I have been listening to this audiobook during my travels and I can't recommend it enough.
It's unfathomable what those travelers experienced in the not so distant past when there was
almost nothing past the Missouri River, until you got to California or Oregon.
This snip describes it well...
October 28,
1846
The Donner
Party’s First Blizzard in the Sierra Nevada
On October
28, 1846, a sudden and powerful blizzard swept across the Sierra Nevada,
trapping the Donner–Reed Party as they struggled toward California along the
emigrant trail. The snow began early and fell fast, forcing the weary pioneers
to halt near what is now Donner Lake, west of Truckee, California.
The
group—consisting of 87 men, women, and children who had left Springfield,
Illinois, the previous spring—was already behind schedule. Delayed by poor
advice and the disastrous Hastings Cutoff, a so-called shortcut through Utah’s
Great Salt Lake Desert, they reached the Sierra too late in the season. When
the October blizzard struck, they were unable to cross the summit, and their
wagons became immobilized by the deepening snow.
As the storm
raged, the emigrants hastily built makeshift cabins and lean-tos from logs and
canvas. Food supplies dwindled. Starving oxen and mules died and froze where
they fell. By early November, the snow was 20 feet deep in places, cutting off
any hope of escape.
Over the
following months, starvation and exposure decimated the company. Several small
groups tried to cross the mountains on snowshoes, only to perish or resort to
desperate measures for survival. By the time relief parties reached the trapped
emigrants in February 1847, forty-five of the original eighty-seven had died.
The ordeal
of the Donner Party shocked the nation. Newspapers across the United States
printed lurid accounts of their suffering, but later investigations confirmed
the essential facts: a combination of poor timing, inexperience, and relentless
winter weather had turned one family’s westward dream into a national tragedy.
Patrick
Breen, one of the survivors, recorded their experiences day by day in his
now-famous Donner Diary:
“Snowed fast
all night and still snowing. Wind west. Cold. We have nothing but hides to
eat.”
— Patrick
Breen Diary, December 1, 1846
The tragedy
became a lasting symbol of both the courage and peril of the American frontier.
It prompted improvements to emigrant routes and served as a sobering reminder
of the high price paid by those seeking opportunity in the West.
Via https://www.facebook.com/groups/Oldwestremembered/posts/3574023896074211/
