P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center

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2007 Summer

The Donner Party: A Brief History

Christopher Y. Lew

 

Jim Shaw

The Donner Party

Installation view at P.S.1, 2007

Photo by Matthew Septimus
Courtesy P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center

 

Much mythologizing, exaggeration, and time has obscured the events that surrounded the disastrous westward journey of the Donner Party. Trapped by an early snowfall in the Sierra Nevada as they searched for a new route through the mountains, the pioneers faced starvation conditions and such difficult weather that even the rescue parties required their own rescue. With a tale of suffering that approaches Biblical proportions, it is no wonder that just three years after their plight, the ’49ers of the California gold rush would already recount macabre versions of the story around their evening campfires. Jim Shaw’s large-scale installation is inspired by the tragedy and adds further complexity and kitsch to the tale. What follows is a sketch of the actual events that befell the group during the winter of 1846–47.

The Donner Party consisted of a motley crew of families that were part of the great westward migration of the 19th century. Traveling in covered wagons pulled by teams of oxen, the train of emigrants leaving Missouri stretched on for miles, with entire families headed west. It was not until July 1846 in Wyoming that the Donner Party coalesced into the group of 87 men, women, and children who all decided to take a gamble on a new southerly route to the San Francisco bay. Advertised by Lansford W. Hastings, a twenty-something adven­turer with get-rich-quick schemes, the new route—the yet-to-blazed Hastings Cut-off—promised to be a short cut. Led by George Donner and James Frazier Reed, the group decided to attempt to catch up with Hastings who was guiding another train of 66 wagons.

Entering Utah, they hit mountainous terrain. Reed and two others were sent ahead on horseback to overtake Hastings. However, they were unable to convince him to return with them so they were on their own, clearing roads to allow their wagons to pass. It was back-breaking work. Fall was approaching and time was running out.

The party reached desert country. By the time they reached water, the pioneers crossed an arid 80 miles and lost 36 oxen. Reed was one of the worst off. He lost his entire oxen team, hitching cows to wagons to replace the missing oxen. More cattle were lost as American Indians began shooting at the beasts.

By the end of October, the party reached the Sierra Nevada and faced an early snow­fall. The summit pass was still ahead, but they were trapped in deep snow with their wagons. The pioneers were forced to hole up in the small cabins they had built–three rude constructions near the lake. Reed, however, was not with the group since he was banished from the party when an altercation led to another pioneer’s death. Arriving at Sutter’s Fort (now Sacramento), Reed had little knowledge of the horrors that his family and the rest of the Donner Party had yet to face.

In the mountains food was running out and the pioneers resorted to boiling and eating the cowhides that remained. These provisions were often horded, which led to extreme tensions within the group. They resorted to catching and eating mice that entered the camps and even hunting a bear. Despite their efforts, the pioneers knew they did not have enough food to survive the winter.

A group of 10 men and 5 women decided to brave the summit, attempt to reach Sutter’s Fort to get help for surviving pioneers. They constructed snowshoes from oxen yokes and rawhide, and ventured on foot with a few days’ supply of jerked beef. Snow blind and starving, the pioneers began to hallucinate. When the weakest of the group faltered and died, the rest resorted to eating the corpse—first setting upon the liver, brains and other organs that contained the most nutrients. No one touched the dead of their own family, but the crackle of roast­ing hearts and limbs was unavoidable. When the two American Indian guides—who refused the human flesh—could no longer walk, they too were put out of their misery and devoured. After 33 days of walking on bleeding and frost­bitten feet, 2 men and 5 women escaped the mountains and reached the California settlements.

News of the trapped pioneers spread quickly. It took four relief parties to save all the pioneers. Of the initial 87, there were 47 survivors.