Emigrants in the Donner Party had to resort to desperate measures during a difficult time.
In April 1846, the Donner Party - a group of American pioneers led by George Donner - migrated to California from the Midwest in covered wagons. Behind schedule, they decided to take a shortcut that no other wagon has traveled before. The journey turned out to be extremely difficult and the group became snowbound in several feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Much of their supplies and livestock were lost on the trail, and members of the group began to perish from starvation.
About a month after the group became snowbound, some of the strongest members attempted to walk out of the mountains to find help. After a month of walking, seven of the 15 made it to California and helped organize rescue efforts.
While waiting to be rescued, the people stranded in ramshackle tents and cabins on the mountain had to resort to eating their remaining livestock, pet dogs and even human flesh.
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| Nero, one of the Donner Party pet dogs. |
Rescue parties did arrive and helped the survivors back to civilization, but several died while trying to walk out of the mountains. The last survivor to leave the camp was in April 1847. Only 45 of the original 81 members of the Donner Party survived, 32 of them children. George Donner, his brother, both of their wives and four of their children all perished.
