| Show InTHE in inTHE inTHE In In- What's hals Doing THE GREAT GREAr OUTDOORS u l Stan By THEY VISITED MORGAN AND SUMMIT COUNTIES COUNTIES- ARS AGO It took four tour days for or our first band of Mormon pioneers to tia 1 el from Henefer to the mouth cf of Canyon Canon This phase of their Journey would have re- re td almost two more weeks of rough travel tra had they not been u o nj nt a Near clear II Hall one ball one which hal 31 teen Leen blazed by a PI previous F p. O It had been Just a year earlIer earlier earl earl- ier ter In 1846 that George Danners Danner's Don Dan CInner Donner's Donners ners ner's member 87 party worked 16 days day cutting and digging through this stretch of the Wasatch Mountains swathIng swath swath- Ing a path which would allow the passage of Its It twenty westbound westbound westbound west west- bound wagons t A deep desh desee e to settle In fn wild and virgin country attracted wa- wa George Donner and his adventuresome friends from their comfortable Missouri homes The lure of the frontier had compelled compel compel- led these people to sell their homes and land pour the proceeds proceeds pro pro- into sturdy wagons and other expensive essentials Scouts Scouts' and trappers' trappers tales of California's semitropical climate and rich soil spurred Donners Donner's pioneer band along Its four month thousand mile Journey across the midwest along the Little Sandy and thence into Fort Bridger Full confidence had been placed by the group in explorer er Lansford W W. Hastings Hasting's new route to the Sacramento Valley Valley Val Val- ley Icy a route directly westward from Fort Bridger This course according to Hastings would eliminate the long northward Fort Hall and Snake River loop Hastings Hastings' cutoff had been traveled on horseback Its discoverer and It Its I advocates assured the Donner Donners that wagons could traverse It with ease George Donners Donner's people had prearranged pre to meet Mr Ir Hastings Hast ings lags at Fort Bridge from whence he be had agreed to pilot them over his cutoff for a fee of ten dollars per wagon At Wyoming Trading oat ost the learned that Instead of waiting Hastings had already moved oft off down Echo I-cho Canyon Canon leading 6 earlle earlier us Awaiting A his return the Donners Idled five days during which time several families left the group group- I rumbled off Instead to take the popular Oregon route to Califor Califor- nia Still there was no sign of hastings The pioneers pioneer grew im Im- patient Jim Bridger finally offered the services of another of ins ts I guides John Baptiste Baptists and on the sixth morning the restless party rolled out I On August 3 the CO covered ered conoy cony con con- soy voy oy crossed the Weber River at Echo twenty wagons manne manned and surrounded by seven eight-seven and surrounded by seven eighty-seven children from Infants to teen-age teen kids Following the wagons were I large herds of cattle milk cows and and horses On Un August 6 1846 a note from Hastings was found stuck in a 11 ee bec cotch at Henefer It warned warned warned warn warn- ed the party against further descending descending des des- ending Weber Teber Canyon explaining explain explain- ing that debris debris debris' left by sprit floods had rendered the canyons canyon's I lower reaches virtually Impassable able iii rd note slag s e eale ie tc at t they cross over o the Wasatch Mountains to Salt Lake Instead The Fort Bridger mountaineer maintained that he knew of no such route Three volunteers immediately rode oft off through Weber Canyon galloping their horses down past Morgan lorgan in search of Hastings They hoped to overtake the scout force him to return and fulfill his con con- tract For a full week the party waited encamped at Henefer Finally the searchers reappeared reappear reappear- ed ed furiously reporting that Hastings had refused to return with them He h had d however sent additional directions Twenty-one Twenty difficult days were then required to struggle a mountainous moun moun- distance which Hastings had assured would take less than a week After a month and a half bait of trail bluing blazing the disappointed t Inners were ere still miles from California I On September 2 the party stores stor store es eo up a two day supply of water water- e amount recommended by Hastings Hastings and and labored off across the Salt Lake desert Three days out out and perhaps 40 miles short of the nearest spring the Donnen Donners' Donners Don Don- tiers ners' water supply became de de- de- de The following night 36 thirst-crazed thirst oxen stra strayed ed and became lost making It necessary for three ee wagons to be left be be- hind Then I precious I e c Iou s days das were squandered in a vain aln attempt to retrieve stampeded cattle and oxen Food became scarce bitterness bitterness bitterness bitter bitter- ness and hatred welled within each tach man toward his companIons companions compan compan- ions lons hostile Indians Indiana began to harass the train hoping to steal its remaining stock Pioneers Charles Stanton and l rode off for California hoping to return with food enough to last the remainder of the journey On October 5 the wagons crept slowly past Gravelly Ford on the Humboldt River The upper Sierra peaks yet peaks yet to be crossed were crossed were now blanketed with the seasons season's first snow Victimized by suspicion loathe fatigue and fear men became I Irrational As a climax to one argument a II year old boy was stabbed to death An old man lagged behind and was left to die dieon dieon dieon on the desert One unidentified emigrant murdered and robbed I another On October 12 21 head of cattle and oxen were stolen In Inan Inan Inan I an Indian raid By now a condition condition condition con con- of almost complete disorganization disorganization disorganization dis dis- organization prevailed among the seemingly jinxed greenI green- green horns t I On Octo October I IS 18 till the Donner laity d aged from the spacious desert t iI iW to the Truckee Meadows present site of Heno There the I people people were ere o at the appearance ap ap- of Charles Stanton who had hud returned flom his day 31 jour join ney leading five laden food-laden mules I 1 a gift of oC Sacramento's Cap Captain lain t John Sutter I Stanton urged his friends to set out at once on their climb over over the mountain pass warning I that winter snows could close ItI it itI I at any time He assured them that providIng I-providIng providing they traveled light light light- I they could cover the mountain route in a week The pioneers knew that traveling traveling traveling tra tra- light meant leaving their goods behind where they might well be stolen by In In- InI I The Donners Conners unwisely I elected to rest a few more days at Truckee Meadows prepared I to send a couple of volunteers to Fort Sutter for additional food During Doting the preparations one of the volunteers was killed by an accidentally discharged rifle Following Fol ol lowing his funeral five more alu valuable able days days' were spent at the the Meadows camp At daylight October 23 a fre fresh h blanket Of et white covered the lel ras to the west Several Inches Inches In In- ches of wet snow carpeted the floor of ot Truckee Meadows s Without Without With With- out regard for one another the disorganized tJ D Donners o 0 n n e r s a hastily hitched animals to wagons raced frantically fl westward along the Truckee The following day George Ceorge Don Don- n tiers nets rs r's heavy wagon broke an axle aile He lie aud and 28 23 others mostly children chil chit dren were left behind to perish In a blizzard of blinding snow The other larger half of the desperate Donner Party fought mud and snow Inow for five days day reaching what Is now known as Donner Conner Lake on October 28 Here faced again by a decision between leaving goods or losing ground the stubborn settlers decided upon the latter alternative alternative tive busied themselves buildIng buildIng building build build- ing cabins and shelters near the lake Charles Stanton urged the mil mil- I giants grants to cache their more bulky valuables and hasten up the steep pass They were but a few days' days journey from the warm sunshine and Sutter's Fort he argued Still the family leaders went on building building build build- ing mg preferring to slaughter their I remaining stock and winter in the mountains rather lather than cross into California without their posses posses- Then one evening In late November Nov November ember the Donner Donnel camp was covered by the snows of a violent Stets Siena blizzard The wild storm continued for a u solid week weel marg marooning marooning mar mar- the terrified people in nn their cabins When skies finally cleared and the Donners emerged meekly meek meek- ly from their shelters deep trackless snows revealed no trace of their few remaining animals Nothing but miles and 1 miles of snow met the incredulous ous gaze of the despairing mountain prisoners Aware that the camps camp's remainIng remaining remain remain- ing lug rations were meager fifteen men and women assembled together together toj to to- die door Forlorn gether into the j Hope Party Using crude snowshoes snowshoes snow snow- shoes this group led by Stanton vowed to cross the mountains mountains- or die trying The Forlorn Hope I Party departed from Cram Donner Lake on December 16 the day the first emigrant emigrant Baylis V Willi Williams I a m s- s starved started to death Snow had radically altered the the appearance tarance of an area atta which Stanton had hall been confident he knew On the third day out oat o tt con confused colt colt- fu fused Pd leader Stanton became totally tot tot- ally and was left behind behind behind be be- hind to die Then the group roup became became be bp- came hopelessly lost loet and one by byone byone byone one its emaciated members began to fall out from starvation tar All flesh from the dead d bodies was carefully cut Into sections and portioned out to the hunger crazed survivors It served to satiate their now cannibalistic tie tie- site she It I for food A few days later I de-I two unpopular male members of the group were shot at they slept their their flesh used for nourish nourish- ment Toward the latter part of January after 32 days of unbelievable unbelievable sufferings five women and two men finally staggered almost crawled Into to The two t male survivors hors immediately Im im- Immediately mediately organized or a relief party and left for lor Donner Lake on February Feb eb teary 4 Arriving at the lake 15 11 I days datI later they found the dead and and dying In wretched shelters twenty feet beneath the lite I snow The seven rescuers picked 23 of the weak sickly victims and I led Ild them west toward warmth and safety Some perished during the crossing I I Weeks la later a n second then second then a 1 third relief party snowshoed to the miserable d dell e n a t Infested h camp carrying back the few remaining remaining remaining re re- re- re survivors I With the spring thaw came i i still other parties These later I groups though were mercenary I adventurers who ransacked for valuables left behind by by tile tue I dead and decaying victims of I the doomed Donner Conner expedition Yes Yeti the Donner Party arty blazed i ft a trail for fOI our Mormon pioneers but their gamble on Lansford W. W Hastings Hastings' erratic judgment I combined with their own reckless feckless I rea reasoning to inflict a living nightmare nightmare night night- t. t mare upon them them-a them a of I horror torture and tragedy I STAN who semi plagiarized on oil I this n 1 |
