User:Karanacs/Donner Timeline

May 1846

Date	Event
May 12	The families of George and Jacob Donner and James Reed leave Independence, Missouri.
May 19	At Indian Creek, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Independence, the Donners and Reeds join a larger wagon train, which is led by Colonel William Henry Russell.
May 27	High water stops the Russell Train at the east bank of the Big Blue River in modern-day Kansas. The emigrants begin building a raft to carry their wagons across.
May 28	Sarah Keyes, mother of Margaret Reed, dies. The company halts work on the raft for the day in order to have a funeral.
May 30–31	Wagons transported across the Big Blue River via raft. At some point during the delay at the Big Blue, the Murphy family from Tennessee has joined the wagon train.

June 1846

Date	Event
June 12–14	The party ate their first fresh meat since leaving Independence after Reed shot an elk and several members slayed buffalo. Hunting is increasingly successful over the next few weeks.
June 16	The party has traveled almost 450 miles (720 km) and has approximately 200 miles (320 km) to reach Fort Laramie. Tamsin Donner write, "Indeed, if I do not experience something far worse than I have yet done, I shall say the trouble is all in getting started."
June 18	William Russell relinquishes his position as captain of the wagon train because he, Edwin Bryant, and others have decided to trade in their wagons and teams for mules in order to travel more quickly. They travel ahead to Fort Laramie to make the transaction.
June 27	The party in which the Donners and Reeds travel, now called the Boggs Company (named for its leader Lilburn W. Boggs, a former governor of Missouri), arrives at Fort Laramie. James Reed meets James Clyman, an old mountaineer, who has just come by horse from California with Lansford Hastings by way of a new route, which will soon be known as Hastings Cutoff. Clyman advises the emigrants not to take it.

July 1846

Date	Event
July 4–5	Party spends two days restings while they celebrate the Fourth of July.
July 12	Party spends the day resting. The previous six days, temperatures had risen about 100 degrees. They receive letters from Hastings,, delivered by a lone eastbound rider, urging them to meet him at Fort Bridger at Blacks Fork. so that Hastings could guide them on his cutoff.
July 18	The Boggs Company crosses the Continental Divide. They are 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from Independence and have more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to go. Edwin Bryant left letters at Fort Bridger for James Reed and other members of the party, encouraging them to follow the traditional route instead of the shortcut. The letters never reached their intended recipients.
July 19	Party reaches the Little Sandy River in modern-day Wyoming. At this point, the trail splits. Most of the party turns right to follow the traditional trail. A group of approximately 70 people turn left, towards Fort Bridger, to attempt Hastings' shortcut. George Donner is elected leader of the group attempting the shortcut, and his group of wagons is now known as the Donner Party.
July 20	Hastings leaves Fort Bridger at the head of another group, the Harlan-Young Party.
July 28–31	Resting and re-supplying at Blacks Fork. William McCutcheon, wife Amanda, and their toddler daughter Harriet join company, as does a 16-year-old named Jean Baptiste Trudeau and a new driver for the Donners.

August 1846

Date	Event
August 1 or 2	Edward Breen falls from a horse and breaks his leg. At his insistence, the leg is not amputated, but he is now forced to ride in the wagon.
August 1 –6	The company follows the tracks of the Harlan-Young Party to Weber Canyon, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains. There, they find a note from Hastings instructing them to stop and send a rider to fetch him, so that Hastings can show them an alternate path through the Wasatch.
August 6 –10	James Reed, Charles Stanton, and William Pike are chosen to get Hastings. When they reach the Harlan-Young Party, Stanton and Pike start to rest. Hastings returns partway with Reed, points out the path he think the Donner Party should take, then returns to the Harlan-Young Party. Reed arrives back at camp alone and convinces the others to take the new route.
August 11–22	The journey through the Wasatch Mountains creates tension and fatigue among the men when they have to break their own trail. Their progress slows considerably to about a mile and a half (2.4 km) a day. Food and supplies begin to run low. Stanton and Pike catch up with the group, and the Graves family joins, bringing the total number of members to 87, with 60 to 80 wagons. The Graves family confirms that the party is at the very rear of the wagons headed west.
August 25	Luke Halloran dies of tuberculosis and is buried at the edge of the Great Salt Lake Desert. The company finds the tattered remains of a note from Hastings, indicating that it will take approximately 2 days and 2 nights to cross the desert. They spend a day in camp, cutting fodder for the animals and collecting water.
August 31 – September 5	Company travels from where Salt Lake City is located today to Twenty Wells and what is now called Donner Springs. The oxen have difficulty maneuvering in the sand, and some families abandon wagons in order to reach water more quickly. Some of the oxen die, and others, including all those belonging to the Reed family, stampede and are lost.

September 1846

Date	Event
September 5–15	The Donner party rests at Pilot Peak and searches for their missing cattle. Four wagons are abandoned (two from Reeds, one from George Donner, and one from Lewis Keseberg), and 36 cattle are dead or missing. Before leaving, they inventory their remaining food supplies and realize that they are perilously low. William McCutcheon and Charles Stanton volunteer to ride ahead to California and bring back supplies.
September 15	Company expected to be in California by this date.
September 26	After skirting the Ruby Mountains, the company crosses the Humboldt River (unnamed at the time) to rejoin the California Trail 10 miles (16 km) south of where Elko, Nevada is located today. The Hastings Cutoff has caused a delay of one month.

October 1846

Date	Event
October 5	James Reed kills John Snyder, a teamster for the Graves family, after an altercation where Snyder hit Reed and may have hit Margaret Reed.
October 6	Reed is banished from the group and leaves his family and the company after assisting in burying Snyder. He soon catches up with George and Jacob Donner, who have gone ahead, and tells them he is traveling on to gather supplies. His teamster Walter Herron agrees to accompany him. Although two men have one horse and few supplies, they make good time, approximately 25–40 miles (40–64 km) per day.
October 8	Hardkoop, a nearly 70-year-old Belgian man traveling with Keseberg, is left behind. Others refuse to go back to find him.
October 13–14	Party crosses desert between Humboldt Sink and Truckee River. Eddys leave their wagon behind and have no food. Margaret Reed leave their wagon and carry only clothes.
October 15	Stop at Truckee River to rest.
October 16–19	Company journeys to Truckee Meadows near where Reno, Nevada is located today.
October 19	Charles Stanton returns to the party with mules, provisions, and two converted Indians hired by John Sutter named Luís and Salvador.
October 20–25	While resting their cattle and preparing to scale the Sierra Nevada, William Pike is accidentally shot and killed by William Foster, his brother-in-law.
October 25–30	Company travels to Truckee Lake
October 28–29	Begins snowing heavily at Truckee Lake
October 31	The Breen family and a few others reach Truckee Lake and stop to wait for Stanton to guide them to the pass.

November 1846

Date	Event
November 1–4	Several families attempt to reach the summit. Heavy snowfall impedes their progress. The Breen family turns back after 2 miles (3.2 km) and the others follow suit. Stanton and one of the Indians reach the pass, but return to find that the rest of the group has decided to rest for the night. All of the families are now at Truckee Lake except the Donners, who are 6 miles (9.7 km) behind. That night, enough snow falls that the pass becomes impassible.
November 4–12	The families build crude shelters. About 60 of them lived in three cabins and a lean-to at Truckee Lake. The Donner families built two lean-tos at Alder Creek. Most families had little to no food left. Margaret Reed bartered for several oxen.
November 12	Fifteen members of the group attempted to cross the pass on foot, but were unable to navigate the deep snows. William Eddy shot a bear and shared the meat with the Reed, Murphy, and Graves families.
November 20	Patrick Breen began keeping a diary.
November 21–23	The snow had almost completely melted, so 22 members of the party crossed the pass on foot. On the western side of the mountain, the mules were unable to go further, and Charles Stanton refused to leave them, as he had promised John Sutter that they would be returned. Without a guide, the group was forced to turn back.
November 25 – December 3	A blizzard raged for eight days, forcing the cancellation of a plan to cross the pass on November 26. The snows smothered the living animals, including Sutter's mules, and the carcasses could not be found.

December 1846

Date	Truckee Lake/Alder Creek	Snowshoe party
December 6	Stanton & Graves begin manufacturing snow shoes of rawhide and oxbows.
December 9	Augustus Spitzer, who had been living in a lean-to with the Kesebergs, becomes unable to tolerate the harsh living conditions. The Breen family took him in and nursed him.
December 10	Milt Elliott and Noah James went to visit the Donners at Alder Creek to inform them that a group was planning to leave on foot.
December 15	Baylis Williams, one of the Reeds' hired men, dies, probably of malnutrition.
December 16	Seventeen members set out to walk to California. Only 14 have snowshoes. Charles Burgher and William Murphy, who have no snowshoes, turn back quickly. That evening, the snowshoe party fashions snowshoes for Lemuel Murphy out of packsaddles.
December 17		The snowshoe party crosses the pass.
December 20	Milt Elliott returns from Alder Creek with news Jacob Donner, Sam Shoemaker, Joseph Reinhardt, and James Smith have died.	The snowshoers reach Yuba Bottoms.
December 21		The snowshoers' rations run out. Charles Stanton, too weak to leave camp in the morning, sits in the snow, smoking his pipe, and tells the rest to go on. His bones are found the following spring. Eddy discovers bear meat in his knapsack, but does not share it.
December 24		The men in the party are rapidly weakening, and someone suggests that they might kill one member of the group for food. The idea is rejected. William Eddy's hands and face are burned when a powder horn explodes as he tries to relight the fire.
December 25	Margaret Reed cooks a special Christmas dinner for her children with food she has hoarded – apples, beans, tripe, one piece of bacon. All members of the camp were running out of food and many resorted to eating oxhide.	Antonio dies, then Franklin Graves. A blizzard makes it impossible for the group to continue.
December 28		For three days, the snowshoe party members have huddled in a circle as a blizzard rages. Patrick Dolan shows signs of insanity and then dies. The group cuts apart his body for food. Lemuel Murphy dies.
December 29		The group harvests meat and organs from the bodies of all their dead and dries it to carry with them.
December 30		The ten surviving members of the group continue their journey, and travel 4 miles (6.4 km).

January 1847

Date	Truckee Lake/Alder Creek	Snowshoe party
January 1 –5		The group's food supply runs out, and they begin to eat the rawhide strings of their snowshoes. Eddy warns the Indians, Luís and Salvador, that others are proposing killing them for food. The Indians flee, leaving the party with no one to guide them to Sutter's Fort.
January 4	Almost out of food, and with nothing left to barter, Margaret Reed, her daughter Virginia, and her employees Milt Elliott and Eliza Williams set out on foot for California. The Breen and Graves families agreed to care for the three youngest children.
January 5	Eliza Williams returns to the cabins.	Jay Fosdick dies, and his body is cut up for food. Eddy shoots a deer.
January 8	Margaret and Virginia Reed and Milt Elliott return to camp. Their cabin is uninhabitable because they had eaten the oxhides that served as a roof. The Reeds move in with the Breens, Elliott with the Murphys, and Williams with the Graveses.
January 9		The group sees the tracks of Luís and Salvador and discovers the two men near death. William Foster shoots them both, and the group uses their bodies for food.
January 12		The seven surviving members reach a Miwok camp. The Miwoks give them acorns, grass, and pine nuts to eat.
January 17		Eddy, accompanied by an Indian guide, reaches a small settlement called Johnson's Ranch.
January 18		Settlers at Johnson's Ranch rescue the remaining six survivors, who had collapsed in the snow.
January 22–26	A blizzard keeps everyone housebound. During the storm, infant Lewis Keseberg, Jr. dies.
January 31	Peggy Breen gives Lavinah Murphy some meat. Landrum Murphy is too sick to eat and dies.

February 1847

Date	Truckee Lake/Alder Creek	First Relief	Second Relief
February 2	Harriet McCutcheon, age 2, dies.
February 4	Infant Margaret Eddy dies. Her body lies in the cabin for three days because everyone is too sick to bury it under the snow.	Ten members of a rescue party, later known as the First Relief, leaves Sutter's Fort.
February 7	Eleanor Eddy dies.		Selim Woodworth, a naval captain, set sail with a large amount of supplies to launch another relief effort. He was to meet James Reed near Sutter's Fort.
February 8	Augustus Spitzer dies.
February 9	Milt Elliott dies.	Forty miles (64 km) from Sutter's Fort, the rescue party encounters deep snow. Most of the mules cannot continue, and William Eddy escorts them back. The remaining members of the party carry 50-pound bags of food. Periodically, they stop to hang food in the trees for the return trip.
February 13	A newspaper breaks the story of the snowshoe party, mentioning that "the survivers were kept alive by eating the dead bodies".
February 14		Three members turn back. The other seven agree to keep going when co-captain Reason Tucker offers to raise their wages from $3 to $5 per day.
February 17		The rescue party reaches the headwaters of the Yuba River and estimate that the snow is 30 feet (9.1 m) deep.
February 18	The first rescue party reaches the lake.
February 19	Three of the rescuers travel to Alder Creek to check on the Donners. Most of the Donners were too weak to travel, but Jacob's children William and George, and George's children Elitha and Leanna accompanied the rescuers to Truckee Lake. Before leaving, the rescuers cut down a tree for firewood and left a tiny amount of food – all they could spare. The Donners tell the rescuers that if they cannot find the ox carcasses they will begin eating the bodies of the dead humans.
February 22	The First Relief left, accompanied by 23 members of the Donner Party, mostly older children. Margaret Reed's youngest children, Patty and Thomas, were unable to keep up. Rescuer Aquilla Glover promised on his honor as a Mason to return for the children later, and Margaret Reed agreed to go on without them. Although the Breens initially refused to take the children back, they relented when they were given a little more of the supplies.		James Reed leads the Second Relief into the mountains, assuming that Woodworth will catch up with the rest of the supplies.
February 23	The Breens kill their pet dog for food.
February 24		John Denton collapses and tells the others to go on without him. His body was discovered weeks later.
February 25		Ada Keseberg, age 3, died. Her mother was distraught and had to be coaxed into letting go of the child's body. The rescuers discover that animals have destroyed their food caches, and they eat the last of their food supplies. The children soon resort to eating strips of rawhide cut from one rescuer's pants.
February 26	Levinah Murphy tells Patrick Breen that her family will soon start eating from the body of Milt Elliott.	A two-man scouting party from the First Relief, who had been searching for their cached supplies, met James Reed's party. Reed sent two of his men and supplies back with them.
February 27		colspan=2	James Reed is reunited with his wife and elder children. After learning that his other children are alive and still trapped at the lake, Reed and his men press on. That evening, 12-year-old William Hook snuck into the supplies and gorged himself, then became very ill. Reed's rescue party marches all night without rest.
February 28	An Indian leaves several edible roots for the Breens.	William Hook dies. One adult and Billy Murphy, who had badly frostbitten feet, were left behind so that Billy could recover.	While most of the group stopped to rest, three men – Charles Cady, Charles Stone, and Nicholas Clark – pushed on. When 2 miles (3.2 km) from the lake, they saw a party of Indians in the distance. Assuming the natives were hostile, the rescuers camped for the night rather than approach.

March 1847

Date	Truckee Lake/Alder Creek	First Relief	Second Relief	Third Relief
March 1	Second Relief arrives at Truckee Lake.		The rescue party arrives at Truckee Lake and discovers that some of the dead have been cannibalized.
March 2	Jacob Donner's three eldest children are sent with the Second Relief. Believing that another rescue party will arrive shortly, Tamsin Donner elects to keep her three young daughters with her, as she stays to care for her sick husband. Betsy Donner and her two youngest children are too ill to travel.		Rescuers reach Alder Creek, where they discover further evidence of cannibalism.	Woodworth meets some members of the First Relief, and makes arrangements for them to get to Sutter's Fort.
March 3	Seventeen members of the Donner Party, including the Breen and Graves families, leave with the Second Relief. In his last diary entry, Patrick Breen notes that one rescuer predicted snow would be on the ground until June. Fourteen survivors remained behind.	Billy Murphy and his rescuer reached the main party.	Second Relief leaves Truckee Lake. Nicholas Clark and Charles Cady remain behind to help those at Alder Creek. Charles Stone stays with the survivors at Truckee Lake.
March 4	Stone hikes to Alder Creek. He and Cady decide to leave, as the Donners now have provisions, and another relief party should be coming. Tamsin Donner pays them to take her three daughters with them.		They are already on half-rations, having left most of their food with the survivors who remained behind.
March 5	Stone, Cady, and the three Donner girls shelter in the Murphy cabin during the blizzard.		Three rescuers are sent ahead to find supplies. When a blizzard hits, they turn towards Sutter's Fort.The group crosses the pass as a blizzard begins. They huddle together, at one of the most exposed points on the mountain. Food soon runs out.
March 6			As the blizzard continues to rage, John Breen collapses and is revived when his mother places a tiny portion of sugar in his mouth. James Reed is snowblind and slips into a coma. William McCutchan and Hiram Miller revive him, then take turns venturing into the blizzard to cut firewood. Mary Donner ventures too close to the fire and severely burns her feet, leaving her unable to walk.
March 7	Nicholas Clark estimates that the storm has dropped 6 feet (1.8 m) of snow. Cady and Stone leave the Donner children at the Murphy cabin and head for the pass.	The First Relief arrived at Johnson's Ranch. Virginia Reed recalled that "I really thought I had stepped over into paradise".	The group discovers that five-year-old Isaac Donner froze to death during the night. The blizzard ends, but Patrick Breen and Elizabeth Graves are very sick. Many of the children are too small to walk. Miller agrees to carry Tommy Reed, and Patty Reed and Solomon Hook walk on their own. The others agree to remain behind. The rescuers cut down three days worth of firewood to leave at what became known as Starved Camp, then continue down the mountain.
March 8–12			Despite his own weakness, James Reed begins carrying his daughter, as she can no longer walk. Peggy Breen does not feel her son James breathing. Although her husband told her to let the boy die, as he'd be better off than the rest of them, Peggy revives him. Elizabeth Graves and her son Franklin die. The fire at Starved Camp sinks very low, until it finally rests on bare ground. The survivors huddle around the fire at the bottom of a 15 feet (4.6 m) deep snowpit. Mary Donner suggests that the group members eat the bodies of the dead.Cady and Stone pass Starved Camp but do not stop and eventually rejoin Reed.	William Eddy and William Foster, both desperate to rescue their children, and John Stark, join Woodworth's small group. The Third Relief meets up with Reed's group, and Woodworth refuses to go further. With pleading and bribery, Eddy and Foster convince five other men, including Hiram Miller and Charles Stone, to accompany them to the lake.
March 13				colspan=2	The Third Relief reaches Starved Camp and finds 11 surviving emigrants and three "crudely butchered" corpses. Eddy, Foster, and two other men continue on to the pass. Charles Stone and Howard Oakley each pick up a child and left. John Stark refuses to leave the group, and carries or prods the other 9 emigrants down the mountain.

Sources

• Rarick, Ethan (2008), Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195305027
• Stewart, George R. (1936). Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party: supplemented edition (1988), Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0395611598