0:20

In

0:20

mid-April 1847, seven

0:23

men set out from Johnson's Ranch in

0:25

Yuba County, California. William

0:28

Johnson had bought the massive 22,000-acre ranch at

0:32

auction two years earlier, and that

0:34

space is now occupied by the city of Wheatland,

0:36

California, about 45 minutes

0:38

north of Sacramento. For

0:41

exhausted immigrants who had survived

0:43

the trip to the West and successfully

0:45

crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains into California,

0:49

Johnson's Ranch was the first place

0:51

of civilization. Sutter's

0:53

Fort, the village founded by John

0:55

Sutter further down the road near modern-day

0:58

Sacramento, was more well-known. But

1:01

if travelers reached Johnson's Ranch,

1:03

they knew they were home free. They had made

1:05

it.

1:06

Conversely, for people who wanted

1:08

to leave the Sacramento Valley and

1:10

cross the mountains into Nevada,

1:12

Johnson's Ranch was the last stop

1:15

before they had to brave the wilderness that could

1:17

kill them in a hundred different ways. The

1:20

seven men who left Johnson's Ranch in

1:22

April 1847 were on a

1:25

rescue mission.

1:26

It was the fourth and final rescue mission

1:28

of its kind, and the men were not

1:30

optimistic that they would find any survivors.

1:33

By that time, anyone who was

1:36

still alive at the camps near Truckee

1:38

Lake, now Donner Lake, had

1:40

been trapped up there for five months. They

1:43

would be in terrible condition, and they

1:45

would have done unspeakable things to maintain

1:48

even that condition. Rescuers

1:51

who had already been in the camps had seen

1:53

evidence of those unspeakable things.

1:56

The reports that came out later made

1:58

the camps of the Donner party.

1:59

sound like they had been attacked by particularly

2:02

vicious bands of Native American warriors.

2:05

There were ragged shelters that didn't look

2:07

fit for cockroaches, let alone people. There

2:10

were bones of animals and humans all

2:12

over the place. And there were dismembered

2:15

corpses in the snow. The

2:17

seven men who trekked to the camps in mid-April

2:20

trudged through slushy, muddy, melting

2:22

snow for four days until

2:25

they arrived at a sorry excuse for a cabin

2:27

on the edge of Truckee Lake. It

2:30

was about 20 miles northwest of

2:32

Lake Tahoe on the eastern slope

2:34

of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They

2:36

searched for survivors and found

2:38

none. They moved on to the second

2:41

campsite and again found no

2:43

one. They camped for the night. The

2:46

next day they hiked to their last

2:48

stop, a ramshackle one-room

2:50

cabin. They pushed open its

2:53

door and at first everything was still.

2:56

But then there was movement. Huddled

2:58

under some blankets in a corner was

3:01

a shivering shell of a man. As

3:03

the rescuers moved closer, they

3:05

stepped on a nest of human bones. The

3:08

man told him his name was Louis Kiesberg

3:11

and he was the last survivor in the camp.

3:14

He knew he was the last for a reason

3:16

that would soon become clear. The

3:19

reason would haunt Louis Kiesberg for

3:21

the rest of his life and it would help

3:23

make his group of travelers the Donner

3:25

party infamous for all time. 81

3:28

people went into the Sierra Nevada mountains

3:30

in the winter of 1846. Only 45

3:34

came out and the story of their

3:36

survival shocked the nation.

3:51

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the

3:53

Old West. I'm your host Chris Wimmer

3:55

and this season we're bringing you the

3:57

disturbing stories of the Donner party.

4:00

and the Bender family, a murderous clan

4:02

who were known as the Bloody Benders. This

4:04

is episode one, The Donner Party,

4:07

part one of four, A Bad

4:09

Start. In

4:15

the spring of 1846, exactly

4:18

one year before the final rescue mission

4:21

into the Sierra Nevadas, the people

4:23

who made up the group that would be known as the Donner

4:25

Party were just a small portion

4:27

of the 3,000 or so immigrants who headed

4:30

for California or Oregon that year.

4:33

The common denominator among all of them was

4:36

land and their desire to possess it. The

4:39

term manifest destiny had been

4:41

coined the year before, and it touched

4:43

off a half century of massive migration

4:46

to western territories. But

4:48

whatever their backgrounds or religions

4:50

or jobs, every potential traveler

4:53

to the west knew it was better to go in a

4:55

group. Everyone was equally

4:57

vulnerable on the long trail from Missouri

5:00

to what was called Alta, California by

5:02

the Mexican government. There

5:04

was harsh weather, rough terrain,

5:07

loneliness, and the ever present specter

5:09

of Indian attacks. Immigrants

5:12

couldn't even be totally sure about the stability

5:14

of their final destination. Mexico

5:17

and the United States were fighting over

5:19

California, even as the Donner

5:21

Party prepared its wagons. But

5:24

the story of the Donner Party and the other

5:26

families on the trip began months

5:28

before they climbed into those wagons. The

5:34

Donners were well off financially.

5:37

They had 240 acres of land in Illinois

5:40

filled with fruit trees and vegetables of

5:42

every kind. George Donner

5:45

was a farmer. By the late

5:47

1830s, he had already lived in North Carolina,

5:50

Kentucky, Indiana, and even Texas

5:53

before landing in Springfield, Illinois.

5:56

His wife, Tamsin, raised the children,

5:59

helped on the farm. and found time

6:01

to work as a school teacher. She was

6:03

extremely well-read and an amateur

6:05

botanist. George's

6:07

brother Jacob lived nearby. Jacob

6:10

was also a prosperous farmer. George

6:13

and Jacob had made enough money in Springfield

6:15

that they could live out there last decades in

6:17

comfort. Even by modern

6:20

standards, both men were old

6:22

to embark on a trip to the West. They

6:24

were already in their 60s when they decided

6:27

to make the journey. But with all

6:29

the good news pouring in about so much

6:31

rich land in California, they

6:33

started to get itchy feet. And

6:35

as 1845 turned to 1846, and

6:39

the freezing Illinois snow piled

6:41

up outside, they wondered, what

6:44

would it be like to never have to worry

6:46

about cold and snow again? That

6:49

driving thought was one of several ironies

6:51

that would play out over the next two years. It

6:54

was in Springfield that George Donner met

6:56

James Reed. At 44,

6:59

the Irish-born Reed was a prosperous

7:01

businessman. 10 years earlier,

7:04

he'd married a widow named Margaret and they

7:06

had several children. James

7:08

had done well with several businesses, but

7:11

most people didn't know that he was overextended.

7:14

He'd invested a lot in Illinois' railroad

7:17

expansion, but those projects went

7:19

bust in the panic of 1837. Reed

7:22

played one business against the other until 1845,

7:26

but he could do it no longer. He

7:29

quietly filed for bankruptcy. His

7:31

lawyer for the bankruptcy process was

7:34

a tall, gangly fella named Abraham

7:36

Lincoln, who was two years away from

7:38

becoming a U.S. Congressman and 15

7:41

years away from becoming President of the

7:43

United States. No

7:45

one knows for sure how George Donner and

7:48

James Reed met. George

7:50

was somewhat affable and mellow. Reed

7:52

was somewhat hot-headed and quick to say

7:55

whatever popped into his mind. But

7:57

in 1845, the two men had won. one

8:00

thing in common, land fever.

8:02

And it may have started with a book called The

8:05

Immigrant's Guide to Oregon and California

8:08

that was passed around Springfield and other towns.

8:16

Lansford Hastings wrote The Immigrant's

8:18

Guide to Oregon and California. A

8:21

lawyer by training, the 26 year

8:23

old Hastings also had land fever.

8:27

But more than land, he wanted power. He

8:29

had traveled from his home state of Ohio

8:32

to Oregon and all to California, then

8:34

still a Republic of Mexico and some places

8:37

in between. Hastings got

8:39

an idea. If he could personally

8:41

persuade thousands of Americans to settle

8:44

in all to California, he could

8:46

foment a bloodless revolution against

8:48

Mexico and worm his way into

8:50

high political office, maybe even

8:52

a governorship. But to have

8:55

his name attached as the leader of the effort,

8:57

he needed to make sure it was attached to

9:00

a faster way to get to Sacramento Valley.

9:03

In his book, Hastings described

9:05

California in the most glowing terms

9:07

possible. Given its climate

9:10

and soil, he didn't have to take many liberties

9:12

with the truth, if any, but

9:14

he did take a liberty with something that was

9:16

much more important, the road

9:18

to get to California. He

9:21

wrote of the new trail he discovered, a

9:23

shortcut that would reduce the journey by 200

9:26

miles or more. The

9:28

problem was he had never actually

9:31

used it. The

9:35

Hastings Cut-Off, as it would be known, was

9:38

just a theory when Hastings published his

9:40

book. The first time he traveled

9:43

the road that would bear his name was

9:45

in the spring and summer of 1846, right

9:48

before the Donner Party used it. Hastings'

9:51

book and his shortcut was a

9:53

big factor that convinced the Donners and

9:55

the Reeds to make the trip. It

9:57

would be a painful lesson about things...

10:00

that sounded too good to be true. But

10:03

of course, the Donners and Reeds knew

10:05

nothing of those problems in the winter of 1845. They

10:08

were dead set on moving to California,

10:11

and they wasted no time selling their farms

10:13

and businesses. The Donners

10:16

placed an ad for strong young men to

10:18

join them. They gathered goods,

10:20

surplus cash, letters of recommendation,

10:23

and things to barter with the Indians. James

10:27

Reed tried very hard to get his bankruptcy

10:29

lawyer, Abraham Lincoln, to come with

10:31

him. Lincoln gave it some serious

10:33

thought, but he declined. Instead,

10:37

he arranged for all of Reeds remaining

10:39

assets to be sold at public auction

10:41

later that summer. As

10:44

the Reeds and Donners continued to research

10:46

their trip, they used more than Lansford's

10:49

Immigrants Guide. Like so many

10:51

others, they gathered information from their

10:53

church and from maps and reference books.

10:56

And they also consulted first-hand accounts

10:59

from John C. Fremont's expeditions,

11:01

which were guided by a trailblazer named Kit

11:03

Carson. Like Fremont's

11:06

accounts, Lansford Hastings' book

11:08

didn't mention any of the potential pitfalls

11:10

in his route. Fremont

11:12

had at least a passable excuse for the omissions.

11:15

His earliest expeditions went smoothly.

11:18

He really didn't face any of the hardships

11:21

that had plagued other travelers. He

11:23

wasn't lying about his experiences, but

11:26

he gave readers a false sense of security

11:28

that the journey westward was safe

11:31

and easy. Hastings'

11:33

omission was worse. He

11:35

knew he was selling people a theory about

11:37

an untested, unproven road.

11:40

By the time the Donner party learned the truth,

11:43

it would be too late, which was a recurring

11:46

theme of their trip and it started right

11:48

from the beginning. The journey

11:50

began on April 14, 1846. Several Corps families,

11:56

led by George and Tamsen Donner, left

11:59

Spring County. field Illinois with a goal

12:01

of Independence, Missouri, 250 miles away.

12:06

Independence was the start of the fabled

12:08

Oregon Trail and it was considered the

12:10

true jumping-off point for all

12:13

expeditions to the West. The

12:15

problem was the Donner party was

12:17

already late. A

12:24

friend of James Reed's told him repeatedly

12:27

that their Caravansha plan to reach Independence

12:30

by April 1st. That meant

12:32

they needed to leave Springfield by the second

12:35

week of March at the very latest, but

12:37

they didn't leave until April 14th.

12:40

On day one of the trip, the Donner

12:42

party was already more than a month behind

12:45

schedule. The Reeds and

12:47

the Donners probably knew it wasn't ideal,

12:49

but James Reed didn't have his

12:51

financial issues settled. For

12:53

whatever reason, Reed didn't or

12:56

couldn't sign his bankruptcy papers until

12:58

April 13th, 1846. That same day,

13:03

he smuggled 300 pounds of bacon

13:05

and two barrels of pickled pork into

13:07

a wagon. He didn't want his creditors

13:10

to see that he was preparing to flee the area.

13:12

So the party left the next

13:14

day, April 14th, and

13:16

didn't arrive in Independence until

13:18

May 10th. It was the first

13:21

of many late starts and miscalculations

13:24

on the way to the Sierra Nevada mountains in

13:26

California. The

13:31

party consisted of a large number of animals

13:34

and wagons, including Reeds,

13:36

very fancy, arc-like, two-story

13:39

wagon that they called the Palace Car.

13:42

The wagon drew respect or laughter

13:45

from almost everyone they met. When

13:47

they finally made it to Independence, Missouri,

13:50

the caravan quickly understood why they

13:52

should have left Illinois earlier. The

13:55

bulk of the groups bound for California

13:57

and Oregon that had flooded Independence

13:59

in the previous year. weeks had already set

14:01

out for the West. Those groups

14:04

had spent a week or two in independence.

14:06

They were rested and more importantly

14:09

their animals were rested. Horses,

14:12

cattle and oxen were critical

14:14

for both food and transportation

14:16

on the trail. With a week or

14:18

two to graze in independence they

14:20

were fattened up and ready for the journey

14:23

into the sprawling landscape of the Great

14:25

Unknown. The Donner Reed

14:27

party as it was called at that point was

14:30

tired. They only had a day

14:32

and a half in independence to rest, make

14:35

repairs and gather more supplies.

14:37

They quickly packed enough

14:39

food for four months on the trail

14:41

about what the trip to San Francisco should take.

14:44

They wanted to catch up with the rest of the wagon

14:47

trains so they hustled out of independence

14:50

on May 12th. They were among

14:52

the very last to begin the journey west.

14:55

The group traveled on their own for a few days

14:58

before crossing the Missouri state line.

15:01

A week later they caught up with a group

15:03

of 50 wagons led by William

15:05

Henry Russell. Most recently

15:08

Russell was a marshal for the vast district

15:10

of Missouri. Russell's party

15:13

was huge. It had 290 men, women and children plus

15:15

about 700 cattle and 150 horses. The Donner Reed

15:22

party added roughly 90 people

15:24

to the caravan. Because

15:27

of Russell's service in the Black Hawk War

15:29

he carried the courtesy title of Colonel. Colonel

15:32

Russell allowed the Donner Reed team

15:35

to join his own party. Also

15:37

in the new party was journalist Edwin

15:39

Bryant. As Bryant wrote

15:41

in his journal he feared that the 90 newcomers

15:45

had no concept of the extent and

15:47

the labor of the journey before them. A

15:50

few days later Bryant's observations

15:52

proved correct as the group encountered

15:55

their first major setback at

15:57

the Big Blue River. 27th, 1846,

16:02

the Russell Wagon Train, now with

16:04

the Donners and Reeds, stopped at

16:06

the banks of the Big Blue River that

16:09

cuts through the eastern third of modern-day

16:11

Kansas. Late spring

16:13

rains and snowmelt swelled

16:16

the river beyond normal. Most

16:18

travelers going to California and Oregon

16:20

knew their best bet was to cross it a

16:23

month earlier before the worst

16:25

of the rain and snowmelt flooded the river.

16:28

The wagon train lost four days while

16:30

it waited and hoped that the water level

16:33

would go down. During that

16:35

time, the Donner-Reed party lost

16:37

its first member. Mrs.

16:40

Reed's elderly mother passed away. The

16:43

family built a coffin, carved a gravestone,

16:46

and held a funeral on the Kansas prairie. But

16:49

the group could not afford to mourn for very

16:51

long. Every new day was

16:53

more valuable than the last, and they

16:55

had to get across the river.

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18:03

While the Reeds prepared a decent burial

18:05

for their lost relative, the rest

18:07

of the party decided to build rafts to

18:09

try to get the wagons across the Big Blue

18:11

River. It was still swollen

18:14

and dangerous, but they decided it

18:16

was more dangerous to continue to wait.

18:19

In order to make the base of the Sierra Nevada

18:21

mountains before early fall, the

18:23

group needed to travel about 15 miles

18:26

a day, every day, after

18:28

leaving Independence. They

18:30

had now lost four days and sixty

18:32

miles of travel. The men

18:34

chopped down cottonwood trees and made

18:37

a huge raft. With it, they

18:39

managed to sail nine wagons across

18:41

the river. At sunup the

18:44

day after the funeral, the party started

18:46

transporting the rest of the wagons, hoping

18:49

to finish before nightfall. Away

18:51

out of nowhere, a cold wind

18:54

blew in that afternoon and the temperature

18:56

dropped considerably and it began

18:58

to rain. The men were

19:00

exhausted, having spent the better part

19:02

of two days standing in a strong current

19:05

hauling the raft back and forth across

19:08

the river with rope. One

19:10

of the wagons, owned by German immigrant

19:12

Louis Kiesberg and his family, fell

19:15

over. His pregnant wife and

19:17

a young daughter were tossed into the water. They

19:20

weren't injured, but some of the wagons

19:22

contents were soaked, including some

19:24

food, which was wasted. Everyone's

19:27

nerves were frayed and there were a couple

19:29

fist fights, but on June 1st,

19:31

the party was able to resume

19:34

its journey. Between

19:39

the river's rise, the funeral,

19:41

and the raft building, they'd lost five

19:44

days of time and potentially seventy-five

19:46

miles of travel. Even so,

19:49

at that point in the trip, the five-day

19:51

loss wasn't an insurmountable problem.

19:54

They could still make it to the Sierras on time,

19:57

if nothing else went wrong.

20:00

The hard feelings from lack of sleep and

20:02

the hard work of crossing the Big Blue leveled

20:05

out. Everyone's spirits rose

20:07

and the party pushed hard. They

20:10

were 200 miles from their next stop at

20:12

Fort Laramie. The party managed

20:14

to move 15 to 20 miles a day,

20:17

the rate of their slowest ox. In

20:19

early June, they reached their first

20:21

major milestone, the Platte River,

20:24

around modern day Kearney, Nebraska.

20:27

The Platte was a godsend to western travelers.

20:30

It was relatively shallow and gentle,

20:33

and it was easy to follow to Fort Laramie.

20:36

Alongside it, there were plenty of animals to

20:38

hunt. The men of the party hoped

20:40

they could get some, since they'd been living off

20:43

salted supplies they had packed in independence.

20:46

Their prayers were answered on June 12, when

20:49

James Reed shot an elk and brought

20:51

it back to camp. But then, something

20:53

else happened that revealed Reed's impetuous

20:56

nature. The day after Reed

20:58

brought the elk back to camp, two

21:00

other men managed to track a buffalo herd,

21:03

which was a welcome accident. They

21:05

brought stakes back, and the entire

21:08

party celebrated. All except

21:10

Reed. He was bitter about

21:12

being outshined, and irritated

21:15

when the men wanted to go hunt with the buffalo

21:17

killers the next day and not him. Reed

21:20

goaded a few men into riding with him.

21:23

He raced far ahead of his fellow hunters,

21:25

and charged straight into a buffalo herd.

21:29

He killed two bucks and a calf. He

21:31

and his friends packed what they could, but

21:34

wastefully left much of it for the wolves.

21:37

As the Russell train followed the Platte River,

21:40

Tamsen Donner wrote that the journey so far

21:42

had been easier than they'd expected. But

21:45

in Edwin Bryant's letters home, he

21:47

hinted that all was not well. He

21:50

and some of the other unmarried men, or

21:53

men who were traveling without their families,

21:55

would soon leave the Russell party. He

21:58

felt the group was moving way too slow. And

22:01

yet, not even the impatient

22:03

Bryant was blameless for lost time.

22:07

On June 14, a party rode

22:09

up to the Russell Wagon train and begged

22:11

the journalists to come to their camp. A

22:14

week before, a little boy in their group

22:16

had fallen off a wagon and his

22:18

leg had been crushed under a wheel. They'd

22:21

heard Bryant had medical training. The

22:24

Russell party thought the boy's case might

22:26

be a lost cause and they should move on.

22:29

But Bryant reluctantly decided to go

22:31

check on the young patient. He

22:34

almost vomited when he saw the little boy,

22:36

stretched out on a board, feverish

22:38

and unconscious. His leg was

22:41

terrible and gangrene had set

22:43

in. The journalist was no

22:45

doctor, but he knew the boy couldn't

22:47

survive an operation. However,

22:50

he couldn't ignore the pleadings of the mother to

22:52

try to amputate. Bryant

22:55

gave the boy some of the opiate he'd brought with

22:57

him and he cut off the leg. The

23:00

boy died two hours later. Despite

23:03

the morbid outcome, the other campers

23:06

swarmed Bryant to help them with their own

23:08

ailments. By the time he'd

23:10

finished treating everyone and helping with

23:12

the burial and the meals and even a wedding,

23:15

he'd spent a day and a half away from his own

23:17

caravan. And the wagon train

23:20

sat and waited for Bryant to return. It

23:23

was just one example on a long

23:25

list of delays that the travelers

23:27

would look back on with regret.

23:36

On the evening of June 18th, Colonel

23:39

Russell held a campfire meeting. He

23:41

was resigning his post as captain

23:43

of the wagon train. He told

23:46

the party that he hadn't been feeling well

23:48

for several days and he just didn't have

23:50

it in him. He would stay with the caravan,

23:53

but he didn't want to lead anymore. Put

23:55

simply, he was extremely frustrated.

23:59

to a newspaper editor, Russell

24:02

complained that they were only averaging 15 miles

24:04

a day. That wasn't unexpected,

24:07

since all of their teams were led by slow-moving

24:10

Oxen. It was frustrating though,

24:12

because they weren't banking any time in

24:15

case unexpected things happened.

24:17

Russell didn't name names, but he

24:20

grumbled that everyone seemed more concerned

24:22

with their own agendas than the bigger picture.

24:25

He couldn't even get those in his party to stay awake

24:28

when they were supposed to be guarding against potential

24:30

attacks by the Pawnee. In

24:32

reality, the situation was probably

24:35

fairly normal. The people worked

24:37

together as best they could, but none

24:39

of them had experience traveling, and

24:41

they didn't know what the future would bring. In

24:44

fact, their optimism was often

24:46

what slowed them down. In addition

24:48

to necessities like stopping to fix wagons,

24:51

they paused or slowed to socialize

24:54

or to enjoy the scenery they'd never seen before

24:57

and might never see again. It

24:59

was hard to blame them, but the lost

25:01

time added up. The

25:07

group nominated Lilburn Boggs

25:09

as its new leader. He was a former

25:12

governor of Missouri, and most people

25:14

had faith in his leadership. A

25:16

good leader was vital on a wagon train

25:19

to the west. On June 19,

25:23

1846, the caravan managed 20 miles to

25:25

a comfortable camping spot in a valley of

25:28

the North Platte River. There,

25:30

Bryant and a few others temporarily

25:32

separated from the main group. They

25:35

wanted to move faster, and they had an idea.

25:38

Bryant and his companions traveled

25:40

ahead about 150 miles to

25:42

Fort Laramie to trade their oxen

25:45

and wagons for mules. Those

25:48

were moody, but they were faster. The

25:51

men were all unmarried or had no families

25:53

on the trip. They had fewer possessions

25:55

and no children. They could strap

25:57

their belongings to the sure-footed mules.

26:00

and make up for lost time. But

26:02

they still didn't break away completely, not

26:04

yet. On June 27, the

26:07

wagon train, led by Boggs, arrived

26:10

at Fort Bernard, about eight miles

26:12

short of Fort Laramie. The travelers

26:14

had heard that they could get better prices on

26:17

supplies at the smaller fort, so

26:19

they stopped short of the usual goal of

26:21

Fort Laramie. At Fort Bernard,

26:23

James Reed spied an old friend, James

26:26

Kliman. Kliman and

26:28

Reed had fought together during the Black Hawk

26:31

War. The two men, along with

26:33

other prominent men of the wagon train, talked

26:35

late into the night. They discussed

26:38

the two most prominent routes to California.

26:41

The caravan was still hundreds of miles from

26:43

the spot at which the people would have to make the

26:45

critical decision, but it was on everyone's

26:48

mind. They were way behind

26:50

schedule, and in the southwest corner

26:52

of Wyoming, they would be forced to make

26:54

a choice. Kliman

26:58

was a mountain man and a guide, and

27:00

he strongly advised the caravan to

27:02

stay on the proven trails. Follow

27:04

the Oregon Trail until the California

27:07

Trail split off from it and led down

27:09

into the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the

27:11

Sacramento Valley on the other side. But

27:14

James Reed was a believer in Lansford

27:16

Hastings' book. Reed

27:19

insisted that they take the unproven Hastings

27:21

Cut-Off, which promised to shorten

27:23

their trip by hundreds of miles. Kliman

27:27

knew the territory of the Hastings Cut-Off,

27:29

and he warned his old friend that the route

27:32

was barely passable by foot and

27:34

was virtually impossible with wagons. That

27:37

night, the leaders of the wagon train

27:39

sat up late and debated their options

27:41

around the campfire. It was a split

27:44

decision. In about two weeks

27:46

time, the wagon train would break

27:48

apart. Some would stay with

27:50

the proven trails, and some would

27:52

try the Hastings Cut-Off, and

27:55

that split would be the birth of the Donner

27:57

Party as we know it. Next

28:05

time on Legends of the Old West, the

28:08

wagon train reaches its crossroads

28:10

in southwest Wyoming. The

28:12

Donner Party makes its choice between

28:14

the Oregon Trail and the Hastings Cut-Off,

28:17

and pays for it dearly. The

28:19

party experiences one calamity after

28:21

another, and the stress pushes

28:23

them to their most difficult decision yet. That's

28:26

next week on Legends of the Old West.

28:32

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28:51

This series was researched and written by Julia

28:53

Bricklin. Original music by

28:55

Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer,

28:58

Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show,

29:00

please leave us a rating and a review on Apple

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Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check

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