Raymond Goodlow

English 1

February 28, 2023

Situations With The Donner Party

The Spring of 1846 a group of 98 emigrants left from Springfield Illinois and headed west to

California to build a new life. It was led by 2 wealthy brothers Jacob and George Donner. The

Breen family, the Graves clan, and the Keseberg family were also other families included in the

Donner Party. There are multiple reasons the Donner Party failed; the primary reasons are

weather, bad planning, and groups.

The weather had a huge effect during the Donner Party. It had a huge effect because it

caused the Donner Party to be trapped by exceptionally heavy snow in Sierra Nevada. The

snow was 15 to 20 feet high. It was very cold. The Mountains transformed into icy roadblocks.

They were trapped in Sierra Nevada. The Donner party was forced to retreat to a nearby

Truckee Lake and wait out for the winter in ramshackle tents and cabins.

The Donner Party’s bad planning also had a big effect. It had a big effect because it caused the

Donner Party to do cannibalism on their dead one’s. Cannibalism is the practice of eating the

flesh of one’s own species. They had to because it gave them the energy they needed. They did

cannibalism instead of eating the cattle and other animals because they were scared they

might be infected with bad diseases.

The Donner Party group was a reason they failed because of many reasons. Some

families were large, family wagons, young children, and adolescents. One of the biggest

reasons was because of the people who died. This was bad. This was bad because the people

who were trying to hunt could get any breaks because there was no one to relieve them. This

made it hard for the Donner Party to get rest, food and other resources they needed.
“When all is said and done I think the story tells us that hope is the hero's domain, not the fools.

Because we dare to hope, even when doing so might undo us. We leave the worlds we create

behind us, swirling in our wakes, eternal and effervescent with the beauty of our aspirations.”

According to Daniel James Brown

All of this information came from History, Accessed on 2 March, 2023