In the finale of our series on The Donner Party, rescue groups head off for Truckee Lake and Alder Creek, hoping to save as many survivors as they could. For many members of The Donner Party, the rescue crews came too late. Some had died. Others were too depleted to make the journey back to safety.

Ultimately, of the 87 members of The Donner Party, 41 died. The survivors did their best to lead normal lives, but many of them struggled. They carried unspeakable trauma. They were judged. They faced prying questions. Through it all, they tried their best to settle in to the place they’d fought so hard to call home.

“The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride,” by Daniel James Brown

“The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny,” by Michael Wallis

The documentary, “The Donner Party”

“How the Donner Party was doomed by a disastrous shortcut,” by Erin Blakemore for History.com

“Lansford Hastings, the Donner Party, and the Civil War,” by Elizabeth Eisenstark for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine

“The deadly temptation of the Oregon Trail shortcut,” by Laura Kiniry for atlasobscura.com

“Refurbished Castro-Breen Adobe offers visitors a glimpse into state history,” Gilroy Dispatch

“Lansford Hastings, the Donner Party, and the Civil War,” National Museum of Civil War Medicine

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