The Donner Party Essay Research Paper DAVID — страница 6

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were going into the new country and win it by storm. But they made the great mistake of listening to Lansford Hastings. He was the one who caused all their trouble because they lost their way in the Wasatch and they lost half of their animals and a lot of their hope, crossing the desert south of Great Salt Lake. NARRATOR: In early September Lansford Hastings rode into Sutter’s Fort at the head of a battered train of 80 wagons. Except for the Donner Party, all the emigrants of 1846 had made it safely through to California. Fall Mr. BUCK: By the time they get certainly onto the Humboldt River, tempers are pretty frayed, very easy to trigger off, and there’s a lot of incidents, anger. Again, I think that’s a human condition. When we’re under an enormous amount of stress,

very often that can bring out the most heroic in us and it can also bring out, you know, the worst in us. NARRATOR: On October 5th, the emigrants were doubling their teams up a steep, sandy hill when the Graves family wagon became entangled with the Reed wagon. Tempers flared and the Graves driver, John Snyder, began beating the oxen with the butt of his bullwhip. James Reed hurried over to stop it, but only enraged Snyder further, who struck him savagely on the head with his whip. Reed drew his hunting knife and, as Snyder raised his arm to strike again, drove it into the teamster’s chest just below the collarbone. Snyder staggered a few yards up the hill and died. TAMSEN DONNER: ”Mr. Reed and family were taken to their tent and guarded by their friends. An assembly was

convened to decide what should be done. The majority declared the deed murder and demanded retribution.” NARRATOR: A German emigrant named Lewis Keseberg propped his wagon tongue on end and demanded that Reed be hanged from it. When Margaret Reed begged for mercy, the company chose banishment instead. At first Reed refused to go, but there was no choice. The next day he helped bury John Snyder, then rode west out of camp. VIRGINIA REED: ”We traveled on, but the hours dragged slowly along. Every day we would search for some sign of Papa, who would leave a letter by the wayside. But a time came when we found no letter and no trace of him.” NARRATOR: The Donner Party limped down the Humboldt as fast as it could go. Everyone who still could walked beside the wagons now to spare

the exhausted oxen. They were racing against time and the weather, desperate to get over the mountains and into California before snow blocked the heights. There was no sign of Stanton or McCutcheon or of the relief they promised to bring from Sutter’s Fort. With the death of Snyder and the banishment of James Reed, the Donner Party was coming apart. On October 7th, Lewis Keseberg turned an aging Belgian emigrant named Hardkoop out of his wagon. No one else would take him in. The old man fell farther and father behind and was last seen sitting by the road, unable to walk. On the night of October 12th, Paiute Indians killed 21 oxen with poisoned arrows. The company had now lost more than 100 head of cattle. From the bluffs above the river, they could hear the Paiutes laughing at

their plight. On October 16th the battered party finally reached the Truckee, the narrow, rushing river that served as gateway to the Sierra. JOHN BREEN: ”The weather was already very cold and the heavy clouds hanging over the mountains to the west were strong indications of an approaching winter. Some wanted to stop and rest their cattle. Others, in fear of the snow, were in favor of pushing ahead as fast as possible.” NARRATOR: On October 19th, their food was nearly all gone when Charles Stanton finally returned from Sutter’s Fort with seven mules loaded with food, two Indian guides and news that the high pass of the Sierra wouldn’t be blocked by snow for another month. The emigrants’ hopes rose. They were going to make it, after all. They camped for five days 50

miles from the summit, resting their oxen for the final push. The party started up the river again. On October 31st, the front axle of George Donner’s family wagon broke. Cutting timber for a new one, George gashed his hand and the family fell further behind. The rest of the party hurried on towards the summit. JOHN BREEN: ”We pushed on as fast as our failing cattle could haul our almost empty wagons. At last we reached the foot of the main ridge near Truckee Lake. It was sundown. The weather was clear, but a large circle around the moon indicated an approaching storm.” NARRATOR: That night they camped 1,000 feet beneath the dark, granite summit, waiting anxiously for the Donner wagons to catch up, praying that the weather would hold. The Donners didn’t come and up on the