All the Mistakes That Doomed the Donner Party

Doesn't seem like much of a party to me

The old man being left behind was always sad to me. I mean it was probably better for him in the end considering what happened to the Donner Party, but imagine not being able to keep up with the group and slowly watching them fading into the distance, leaving you behind to die, then being all alone in the wilderness.

Banishing James Reed like thy did saved the survivors. He did make it to Sutter’s Fort and when the party didn’t arrive, he raised the rescue parties. He was relentless in his efforts to save everyone possible.

"fun" fact: one of the surviving children died the night he was rescued, because he was so hungry he broke into the rescuers' food stores and ate until his starvation-shrunken stomach ruptured.

It’s like they purposely chose the worst scenario possible

Hey, I played Oregon Trail when I was a kid and sometimes I died of starvation. I don't recall "eating cousin Jacob" as an option.

Reed didn't just stab a guy for beating his ox. Two wagons in the remaining group became tangled, and John Snyder angrily beat the ox of Reed's hired teamster Milt Elliott. When Reed intervened, Snyder proceeded to rain blows down onto his head with a whip handle - when Reed's wife attempted to intervene she too was struck. Reed retaliated by fatally plunging a knife under Snyder's collarbone. Reed acted in self defense and tried to plead his case before the other travelers but they were already stressed out and had no time for a trial. One man offered to throw a rope over his wagon to hang Reed with it, but Reed's wife begged for his banishment instead. Reed would eventually come back with a recuse party.

So we’re not gonna talk about how reed came back as a part of one of the many rescue parties and saved the people that exiled him and talked about killing him??”

My favourite thing about these episodes is how the narrator talks like a cynical god reliving the past

I learned more about the Donner Party in 13mins than I did watching an entire 2hr documentary. Thanks, Weird History!

By the way, James Reed was a certified legend! What did he do after getting the boot from the Donner Party, you ask? ✅ survived a 22-day trek from the wagon train to a fort, narrowly escaping starvation throughout ✅ gathered supplies and then set back out to bring them to the same group who totally just finished banishing his ass like a second ago ✅ got blocked by the same snow which trapped the others, avoided the urge to eat himself, successfully retreated ✅ got sucked into a war, survived the Battle of Santa Clara, ended up with his own land as a result ✅ helped lead yet another rescue attempt, actually found his wife and two of his kids! ("yeah, Honey, I'm headed into the mountains. Just meet me by the tree, OK?") ✅ made it all the way back to the Donner-Reed camp, rescued his remaining relatives and left the rest o' them suckers behind ✅ was a sheriff, farmer and commodities trader all in the same year ✅ fackin NAILED the California gold rush, built a 500-acre boss AF ranch, re-invested in mining and real estate companies ✅ was chief of police for the San Jose Police Department ✅ had a street in San Jose named after every one of his children ❌ took more than two years to do ALL of the shit I just listed Mahfugger died at 73 years old. Adjusted for inflation, that's 292 years old! #TheyShouldHaveIgnoredTheStabbingYo

Fun fact: In Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 there is a loose easter egg based on this tragic situation, Lake Donner is named after this and there is also a wagon and left over human bones next to a mummified corpse in a over hang like cave. Still sad for anyone involved.

Imagine being the surviving families and party members that broke off and decided to go the decent route, amd then you find out all this after? It's gotta be natural selection.

Even when the food runs out, we'll still have each other.

Where they died is now “the Donner picnic area” 💀

At this point, this family must be in the afterlife going, "Ok, Ok! We get it! We fucked up! Enough already!" Problem is, we can't get enough of this story.

When you beat Oregon Trail on the normal difficulty and then decide to do it on Hard mode.

Looks like I picked the wrong morning to eat my 'Donner's Frozen Breakfast Sausages' .

I've definitely seen Donner packed in snow, so difficult to see others in front of you while driving. My heart goes out to these people. Such a sad situation.

That is only half the story! It is really interesting when you read about the whole trip. James Reed the one who was made to go off on his own was the one who saved the party! He made it through and sent help, after all his family was still with the party. It really is a fascinating story from start to finish. I've read several books on the story and man is it good reading. Truth is stranger than fiction!