Welcome back WikiManiacs! You have made it this far, and we can't believe it's Episode 9 already. This week, we talk about one of the most fascinating tales in modern history: The Donner Party. Sit back, relax, or hop on your car equipped with functional GPS, because this one is going to be a wild ride.
According to Wikipedia: “The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party) was a group of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pioneer (American pioneers) who migrated to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California (California) in a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_train (wagon train) from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest (Midwest). Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_(U.S.) (Sierra Nevada) mountain range. Some of the migrants resorted to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_cannibalism (cannibalism) to survive, eating the bodies of those who had succumbed to starvation, sickness and extreme cold.
The Donner Party departed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri (Missouri) on the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail (Oregon Trail) in the spring of 1846, behind many other pioneer families who were attempting to make the same overland trip. The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party was slowed after electing to follow a new route called the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Cutoff (Hastings Cutoff), which bypassed established trails and instead crossed the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountain (Rocky Mountains') https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasatch_Range (Wasatch Range) and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Salt_Lake_Desert (Great Salt Lake Desert) in present-day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah (Utah). The desolate and rugged terrain, and the difficulties they later encountered while traveling along the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_River (Humboldt River) in present-day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada (Nevada), resulted in the loss of many cattle and wagons, and divisions soon formed within the group.
By early November, the migrants had reached the Sierra Nevada but became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall near Truckee Lake (now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Lake (Donner Lake)) high in the mountains. Their food supplies ran dangerously low, and in mid-December some of the group set out on foot to obtain help. Rescuers from California attempted to reach the migrants, but the first relief party did not arrive until the middle of February 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived the ordeal. Historians have described the episode as one of the most fascinating tragedies in California history, and in the entire record of American westward migration.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party#cite_note-1 ([1])”
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RESOURCES
Wikipedia contributors. (2021, November 21). Donner Party. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party
History.com Editors. (2019, June 7). Donner Party. HISTORY....