George Donner was elected captain of the train. He was accompanied 
        by his family and his brother’s family. Also joining the train, were the 
        Reed family, the Murphy family, the Breen family, several hired hands, 
        and a few German families. The party headed out from the Little 
        Sandy River on July 20, 1846. After 28 uneventful days, they reached 
        Fort Bridger. 

        Hastings was not there to meet them, but had already gone on with 
        another wagon train. The Donner Party decided to go on, but rested 
        for four days, feeding the cattle and making minor repairs. They left on 
        July 31. 

        Almost right away they came to an impassable canyon. They had to 
        take an alternate route across the Wasatch Mountains. It took several 
        days of hacking through brush up and down several slopes and then 
        through several canyons. Each small distance had to be hacked 
        through. They finally made it over the first mountain on August 20. It 
        took another week to hack their way over another mountain. By then it 
        was dangerously late in the season and supplies were already running 
        low. 

        Then they came to the “dry drive.” They spent the next day preparing, 
        with a long rest for the cattle, filling every container with water, 
        cooking in advance, and cutting grass for the animals. They started 
        out on September 3. It was a very hard drive. Several times they had 
        to cross bare volcanic mountains. They had to plow through sand 
        dunes horribly hard for the oxen. Many had to abandon their wagons. 
        Some lost cattle and oxen. Some supplies had to be transferred to 
        other wagons. 

        Two men, Stanton and McCutchen were sent ahead to Sutter’s Mill for 
        help. They didn’t realize how far from California they still were. On 
        September 30, the Donners finally reached the Humboldt River and 
        joined the main California Trail. The water didn’t taste very good, but 
        any water was preferable. Grass was scanty this late in the season. 
        Game was less plentiful. A disagreement between Reed and John 
        Snyder led to Reed killing Snyder. As punishment he was banished 
        from the train and sent ahead. 

        They were down to starvation rations. Later the Indians ran off about 
        two dozen oxen. Many people walked to lighten the loads for the 
        remaining oxen. Older children carried younger ones. They were able 
        to kill a few geese for food. After three days, they finally met up with 
        Stanton who had gone on ahead for supplies. They had to let the oxen 
        rest a few days because a steep climb was ahead that even without 
        snow was hard. 

        At first the trail was relatively easy across some low mountains. But 
        snow was now falling as they drove on. Unfortunately the snow was 
        very deep and they had to turn back to an abandoned cabin for the 
        night. They tried to continue the next day, but the wagons had to be 
        abandoned. They camped for the night just a short distance from the 
        pass. Unfortunately it snowed heavily that night and once again they 
        had to turn back to the cabin. It was November 4. 

        Meanwhile, Reed had reached Sutter’s Mill. On October 30, the first 
        relief party left Sutter’s Mill, but deep snow forced them to turn back. 
        Reed went west to recruit people for another relief party. While Reed 
        went west, the rest of the party built two more cabins. The Donners 
        never got as far as the lake and set up two makeshift wigwams. Eddy 
        managed to shoot a bear about this time that sustained them a little 
        while. 

        Two groups tried to walk out over the pass. The first failed. The 
        second group got caught in a storm. During this time was when the 
        body of the first person to die was sacrified for the survival of the 
        others. Several others died and were used as food. A much smaller 
        party eventually reached an Indian village where they got a small 
        amount of food. They finally straggled into Johnson’s camp where they 
        recovered. 

        On February 1, seven men set out from Sutter’s. They cached food in 
        three different spots, to share with the survivors when they came back 
        this way. They made their way across the frozen lake to the place 
        where Eddy said the party would be. They had their first meal in quite 
        a while. The relief party was heading back on February 22. 
        Twenty-three would join them. Seventeen stayed at the lake. When 
        they got to the first cache it had been torn apart and eaten by 
        animals. Four men went ahead to try to get to the next cache. On the 
        fourth day, Coffeemeyer and Moultry reached them with a little food 
        from the next cache. The next day they met another relief party that 
        gave the party some small amounts of bread and went on. They finally 
        reached Bear Valley where there was plenty of food. From there they 
        were able to ride the rest of the way to Sutter’s Mill. 

        Reed’s party left Sutter’s Mill on February 22. They traveled at night to 
        travel on frozen snow. When they arrived there was evidence those at 
        the lake had also resorted to eating the bodies of the dead. All but 
        five, who were too weak to move, returned with the relief party. There 
        were three adults and fourteen children. Unfortunately that night the 
        storm came. Horrible wind blew as blankets of snow fell. The storm 
        lasted three days. At this point the weak decided to just wait there. 
        Four men and three kids went on. 

        Eddy and Foster led a party to go after the Breens on the trail and 
        those back at the lake on March 11. They made good time but didn’t 
        have much hope that they would find anyone alive. Eleven were left. A 
        few others were retrieved from the lake. The rescuers led them all to 
        Sutter’s Mill. 

        The last rescue party set out on April 13 from Johnson’s. It took only 
        four days to reach the cabins. There they found Keseberg, the last 
        survivor. 

        Of eighty-seven that had headed west, five died before reaching the 
        mountain camps. Thirty-four died at the camps or while crossing the 
        pass. One died in the valley, forty-seven survived. In June, General 
        Kearney’s troops went through the pass to take care of the remains. 
        Fortunately, the route to California got rerouted further north. Truckee 
        Lake was renamed Donner Lake. The route they had cut through the 
        Wasatch was heaven sent to the Mormons who used it later that year.

 
Daily Log of the Donner Party (April 1946 - April 194) 
The Route of the Donner Party (interactive map)