Donner Party????

[Cluton]

Anyone around where this happened? I've read 3 diaries frim this trip about the Westward Expansion, and let me tell you, it was rough on these people! Caught by huge snowfall 2 miles before a downhill run to safety! Sad situation, about faith, struggle of pioneers and even resorting to cannabalism! I couldn't stop reading about it for 4 days!! Google it, a great and horrific story of all aspects of human life! Has anybody ever read about this or been around where this happened? Donner Pass area? Been reading for days,, back is killing me, and stuck at the house!! Check it out, very sad situation! Some heros and some villains!!

[Flyjunkie]

Been to some of the Locations.. you see Burn marks on Trees 20 feet above your head _ where they burned fires on top of the snowpack.., there are a fair number of Marked locations where the various small groups where staying..

Sad situation for the Party.. Thought they were told Not to attempt the Sierra Nevada in the Winter... and if i remember correctly, the Washo Indians told them not to go as well...

There's a Movie , with Crispin Glover, called "The Donner Party" that is a dark portrayal of the whole ordeal... I like it better then the Happy Cheery movies they've made.. because i think it is more to the point of what Happened...

[arrow719]

They came right through my area. It was the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah's West Desert that set them back about four days. The wagons kept breaking through the dry crust into a gooey muddy mess beneath. Those four days lost might of got them over the Sierra Nevada Mountains before the snow.

[marksimerson]

The ultimate "Do what ya got ta do" if you want to survive.

[Cluton]

Yes, I was amazed at the trees being cut that high, massive snowfall! It was very sad! I did see the movie as well, very creepy, but made ya think hard about their situation! Those people were tough ones! No doubt! Arrow, they also stayed at Fort Bridger for 3 days, which was a long stay for a stop, I believe it was mentioned!? So close, but that country looks rough, I've been snowed in with 8-9 ft drifts, and had to walk out from 8 miles to trailhead, about 9,000 ft elevation, scared as I've ever been, and couldn't feel my feet and hands for an hour with heater on in truck! Horrible situation, but nothing like what these people encountered! I couldn't even imagine!

[Scotto]

One heck of a scary story for sure.

I've always liked the book "Alive" by Piers Paul Reid, about the Andes mountains survivors. They were a rugby team of Uruguayans who's plane crashed in the Andes mountains, and they survived up there in the barren, high altitude snow by eating the dead. 2 of them made it out by walking (barely), then helicopters went back and got the rest. I think 17 out of 40 something survived.

[manoman]

A good book on the event, if you can find it...."Ordeal by Hunger, the Donner Party"

[Dennis]

I drove by there Thursday night it was cold and the wind was gusting 30 + they must have gone threw hell. My wife has been working on a highway project near there for the last 4 years .

[knife river]

A bit related -- the University of Northern Colorado has a building named after Alfred J. Packer. Google him -- and the building is the campus dining hall...

[Mud Hawk]

The weak, sick, starving, and poor. There have been several recent posts on this topic... whether directly or indirectly. Even in DrDaves Solutrean video post of "Ice Ace Columbus", the director implied cannibalism when dire survival was at stake... the choice to eat the dead weight because of scurvy (I never knew blood cells basically melted from this till now) just to try and live for a few more days.

Humans like to displace themselves from the "savage" but in the end they are all from the same primordial goo.

So you are presented with examples ranging from ancient, to the Donner party, to modern day Uruguayans.

It amazes me how the world works now. Murder and rape are everyday crimes... ones that destroy lives. Yet the mere mention of cannibalism puts civilization in a tizzy of moral high and mighty value.