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One hundred and sixty-four years ago this week, members of the Donner Party finally conquered South Pass (Wyoming) where they crossed the Continental Divide. They were now 920 miles from Independence, Missouri and about halfway through their journey to California from Illinois.

South Pass over the Rocky Mountains is not steep, but the pioneers' wagons became mired in deep, loose, sand; this slowed their pace. Wagon trains in general aimed to travel about 10 miles per day, but the Donner group was lagging behind. (See Week 1 and Week 2 in this series.)



In his daily journal, James Frazier Reed wrote, "Bad, bad road." James Reed, 45 years old, was an ambitious, Irish-born furniture maker who had departed Springfield, Illinois, with his wife Margaret (32) and their four young children: Virginia (13), Martha "Patty" (8), James Jr. (5), and three-year-old Tommy. Like George and Jacob Donner, Reed was financially successful; he had hired people to help tend to his livestock and perform the hard physical labor expected along the way. Both Donner families had done the same.

Similar to other middle-class pioneers taking the California Trail in 1846, the Donner and Reed families followed the advice of emigrant guidebooks and purchased hundreds of pounds of flour, bacon, sugar, coffee, and salt for the long trip. The food supplies, along with household goods, tools, and other equipment were carried in stout, farm wagons. Livestock included horses, spare oxen and milk cows.

The Book
One of the best-selling trail books in 1846 was The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California published by Lansford Hastings. He was an Ohio lawyer who became a California land promoter after visiting California in 1843. In his guidebook Hastings mentioned a 100 to 300 mile "shortcut" that was "well-watered with plenty of grass."

The "Hastings Cutoff," as it was known, broke away from the traditional California Trail above Ft. Bridger (WY). The Cutoff went southwest to Fort Bridger and then south and west some more until it wrapped around the south side of the Great Salt Lake. From there the shortcut ran west across the desolate Utah Desert towards the Humboldt River that cut across northern Nevada from east to west. Once to the Humboldt River, the Cutoff merged back into the traditional California Trail.

The traditional California Trail, after the Hastings Cutoff left it above Ft. Bridger, continued west and then north. The traditional trail went onwards northwestward to Ft. Hall (ID) and then southwest at Soda Springs (ID). There the trail slanted southwest toward the Humboldt River in Nevada, passing well north of the Great Salt Lake. This approach led eventually to the Truckee River and the pass over the Sierra familiar to most readers.

Hastings himself, a early real estate promoter, had actually only traveled part of his own proposed route, and he did that on horseback, not with wagons. But earlier in 1846 he had sent an open letter from Fort Bridger eastward along the California Trail. In the letter he encouraged emigrant families to meet him at Ft. Bridger so he could personally lead them along his new route to California. (For more on the Hasting Cutoff debacle, see the TTNN story that will be posted on Tuesday, July 18.)

July 19, 1846: Decision Time
Against strong advice to the contrary, on July 19, 1846, the Reeds and the Donners decide to accept Hastings' open offer; the Donner group took a left turn off the California Trail and headed southwest to Fort Bridger. This was the fork in the road, and more than 50 other emigrants, who also decide to take the shortcut, joined the three families (two Donners and one Reed) from Springfield, Illinois.

The Formation of the Actual Donner Party
Among the joiners was the Irish-catholic Breen family, recently arrived from Ireland. The Breens consist of Patrick (51) and his wife, Margaret "Peggy" (36). Also with them were their seven children: John (14), Edward (13), Patrick Jr. (11), Simon (9), Peter (7), James (5), and baby Isabella, only six months old. The Breens were traveling with their friend, Patrick Dolan, also from the Ireland. The Irish had four wagons in total. George Donner, an easygoing farmer, was elected captain of the whole group. It is here that the "Donner Party" actually took form as an independent party of pioneers headed for California.

Reed Photo: California State Parks, Sutter Fort Archives

Editor’s Note: The map is adapted from “Seven Trails West by Arthur King Peters.”

Editor's Note: This installment is one in an exclusive series tracing the experiences of the Donner Party as it worked its way into American history. The series was written by Mark McLaughlin, weather historian, who lives on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. All forty weeks in the series can be found by clicking on Donner Party.

For updates as stories are posted, follow the Donner Party Tracker on Twitter at twitter.com/donnerprty