In December, 1846, several families led by George Donner found themselves stranded at Truckee Lake (later renamed Donner Lake) in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. There they huddled in makeshift cabins with dirt floors and oxhide roofs. Relentless snow storms left drifts of up to 12 feet, making the steep terrain impassable. In desperation, men and boys repeatedly set out on foot to seek help only to turn back or die along the way. Eventually two men did survive the trek and brought help, but not until spring.
Many people know the story of the Donner party’s harrowing winter ordeal and their descent into cannibalism. Less well known is the fact that they originally planned to travel by a different route to California. Their intended itinerary would have taken them along the well-traveled Oregon Trail, which normally took four to six months to traverse. The group left Independence, Missouri on May 12, 1846 and would have reached their destination by the fall via the Oregon Trail. In case of emergency, the Donner party would have been within a short ride of any help they might need, as many other wagon trains traveled that route and there were trading posts along the way.
The first half of their journey was smooth and uneventful George Donner wrote in a letter that their progress was such that preparing for the trip had been more arduous than the journey itself. That rosy outlook would change after they reached Wyoming. There they would encounter two con artists.
Lansford Hastings, a lawyer from Ohio, drifted out to California in 1842. He saw the great westward migration as an opportunity to profit. Pioneers were hungry for information about the far west and for advice on making the journey. To satisfy this need, Hastings published The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California. In it he recommended an alternate route instead of the Oregon Trail – a route he claimed would be both shorter and less rugged.
What readers of Hastings’ guidebook didn’t know was that he had never traveled that alternate route himself. Eventually he did make the trip, but not with wagons. Not only was Hastings’ Cutoff a treacherous and unproven trail, it added 125 miles and a month of additional travel to the journey.
A consummate con man, Hastings sent riders out to meet wagon trains as they approached the continental divide. He urged them to divert from the Oregon Trail to Hastings’ Cutoff, offering himself as a guide. He would meet them at Jim Bridger’s trading post in Wyoming.
When the Donner party arrived at Bridger’s, members of the group were still debating whether to continue along the Oregon Trail as originally planned, or to take Hastings' advice. Hastings was unavailable, having embarked with an earlier wagon train. If they wanted to take Hastings' Cutoff, they would have to follow the previous group’s wagon tracks through rugged mountain terrain. They made the fateful decision to follow after Hastings.
At the fork of the Green River in southwestern Wyoming stood “Fort Bridger.” It consisted of two log buildings and a horse pen. In reality it was a trading post, not a fort. Bridger had earned himself a reputation as a colorful frontier character, full of tall tales and folksy advice.
Like Hastings, Bridger was not above exploiting trusting pioneers for his own profit. If Hastings' Cutoff became as well-traveled as the Oregon Trail, more wagon trains would come to Fort Bridger. So when the Donners asked his advice, he recommended that they take the alternate route. Since they were still undecided, Bridger’s self-serving advice was likely the determining factor.
For a time, the Donner party managed to follow the previous wagon train’s tracks. But when the terrain grew more rugged, they lost the trail and found their way blocked by trees that had to be hewn and boulders that had to be moved. There were a few deaths and at least one murder along the way.
Having survived the Great Salt Desert, the exhausted pilgrims may have thought the worst was behind them. It was October when they first saw the Sierra Nevada mountains – more steep and massive than any they had yet encountered. And it was beginning to snow. They settled into the Truckee Lake cabins, constructed by previous pioneers, to wait out the storm. Their food was nearly gone because of the extra weeks Hastings and Bridger had cost them. (Hostile natives had also stolen some of their cattle – another consequence of having taken Hastings' Cutoff.)
Before they resorted to cannibalism, the group tried eating snow. Eventually they boiled and ate the oxhide roofs of their cabins. One man shot a bear, but when its meat had been consumed there was no more winter game. By the following spring, there were only 48 survivors of the original 87 men, women, and children who arrived at Truckee Lake. It’s not known with certainty how many people resorted to cannibalism nor how many of the dead were eaten.
Machiavellians are master manipulators. We are all capable of that kind of behavior, but most of us prefer not to behave that way most of the time. That makes us “low Machs.” However, some people are temperamentally predisposed to lie, scheme, and betray. By nature they are amoral and exploitative. Whether Hastings and Bridger were high or low Machs, they were ruthlessly manipulative when it served their interests. They conned the trusting pioneers without regard to the consequences – and the rest is history.
© Dale Hartley
Machiavellians Doomed the Donner Party
11
1
31.12.2023
In December, 1846, several families led by George Donner found themselves stranded at Truckee Lake (later renamed Donner Lake) in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. There they huddled in makeshift cabins with dirt floors and oxhide roofs. Relentless snow storms left drifts of up to 12 feet, making the steep terrain impassable. In desperation, men and boys repeatedly set out on foot to seek help only to turn back or die along the way. Eventually two men did survive the trek and brought help, but not until spring.
Many people know the story of the Donner party’s harrowing winter ordeal and their descent into cannibalism. Less well known is the fact that they originally planned to travel by a different route to California. Their intended itinerary would have taken them along the well-traveled Oregon Trail, which normally took four to six months to traverse. The group left Independence, Missouri on May 12, 1846 and would have reached their destination by the fall via the Oregon Trail. In case of emergency, the Donner party would have been within a short ride of any help they might need, as many other wagon trains traveled that route and there were trading posts along the way.
The first half of their journey was smooth and uneventful George Donner wrote in a letter that their progress was such that preparing for the trip had been more arduous than the journey........
© Psychology Today
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
