A look back at local, national and world events through Deseret News archives.
On Feb. 19, 1847, the first rescuers reached members of the Donner Party, who had been snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains near the California-Nevada border for nearly four months.
The group originated in Illinois, bound for new promises in the area that would become California. But the group fell behind after leaving the Oregon Trail. Eventually stranded due to weather, dozens of party members starved to death. The living resorted to cannibalism in the Sierra Nevada over the winter of 1846-47. Forty-two of the group’s 89 members died.
And the story is inextricably linked to Utah, the “Crossroads of the West.”
The disastrous, three-month crossing of Utah and Nevada in 1846 set the stage for one of the Old West’s worst tragedies.
Per Deseret News accounts, the group, also known as the Donner-Reed Party, was the first to use Emigration Canyon, which would later become the primary route of early Mormon pioneers.
You can still see evidence of this group’s work along the pioneer trails in Utah, whether it is in Echo Canyon or Weber Canyon or what is now the Ogden area. The group camped by the Jordan River near where the state fairgrounds now stand, then ventured off across the Great Salt Lake desert.
Eventually, the party was met with a storm that brought heavy snow to the Sierra Nevada a month earlier than usual. The group also was plagued by personality conflicts and a lack of leadership.
Here are some selected stories from Deseret archives about the Donner group, westward exploration and Utah connections:
“Tragedy of Donner Party begin in Utah”
“Mistake after mistake dogged tragic journey”
“About Utah: One group’s disaster paved the way for another’s success”
“New plaque marks Donner-Reed 1846 campsite”
“Gateway to Salt Lake Valley: Emigration Canyon boasts rich history”
“Taylor Halverson: How the Donner Party affected the pioneers’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley”
“About Utah: Donner Party is librarian’s expertise”
“Donner descendants leave feuds in past”
“Donner Party straggler is 150 years late”
“‘The Best Land Under Heaven’: The Donner-Reed Party revealed”
