On May 12, 1846, the most infamous group to travel the California Trail departed from Independence, Missouri. They would be immortalized by bad luck that left them stranded in the Sierra Nevada Mountains over the winter. Many people know the party resorted to cannibalism to survive, but their humanity is often forgotten. 

Come along with us as we cover the life and legacy of the brilliant Tamsen Donner, the last person to perish in the ordeal, through history and astrology.

                                                               Sources

Books: 

• Desperate Passage: The Donner Party’s Perilous Journey West by Ethan Rarick 
• The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Eliza P. Donner Houghton
• History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of the Sierras by Charles F. McGlashan 
• Ordeal by Hunger by George R. Stewart 
• Searching for Tamsen Donner by Gabrielle Burton 

Articles: 

• “Differential Mortality and the Donner Party Disaster” by Donald K. Grayson, Evolutionary Anthropology, 1994.
• “Disease Transmission by Cannabalism: Rare Event or Common Occurrence?” by Volker Rudolf and Janis Antonovics. Proceedings: Biological Sciences 274, no. 1614 (2007). 
• “John Baptiste Trudeau of the Donner Party: Rascal or Hero?” by Joseph A. King and Jack Steed, California History, Summer 1995. 
• “Mary Graves: A Heroine of the Donner Party” by Doris Foley, Nevada County Historical Society Bulletin, July 1954. 

Primary Sources:

• Across the Plains in the Donner Party: A Personal Narrative of the Overland Trip to California by Virginia Reed Murphy 
• Camp of Death: The Donner Party Mountain Camp 1846-1847 by J. Quinn Thornton 
•  Diary of James Fraser Reed, July 31-October 4, 1846
•  The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate by Eliza P. Donner Houghton
• “Extracts from a Journal, Written by a Member of the Party, Latest from California Mountains” by William O’Fallon, 1847 
• “The Snow-Bound, Starved Emigrants of 1846” by James Fraser Reed, April 1, 1871. 

Websites: 

• astro-seek.com
• Donner Party Diary by Daniel K. Rosen (https://donnerpartydiary.com/) 

Recreation of the Forlorn Hope and Relief Parties' Expeditions to save the party trapped in the mountains: 

• https://historyexp.org/2020-forlorn-hope/
• https://historyexp.org/expedition-summary-relief-parties-2/

Donner Party Podcast: 

• https://www.donnerpartypodcast.com/

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