Desperate Passage: The Donner Party’s Perilous Journey West Blogpost #1

Desperate Passage: The Donner Party’s Perilous Journey West Blogpost #1

            This tragic novel started out with the introduction of the members of the Donner party. Before the main story began, dramatis personae of all the people were listed with their approximate age during the time they left Independence, Missouri. The Donner and Reed family were traveling together and were one of the last parties at the end of the group of people manifesting towards Oregon or California. George Donner traveled with his wife and 5 children while his brother came along with his wife and 7 children. The Reed family included James Reed, his wife, his wife’s mother, and their 4 children. Their reasons for moving west differ; whether it was for their children or finding prosperity, the families took a risk to travel on a harsh journey. Within the large traveling group, parties unknowingly came together and broke apart, and the name for the parties changed frequently. The Donner group during this time was joyous while they traveled and time was not a concern to them. James Reed heard from a recently new friend that there was a shortcut to California that was faster than the original way, which looped towards Oregon and down towards California. Lansford Warren Hastings, the author of the book The Emigrant’s Guide to Oregon and California, wrote in his guide a to-do list of heading out and a trail that which he never seen nor set foot on before. Hastings traveled from mid-American to the west coast and along on his trip was James Clyman. He was an experience explorer who was a Southern gentleman and a mountain man, and served in the Black Hawk war with James Reed and Abraham Lincoln. He was skeptical about Hastings route and advised Reed not to follow the trail because the route was not firmly known. But a letter from Hastings himself said that he would guide wagons along the trail, which pushed Reed to follow along. Reed was putting himself in jeopardy by following this new shortcut and ignoring his old time friend’s warning; he told his party of the risk that would soon change their lives.

“It was less obvious at the time than it would be later, but the sad fact was that the journey had barely begun, and the core of what would become the Donner Party was already lagging behind” (Rarick 18).

            I chose this quote because it was like a foreshadowing of something horrible that the readers should have a gist about with the Donner Party. Just hearing the term ‘The Donner Party’ should bring up the image of families that were forced to survive by succumbing to cannibalism. The fact that the Donner Party started out their journey late is a true but sad detail that affected their journey and how they ended up to the tragic ending most of the members received.