HISTORY'S GREATEST CONUNDRUMS AND MYSTERIES SOLVED
What happened to the Donner Party?
SHORT ANSWER Snowed in and out of food, the pioneers had no choice but to turn to cannibalism
LONG ANSWER The band of American pioneers bound for the frontier – known as the Donner Party after one of its chief families, led by George Donner – set out from Illinois in April 1846. This was where their problems began as it meant joining the well-trod trail from Missouri to California in May, quite late in the migration season.
A man named Lansford Hastings therefore convinced them to take a shortcut he had worked out, despite having never traversed the route and it going over tough terrain not suitable for wagons. The so-called ‘Hastings Cutoff’ put the party a month behind schedule, which meant they couldn't get over the Sierra Nevada mountain range before being snowed in.
They were stuck for the winter, and helpless when the food ran out and members started perishing due to malnutrition and the cold. When a small group of 15 went for help, eight died on the way.
