On this last day of winter, we in the South Valley region look
forward to the sun-kissed days of spring.
How quickly will fade from memory the cold and rainy storms that
passed through these last few month. Of course, we experienced
nothing like the blizzards the rest of the nation went through.
On this last day of winter, we in the South Valley region look forward to the sun-kissed days of spring.
How quickly will fade from memory the cold and rainy storms that passed through these last few month. Of course, we experienced nothing like the blizzards the rest of the nation went through.
But California does get its share of blizzards. In that magnificent range of craggy peaks called the Sierras, winter storms frequently pelt down from the sky tons of snow. This later melts into creeks and rivers to water California’s fertile farmlands.
One of the worst of these mountain blizzards has created a legend that still haunts the psyche of the West. It is a horror story of American history few Hollywood films have surpassed for sheer terror.
In the mid-1840s, California was an Eden beckoning Americans to journey across the western wilderness and settle in its agricultural paradise.
In the spring of 1846, one man who responded to that call was James Frazier Reed, a wealthy businessman in Springfield, Ill.
Reed convinced a local farming family by the name of Donner, along with other settlers including an Irish immigrant family named Breen, to join him and his family on the journey.
The group, consisting of 87 people, started out from Independence, Mo., under Reed’s leadership. They rode into the wilderness in 20 covered wagons pulled by oxen.
Each wagon carried the only possessions the settlers would be able to take with them to their new home. Margaret, James Reed’s wife, brought many of their fine possessions, including an extremely heavy cast-iron stove.
At Fort Laramie, Reed made a fateful decision. He had read a book called “The Emigrant Guide to Oregon and California,” by Lansford W. Hastings, a promoter of wester expansion. In the book, Hastings advocated a “shortcut” to the Pacific Coast, a route that ran south of the regular, established trail.
The problem was, Hastings had never actually traveled this shortcut. He had absolutely no idea how treacherous it was. James Clyman, a mountain man at Fort Laramie, warned sternly against attempting it. But the obstinate Reed decided to lead his part that in direction anyway.
The journey along the unestablished trail was arduous and taxing. Margaret Reed’s elderly mother, Sarah Keyes, grew sick and died en route. The party buried her in the wilderness. James Reed’s aristocratic manner and flaunting of his wealth rubbed many of the settlers the wrong way. They elected to unseat him as leader and replace him with George Donner, a man with very little leadership experience.
They passed through rugged mountain terrain and into Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. It was the peak of the summer heat, they had little water, and no real idea where they were going, but crossed the great expanse anyway.
Their wagons soon became stuck in the deep salt. Several of their thirsty oxen bolted. And the wagon train was forced to abandon many family treasures as they grew too heavy to carry. Tempers frayed from the stress, and the settlers grew increasingly hostile with each other.
Reed’s continued arrogance enraged teamster John Schneider. A fight broke out between the two, and the wound-up Reed drove a hunting knife into Schneider’s chest, killing him.
The remainder of the party declared this an act of murder. They banished Reed to the wilderness. They then continued on. But their luck failed to improve. Just before they reached the Sierra Nevada, Paiute Indians killed 21 of the party’s oxen with poisoned arrows.
On Nov. 6, the party encamped at what was then known as Truckee Lake, about one day’s travel from the Sierra summit. That night, an unseasonably early storm rolled in and snow began to fall.
That snow marked the advent of a blizzard that was one of the worst ever seen in the Sierra. Snow completely blocked the pass. The setters had lost their race against the weather by a single day. They were trapped by nature’s fury.
They made shelter as best as they could, but the freezing cold and the member’s hunger took its toll. Several men went insane. In starving desperation, many resorted to cannibalism, eating the flesh of those who had succumbed.
Meanwhile, the banished James Reed had succeeded in making his way across the mountains and arrived at Sutter’s Fort. There, he pled for help for the rest of the party. But most of Sutter’s men had gone south to fight in the Mexican-American War, so a rescue attempt couldn’t be organized immediately. Eventually, several rescue attempts were made. But in the end, only 46 of the original settlers survived.
The story of the Donner Party was a shock to the nation. Emigration to California dropped dramatically for two years, until gold was discovered there. In the final tally, the Donners lost all of their adult members and most of the children. The Breen survivors settled on a ranch near San Juan Bautista, and many of their descendants still live in San Benito County. The Reeds were the only family that did not lose any members in the mountain pass. They settled in San Jose, where James Reed became a wealthy real estate developer. For his own fortune’s sake, he was a major advocate of locating the state capital in San Jose.
Reed Street and other residential streets just south of San Jose State University are named in honor of Reed family members.
And in memory of the settlers who died there, Truckee Lake was renamed Donner Lake.
Martin Cheek is the author of ‘The Silicon Valley Handbook.’
