The DONNER Party A test of survival...
Be sure to have a Learning Journal out! You will be asked to complete a series of tasks as this slide show progresses. Be ready when you see this:
Learning Objectives: see the pencil icon write it down! Be able to: Describe the path the group took to get to California Explain what types of vehicles and animals were used to travel
Learning Objectives: see the pencil icon write it down! Learning objectives part 2: Be able to describe 3 events or decisions that slowed the group down State how many people started and how many people survived Make an inference regarding why more men than women and children died
These pictures are of the monument that stands near the site of the Donner Party s winter camp. The height of the stone base is said to be how high the snow was on the ground in the winter of 1846. The Donner State Park was established in 1928. Donner Memorial State Park, Donner Lake California
View of Donner Lake from the summit Map of California showing where Donner State Park is located
There were many journal entries that survived the trip. This is how historians were able to piece together the events Please read the next direct quote and complete Task #1
Journal Entry Monday, May 11, 1846 "It is supposed there be 7000 waggons start from this place, this season We go to California, to the bay of Francisco. It is a four months trip. We have three waggons furnished with food & clothing &c. drawn by three yoke of oxen each. We take cows along & milk them & have some butter though not as much as we would like. I am willing to go & have no doubt it will be an advantage to our children & to us." TASK#1 In your learning Journal make a list of: what is being taken along on the trip Where they are going
NOw for a few vocabulary words you need to know: Write these in your Learning Journal
Wagon Train: A line or train of wagons traveling cross-country
Great Salt Desert: A large expanse of salt covered desert South of the Great Salt Lake
Pioneers: The first settlers in a new territory
Sutter's Fort: Fort in California where gold was first discovered.
What slowed the group down? You will learn about: Hastings Cutoff Wasatch Mountains Great Salt Desert Humboldt River SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW
Oregon Trail (shown in Purple): A historical overland route to the western United States
Hasting's Cutoff (South of the Oregon Trail and the Great Salt Lake: An alternate route for emigrants to travel to California
Task #2 Hasting s Cutoff In your Learning Journal
Task #3 Read the passage about Hasting s Cutoff and respond to the question... July through October 1846 was a time of misfortune that eventually lead to the Donner Party being trapped at Donner Lake late in October. At the promise of a man named Lansford Hastings the Donner Party decide to take the unpracticed route called Hasting s Cutoff south of the Great Salt Lake. Hastings had promised to guide the group though the Wasatch Mountains but did not follow through on this promise. The Donner Party lost time crossing this range. Task #2: Who promised the group that he would lead them through the Wasatch Mountains? Did he keep his word? What was the result?
Task #3 Great Salt Desert In your Learning Journal
Task #3 Read the passage about the Great Salt Desert and respond to the question... The next obstacle that lay in front of them was the Great Salt desert. To this day the area is know to be a man killer. It is hot and lacks any usable resources along the way. The crossing was intended to last 2 days but it actually took the group 6 days to get out of the boggy salt desert. While crossing they lost 36 head of oxen, left two wagons and also some supplies that were deemed too heavy to continue with. Task #2: What is the Great Salt Desert called to this day? List the losses that the Donner Party experienced during the crossing. Compare the planned time to cross with the actual time it took.
Task #4 Humboldt river In your Learning Journal
Task #4 Read the passage about the Humboldt River and respond to the question... Another dry section between the west side of the Great Salt Flat and the Humboldt river proved to be full of loss as well. Native Americans stole cattle, more wagons were abandoned and the group was nearly out of food, supplies and were down significantly on their animal numbers. Task #4 Based on what you have read in the last 3 tasks, describe what the group must have been thinking and feeling. Use evidence from your previous answers to support your statement.
Who survived and why? This task is about the numbers...
The numbers Task #5 By the beginning of November 1846, the settlers had reached the Sierra Nevada where they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall near Donner Lake, high in the mountains. Their food supplies ran extremely low and, in mid-december, some of the group set out on foot to obtain help. Rescuers from California attempted to reach the settlers, but the first relief party did not arrive until the middle of February 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California. Task #5 How long were the settlers trapped before rescuers were able to get through from California? How many started and how many survived? How many people died?
Who survived? Task #6 Men cut wood, built roads, fixed wagons, found lost cattle. "Because they performed these tasks, it was these prime-age males whose energy stores were more rapidly and thoroughly depleted. By the time they got stuck in the Sierra Nevada, these men were energetically spent and died quickly. -Donald Grayson Based the Anthropologist, Donald Grayson s statement, explain in your own words why the strong men died first...