The History Files #41: The Donner Party

This week for our main topic we take a look at the ill-fated Donner party and their misbegotten attempt to cross the Sierras into California in… October. Although these tragic events later found a place in the folklore of the American West, in 1846 it was just a horrific series of terrible decisions resulting in the deaths of around 50% of the participants, many of them children. Sadly, the tragedy could have been avoided had it not been for the overweening hubris of the group’s leaders. As Gordon says, “You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”

Show notes and links:

* Rum Rebellion  (1808)

* Gold Discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California (1848)

* Charles George “Chinese” Gordon killed in Khartoum (1885)

* Khartoum (1966)

* The Death of Queen Victoria and the Victorian Era

* Egyptian Museum Employees Face Fines for Botched Repair on King Tut’s Mask | Smart News (smithsonianmag.com)

* Red Letter Media Half in the Bag: The Revenant (redlettermedia.com) (NSFW)

* Winston Churchill’s lost card game now on iOS thanks to Donald Rumsfeld (arstechnica.com)

* Hawken rifle – the Plains Rifle

* Donner Party

* The Emigrants’ Guide To Oregon and California (complete text)

* The Hastings Cutoff (scienceviews.com)

* Sutter’s Fort (suttersfort.org)

* The Story of the Donner Party: Patty Reed’s Doll

* <a title="Forgotten Weapons - YouTube" href="https://www.