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THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Donner Party rescued from the Sierra Nevada Mountains – 1847
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Donner Party rescued from the Sierra Nevada Mountains – 1847
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – First Donner Party member dies – 1847
On this day in 1847, the first woman of a group of pioneers commonly known as the Donner Party dies during the group’s journey through a Sierra Nevada mountain pass. The disastrous trip west ended up killing 42 people and turned many of the survivors into cannibals.
Continue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – First Donner Party member dies – 1847”
THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Donner Party rescued – 1847
On this day in 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever sweeping the United States, 89 people–including 31 members of the Donner and Reed families–set out in a wagon train from Springfield, Illinois. After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to avoid the usual route and try a new trail recently blazed by California promoter Lansford Hastings, the so-called “Hastings Cutoff.” After electing George Donner as their captain, the party departed Fort Bridger in mid-July.
Continue reading “THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Donner Party rescued – 1847”