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 On April 16, 1846, nine covered wagons left
Springfield,
Illinois on the 2500 mile
journey to
California, in what would
become one of the greatest tragedies in the history of westward
migration. The originator of this group was a man named James
Frasier Reed, an
Illinois business man, eager
to build a greater fortune in the rich land of
California. Reed also
hoped that his wife, Margaret, who suffered from terrible headaches,
might improve in the coastal climate. Reed had recently read the
book The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California, by
Landsford W. Hastings, who advertised a new shortcut across the Great
Basin. This new route enticed travelers by advertising that it
would save the pioneers 350-400 miles on easy terrain. However,
what was not known by Reed was that the Hastings Route had never been
tested, written by Hastings who had visions of building an empire at
Sutter’s Fort (now
Sacramento.) It was this falsified information that would
lead to the doom of the Donner
Party.
Reed soon found others seeking
adventure and fortune in the vast including the Donner family, Graves, Breens, Murphys, Eddys, McCutcheons, Kesebergs, and the Wolfingers, as
well as seven teamsters and a number of bachelors. The initial group
included 32 men, women and children.
With James and Margaret Reed were their
four children, Virginia, Patty, James and Thomas, as well as
Margaret’s 70-year-old mother, Sarah Keyes, and two hired servants.
Though Sarah Keyes was so sick with consumption that she could barely
walk, she was unwilling to be separated from her only daughter. However, the successful Reed was determined his family would not
suffer on long journey as his wagon was an extravagant two-story
affair with a built-in iron stove, spring-cushioned seats and bunks
for sleeping. Taking eight oxen to pull the luxurious wagon,
Reed’s 12-year-old daughter Virginia dubbed it "The Pioneer Palace
Car.”
In nine brand new wagons, the group estimated the trip
would take four months to cross the plains, deserts, mountain ranges
and rivers in their quest for
California. Their first
destination was
Independence,
Missouri, the main
jumping-off point for the
Oregon and
California Trails.
Also in the group were the families of George and Jacob Donner. George Donner was a successful
62-year-old farmer who had migrated five times before settling in
Springfield,
Illinois along with his brother Jacob. Obviously adventurous, the brothers decided to make one last trip to
California, which unfortunately
would be their last.
With George were his third wife, Tamzene, their three
children, Frances, Georgia, and Eliza, and George's two daughters from a
previous marriage, Elitha and Leanna. Jacob Donner, and his wife Elizabeth,
brought their five children, George, Mary, Isaac, Samuel and Lewis, as
well as Mrs. Donner's two children from a previous marriage, Solomon and
William Hook.
Also along with them were two teamsters,
Noah James and Samuel Shoemaker, as well as friend named John Denton. In
the bottom of Jacob
Donner's saddlebag was a copy of
Lansford Hastings's Emigrant's Guide, with its tantalizing talk of
a faster route to the garden of the earth.
Ironically, on the very day that the
Illinois party headed west from
Springfield, Lansford Hastings
prepared to head east from
California, to see what the shortcut he had
written about was really like.
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''My father, with tears
in his eyes, tried
to smile as one friend
after another grasped his hand in a last farewell. Mama was overcome with
grief. At last we were all
in the wagons. The
drivers cracked their whips. The oxen moved slowly forward
and the long journey
had begun.''
--
Virginia Reed, daughter
of James Reed
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