois, it consisted of eighty nine people, 34 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: including thirty one members of the Donner in reed families. 35 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: The group followed the typical route to Independence, Missouri, which 36 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: served as the proper starting point of the California Trail. However, 37 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: for reasons unknown, the Donner Party didn't arrive there until 38 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: mid May, putting them well behind the other wagon trains. 39 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:50,400 Speaker 1: On May twenty four, a member of the group named 40 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: Edwin Bryant wrote a disturbingly prescient entry in his diary. 41 00:02:55,919 --> 00:03:00,240 Speaker 1: He commented, quote, I am beginning to feel alarmed at 42 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 1: the tardiness of our movements, and fearful that winter will 43 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: find us in the snowy mountains of California, or that 44 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: we shall suffer from the exhaustion of our supply of provisions. 45 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: I do not fear from myself, but for the women 46 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:19,519 Speaker 1: and children of the emigrants. Singular as it may seem, 47 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: there are many of our present party who have no 48 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: just conceptions of the extent and labor of the journey 49 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: before them. The Donner party reached the trading outpost of 50 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: Fort Bridger, Wyoming on July. From there, most pioneers bound 51 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: for California traveled north through Idaho and then turned south 52 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: to cross through Nevada. However, in a bid to make 53 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: up for lost time, the Donners decided to skip the 54 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:56,200 Speaker 1: usual route in favor of a newly blazed shortcut. The 55 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: idea and the route came from none other than the 56 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: may who had blazed in himself. An unscrupulous guide book 57 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: author named Lanceford Hastings. He sold the Donner Party on 58 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: taking his supposedly shorter, quicker path through the Wasatch Mountains 59 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: and across the Salt Lake Desert. The only problem was 60 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: the shortcut was completely untested. No wagon train had ever 61 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: taken the so called Hastings cut off. Despite the apparent danger, 62 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: the members of the Donner Party decided to try their 63 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: luck on Hastings shortcut, and as you can probably guess, 64 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:39,480 Speaker 1: this proved to be the wrong choice. Instead of saving 65 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:44,359 Speaker 1: them time, the untamed trail added an extra eighteen days 66 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: to their journey. By the time they finally reached the 67 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: Sierra Nevada Mountains, it was early October and the other 68 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: wagon trains were long gone. The group decided to press 69 00:04:56,240 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: on despite the lateness of the season, and they actually 70 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,000 Speaker 1: made good progress over the next few weeks. If the 71 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: snow had held off for just a few more days, 72 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: the Donner Party would have made it down the slopes 73 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: of the Sierra Nevadas and out of harm's way. Of course, 74 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: that sadly isn't what happened. On October, the overnight blizzard 75 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: blocked the mountain pass, stranding most of the group near 76 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: Trucky Lake. The Donner family and a few others made 77 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: camp six miles away at Alder Creek. Over the next 78 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,640 Speaker 1: few months, the pioneers did whatever they could to survive. 79 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: They slaughtered their oxen for food, They cooked their dogs, 80 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: they gnawed on bones. Some settlers took down the animal 81 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:47,840 Speaker 1: hides that served as the roofs of their makeshift cabins 82 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: and boiled them into a disgusting paste. When even that 83 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: was exhausted, they boiled pieces of shoe leather and tree bark. Finally, 84 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: on December six, fifteen of the strongest members of the 85 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: Donner party set out west on makeshift snowshoes in search 86 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: of help. The hikers wandered through the frozen waste land 87 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: for the next three weeks. Along the way, they discussed 88 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: the increasingly likely prospect of cannibalism. They talked about drawing 89 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:25,359 Speaker 1: straws to determine who would make the ultimate sacrifice. Another 90 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: idea was to have two men fight to the death 91 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: for the right to eat the other. In the end, 92 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,440 Speaker 1: neither option was necessary, as several members of the expedition 93 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:39,799 Speaker 1: soon died naturally, either by freezing or starving to death. 94 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 1: The survivors roasted and consumed their bodies. This gruesome act 95 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 1: was not done in vain. Seven of the original fifteen 96 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: hikers eventually made it to civilization, where they were able 97 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: to organize a rescue party for the rest. Today, their 98 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,320 Speaker 1: desperate expedition is known as the Forlorn Hope, a term 99 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,800 Speaker 1: for soldiers who embark on a dangerous mission that will 100 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:12,080 Speaker 1: almost surely get them killed. Unfortunately, because the winter weather 101 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: made the mountains so dangerous, the first rescuers didn't reach 102 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: the survivors at Truckee Lake until February nine, eighteen forty seven, 103 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: when they finally made it to the snow bound camp. 104 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: The rescuers fed the starving settlers and replenished their supplies 105 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: as best they could. Then they evacuated as many people 106 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: as they could safely bring back with them at once. 107 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: Over the next month and a half, three more rescue 108 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,640 Speaker 1: parties would return for the other survivors. The wait for 109 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: those left behind was excruciating. The members of the Donner 110 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: Party who had stayed at Truckee Lake had managed to 111 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: avoid cannibalism through all the desperate methods I mentioned earlier, 112 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: but as they waited for their turn to be rescued, 113 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: eventually the settlers were forced to cannibalize the frozen corpses 114 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: of their fellow travelers. In the end, it's estimated that 115 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: about half of the Donner Party's forty five survivors had 116 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: resorted to eating human flesh. Even before the last survivors 117 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: reached safety in late April, malicious rumors about the Donner 118 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: Party had spread far and wide. These distorted accounts described 119 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: a band of crazed emigrants who had taken to eating 120 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: each other, not for survival but for pleasure. Of course, 121 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: the reality is that there was no pleasure to be 122 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,520 Speaker 1: found in eating the starved bodies of one's closest kin. 123 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,480 Speaker 1: Those who did so were haunted by what they'd done 124 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 1: for the rest of their lives. The fact that the 125 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:54,679 Speaker 1: survivors were hounded by cruel insinuations and cheap jokes about 126 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: their suffering is another of the many tragedies of the 127 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: story of the don Or Party. I'm Gabe Lousier and 128 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 129 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you have a second, consider 130 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,920 Speaker 1: following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at T d 131 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,160 Speaker 1: i h C Show. You can also leave us a 132 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: review on Apple Podcasts, and you can write to us 133 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:25,160 Speaker 1: at this day at i heart media dot com. Thanks 134 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: to Chandler May's for producing the show, and thank you 135 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow for 136 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: another scary day in history class. 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