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0:31

[♪ music ♪ In

0:46

late June 1846, the Donner-Reed

0:49

party left the comfort and safety of Fort

0:51

Laramie, Wyoming and headed into

0:53

virtually uncharted territory. It

0:56

didn't surprise any of them when the stress of the

0:58

next three months spurred violence

1:00

among them. They just didn't expect a

1:02

murder. On Monday,

1:05

October 5, 1846, the Reed,

1:08

Donner, and Keysburg families arrived

1:11

at a very steep sandbank about 200

1:13

miles northeast of Reno, Nevada.

1:17

Also with them was a family headed by a

1:19

man named Patrick Breen and one

1:21

headed by Franklin Graves, both

1:23

from Illinois. The wagons

1:26

lined up at the bottom of the steep grade. The

1:29

first three wagons to go up belonged to

1:31

the Graves family. Though exhausted

1:34

and irritated by recent catastrophes

1:36

in their journey, all the men helped

1:38

to get the first two wagons to the top using

1:41

a double team of oxen.

1:43

John Snyder, a teamster

1:45

with the Graves family, was ready to

1:47

go at the bottom of the hill with the third

1:49

Graves wagon. Snyder

1:52

had a team of oxen yoked up,

1:54

but he didn't want to lose time waiting

1:56

for one of the others to be brought down and

1:59

attached. He cracked his whip

2:01

on the existing team. They moved

2:03

forward, but it was clear that the

2:05

steep grade was too much for the animals.

2:08

Other wagons behind him were already

2:11

double teamed and ready to go. Tempers

2:13

flared. Time was running out to

2:16

get over the Sierra Nevada mountain range

2:18

before the first heavy snowfall. Another

2:21

teamster lost his patience with Snyder.

2:24

He maneuvered his wagon around Snyder's

2:27

to go up the hill. The ox

2:29

teams became entangled, and

2:31

Snyder lost all control. He

2:33

started to beat the poor animals with a

2:35

heavy wooden whip handle. Just

2:38

then, James Reed rode up after

2:40

a failed hunt. Reed was

2:42

angry and scared. They'd already

2:44

lost several oxen over the disastrous

2:47

months between Laramie and now. To

2:50

beat these valuable animals was insane.

2:53

Reed tried to calm Snyder down. In

2:56

return, Snyder whacked Reed

2:58

over the head with his whip handle. Reed

3:01

stood there, stunned, as blood

3:03

poured over his eyes from the gashes on

3:05

his head. Margaret Reed,

3:08

James's wife, ran to the two men.

3:11

Snyder hit her with the handle. James

3:14

Reed pulled out his hunting knife and plunged

3:16

it into Snyder just below the collarbone.

3:19

The dagger punctured Snyder's left lung,

3:22

but he managed to hit Reed two more times

3:25

before he collapsed to the ground and died.

3:28

James Reed's actions could have been

3:31

considered self-defense, but by

3:33

that point, the strain on the members

3:35

of the wagon train was immense. Some

3:38

said they should hang James Reed. Others

3:41

said he should be exiled. Weighing

3:43

the choices was crazy. They were talking

3:45

about hanging or banishing one

3:48

of the leaders of the group, the head of

3:50

one of the founding families. There

3:52

were probably those who couldn't imagine

3:54

that they would be pushed to make a choice between

3:57

such extremes. When it

3:59

was all said and done, the choice would

4:01

be mild when compared with those to come.

4:13

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends

4:15

of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris

4:17

Wimmer. This season, we're bringing

4:19

you the disturbing stories of the Donner

4:21

Party and the Bender family, a murderous

4:24

clan who were known as the Bloody Bender.

4:27

This is Episode 2, The Donner

4:29

Party, Part 2 of 4, Losing

4:32

Tom.

4:38

Westbound pioneers knew two

4:40

basic truths. One, they

4:43

needed to get to California's Sacramento

4:45

Valley or Oregon's Willamette Valley

4:48

before winter. Two, in

4:50

order to do so, they needed to reach a

4:52

place called Independence Rock by

4:55

the 4th of July at the absolute latest.

4:58

Independence Rock is a huge and

5:00

distinctive granite mound about 170

5:03

miles west of Fort Laramie. It's

5:06

almost right in the middle of the modern day

5:08

state of Wyoming. But

5:11

on the 4th of July, 1846, the

5:14

Donner-Reed Party was enjoying

5:16

a long period of rest at Fort Laramie.

5:19

They had purchased supplies at a smaller fort

5:21

nearby, where the goods were cheaper, but

5:24

Laramie was the last, large

5:26

depot before heading into the no

5:28

man's land of central Wyoming. From

5:31

Laramie, they could mail letters, get information,

5:34

and socialize with other people. Though

5:37

time was of the essence to reach the Sierra Nevada

5:39

mountains before the first serious snow,

5:42

they dallied in Laramie.

5:44

They made repairs, washed clothes

5:46

and bedding, and let the kids play in the

5:48

grassy meadows. The party

5:50

even prepared a day-long celebration

5:52

for the holiday, the 4th of July, topped

5:55

off with an alcoholic bender by the

5:57

men led by James Reed. The

6:00

party didn't roll out until July

6:02

6th. When

6:09

the wagon train reached Independence Rock

6:11

on July 11th, it encountered

6:13

a lone eastbound rider. He

6:16

had a letter from none other than Lansford

6:18

Hastings. Hastings had written

6:20

a book about the roads to California that

6:22

was being used by some of the members of the Donna

6:25

Reed party as a guide. In

6:28

the letter, Hastings encouraged all

6:30

immigrants who were now on the road to

6:32

meet him at Fort Bridger in what is

6:34

now the southwest corner of Wyoming.

6:37

Hastings wrote that because of the ongoing

6:40

war between the United States and Mexico,

6:42

various companies should merge for

6:45

safety so they could repel any attacks

6:47

by Mexicans. He also

6:49

said that his shortcut from Fort Bridger

6:51

to the California Trail would shorten

6:53

their trip by more than 200 miles.

6:56

And best of all, he promised to

6:58

meet immigrant parties at Fort Bridger.

7:01

He would personally guide them across the dry

7:04

and mountainous terrain of the future states

7:06

of Utah and Nevada and then

7:08

into California. After

7:11

spending a couple days at Independence Rock, the

7:13

Donna Reed party left there on July

7:15

13th. They pushed on

7:17

toward the Big Sandy River, a long

7:20

tributary in southwest Wyoming, and

7:22

an important water source for westbound

7:25

travelers. Along the way, they

7:27

passed a milestone. They were at the

7:29

midway point of their journey. They

7:31

were about 1,000 miles from their starting

7:34

place of Independence, Missouri, and

7:36

they were about 1,000 miles from California.

7:39

They all agreed they had to make up for lost

7:41

time, but the next day brought

7:43

more trouble. Some

7:46

of their oxen drank stagnant alkali

7:48

water and three of the animals died.

7:52

That night, despite their loss, most

7:54

in the wagon train were in pretty good spirits.

7:57

They thought about the shortcut they were going to take and looked

8:00

forward to the final leg of their journey. Tamsen

8:03

Donner, wife of George Donner, the

8:05

leader of the Donner Group, was an exception.

8:09

A fellow traveler wrote that she was disheartened

8:11

that her husband and others could even consider

8:14

leaving the old, proven road. She

8:17

felt they knew nothing of Lansford Hastings,

8:20

the explorer who had written a book about a shortcut

8:22

to California. She thought

8:25

he might be some sort of selfish adventurer,

8:27

and she wasn't sure about his supposed shortcut.

8:31

But James Reed, the leader of the other half

8:33

of the Donner Reed party, was convinced.

8:36

He wanted to take the so-called Hastings

8:38

Cut-Off. Three weeks earlier,

8:41

all the groups in the wagon train had made

8:43

their choice. In southwestern

8:45

Wyoming, the caravan would essentially

8:48

split in half. The current

8:50

captain of the wagon train, Lilburn

8:52

Boggs, would lead several groups

8:54

along the traditional proven trails.

8:57

They would follow the Oregon Trail up into

8:59

Idaho, go around the Great Salt

9:01

Lake by a northern route, and then

9:04

take the California Trail down

9:06

through Nevada toward California. The

9:09

rest of the groups would follow the lead

9:11

of James Reed and George Donner, and

9:14

try the unproven Hastings Cut-Off.

9:17

The Hastings Cut-Off led travelers

9:19

south of the Great Salt Lake. It

9:21

cut straight across Utah before joining

9:24

the California Trail on the other side of the

9:26

lake. It was definitely shorter

9:28

than following the traditional trails, but

9:31

the families had been warned that it was extremely

9:34

tough terrain and would be incredibly

9:36

difficult with wagons. Many,

9:38

like Thames and Donner, were worried about

9:41

the Cut-Off, but they were committed

9:44

and only time would tell. On

9:51

November 10th,

9:52

Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson

9:54

reunite on the big screen as Captain Marvel and

9:56

Nick Fury to assemble the MCU's

9:59

next team.

9:59

The Marbles!

10:00

After Captain Marvel gets her powers entangled

10:03

with teenage superhero Ms. Marvel and Captain

10:05

Monica Rambeau, the three heroes will learn

10:07

teaming up changes everything. Don't

10:10

miss Captain Marvel's return November 10th

10:12

in The Marbles, only in theaters. Rated

10:14

PG-13. Get your tickets now.

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11:21

On July 20th, at their camp

11:23

on the Big Sandy River, the Donners, the Reeds, and

11:25

the other families said their official and tearful goodbyes to

11:27

the Boggs Group. The Boggs Group went one way,

11:32

the Donners, Reeds, and everyone else went another.

11:34

But with the Boggs Group gone, the

11:38

Donner-Reed Group needed a captain.

11:40

It elected George Donner. James Reed was younger and

11:42

healthier, and

11:45

at this point he seemed to know more about traveling.

11:47

But everyone liked George and felt more

11:52

comfortable with his even-tempered personality.

11:56

The Donner Party was officially born, and they continued

11:59

their marching on. along the big sandy

12:01

river. In late afternoons

12:03

and evenings, the wagon train noticed

12:06

chilly winds and sometimes freezing

12:08

temperatures. A man named

12:10

Charles Stanton wrote how strange

12:12

it was to travel during the boiling hot

12:14

days of summer and yet to see snow

12:17

on the tops of the distant Wind River Mountains.

12:20

It was a stark reminder that Mother

12:22

Nature waited for no one. On

12:25

July 22nd, the party lost

12:27

three steers to the same alkali

12:29

puddles that had killed some of their oxen.

12:32

Thankfully, the party soon found better

12:35

camping and even accelerated their pace

12:37

a little bit, putting them just below

12:39

Fort Bridger in the southwest corner

12:41

of Wyoming on July 27th. The next morning,

12:46

James Reed and George Donner raced

12:48

ahead to the fort, excited to

12:50

meet the illustrious Lansford Hastings,

12:52

who had said in his letter that he would be there. But

12:59

Hastings wasn't there. He had

13:02

been there a week earlier, but there were

13:04

so many impatient travelers at the fort

13:06

that he decided to get started. Instead

13:09

of Hastings, Jim Bridger, the

13:11

legend himself, welcomed the Donner

13:13

crew. Bridger was 41 years

13:16

old and already known as the King of

13:18

the Mountain Men. He was a trapper,

13:21

a trader, and had mastered several languages,

13:24

including those belonging to several Native American

13:26

cultures. Bridger

13:29

and his business partner built his fort in 1843

13:33

on a fork of the Green River. It

13:35

was a popular stop for mountain men who

13:37

wanted to trade. Bridger offered

13:39

food, clothing, and shelter to

13:42

the Donner train. James

13:44

Reed and George Donner quickly rode

13:46

back and accompanied their families and

13:48

friends to the fort, where they stayed for

13:50

three days. That three-day

13:53

stopover was when another controversial

13:55

moment in the story of the Donner party happened.

13:58

There were two problems. both of which

14:00

were unknown to the Donners. The

14:03

first was that Jim Bridger and his business

14:05

partner were losing money. A

14:07

new road had opened two years earlier that

14:10

allowed travelers to skip Fort Bridger

14:12

while still following the Oregon Trail. The

14:15

Boggs Group was on that road right now.

14:18

As a result, Bridger and his business

14:21

partner weren't selling as many goods as they

14:23

used to. The two men had a vested

14:25

interest in keeping travelers on a Southern

14:28

course, and they were eager to keep the

14:30

Donner Party in their neck of the woods. The

14:33

second problem was the weather. 11 days

14:36

before the Donner Party arrived, there

14:38

had been rain in the morning, but it stopped

14:41

in mid-afternoon. When the clouds

14:43

broke, the clear sky revealed

14:46

snow across the peaks of the Wasatch

14:48

Mountain Range to the west in Utah.

14:51

The temperature fell from 82 degrees Fahrenheit

14:54

to 44, from 27 degrees

14:57

Celsius to six. Winter

14:59

was arriving fast. The

15:02

shift in temperature worried journalist Edwin

15:04

Bryant and former wagon train

15:06

Captain William Russell. They

15:08

were already at Fort Bridger when the shift happened,

15:11

and they were nervous about how late in the season

15:13

it was for travel. They were still

15:16

technically part of the wagon train, but

15:18

they could move faster because all of their

15:20

possessions were strapped to pack mules instead

15:23

of loaded into wagons that were pulled by oxen.

15:26

A month earlier near Fort Laramie, when

15:29

the groups debated the choice between the

15:31

traditional Oregon Trail and the

15:33

Hastings Cut-Off, several

15:35

men who were unmarried or traveling without

15:37

families made a different choice. They

15:40

sold their oxen, their wagons, and most

15:42

of their possessions. They bought mules

15:45

and strapped the rest of their belongings to

15:47

the faster-moving animals. They

15:49

had committed to trying the Hastings Cut-Off,

15:52

but they were going to ride ahead of the Donner party

15:54

and move as fast as possible. They

15:57

had been at Fort Bridger for more than a week.

16:00

and they had interviewed other men at the fort.

16:03

Lansford Hastings and Jim Bridger

16:05

said good things about the Hastings Cut-Off,

16:08

but a different guide disagreed. He

16:10

discouraged them from trying the Cut-Off. In

16:13

the end, they chose to go with

16:16

Lansford Hastings and the other travelers

16:18

who were anxious to get moving. But

16:20

after everything Bryant had heard at the fort,

16:23

he felt he should warn the Donner Party. He

16:26

wrote detailed letters that told the

16:28

group not to try the Cut-Off. He

16:31

instructed them to follow the old Oregon

16:33

Trail. He and Russell could

16:35

move faster with their mules, so

16:37

the experiment with the Cut-Off was less

16:40

risky and they were willing to chance it. Bryant

16:43

gave the letters to Jim Bridger, who

16:45

promised to give them to Bryant's friends when

16:48

they arrived. But Bridger broke

16:50

his promise. The words of caution

16:52

and advice never reached the Donner

16:55

Party. The

17:02

Donner Party arrived at Fort Bridger

17:04

on July 28th and rested for three

17:06

days. They left on August

17:08

1st and James Reed wrote to a

17:10

friend that he was excited about the Hastings

17:13

Cut-Off, which would save hundreds of miles.

17:16

He expected the road to be level with

17:18

plenty of water and grass, except

17:21

for about a 40-mile stretch through

17:23

the Great Salt Lake Desert. But

17:25

all of that information came from Jim Bridger.

17:29

They would have to see for themselves if it was true.

17:32

For the first few days, it seemed like it was.

17:34

Things were going fine, but then,

17:37

like a bad omen, the problem

17:39

started. An ox went missing.

17:42

The road was not smooth and level

17:44

like Bridger claimed. The party

17:46

had to ride over hills and then down

17:48

into shallow valleys and then repeat

17:50

the process. But those were

17:53

mild inconveniences compared

17:55

to what happened next. At

17:57

camp on the Bear River, 13-year-old...

18:00

Edward Breen's pony stepped in

18:02

a prairie dog hole and they both took

18:04

a hard fall. The boy was

18:06

knocked unconscious and suffered a

18:08

compound fracture between his knee

18:10

and his ankle. Ragged pieces

18:13

of bone poked through the skin. With

18:15

no doctor in camp, his father,

18:18

Patrick Breen, sent a rider back

18:20

to Fort Bridger. A gnarled

18:22

mountain man with a bone saw came

18:24

back with the rider and his treatment

18:27

plan was clear. Edward

18:32

and his parents remembered the ordeal of

18:34

the boy whose leg had been amputated

18:36

by Edwin Bryant several weeks earlier.

18:39

The boy had died two hours after surgery.

18:43

The Breen's quickly called off the operation.

18:46

Instead, Breen's mother pushed his

18:48

bones back into place, dressed

18:50

the wound, and hoped for the best. His

18:53

leg ultimately healed, but for now

18:56

it was just another delay for a wagon

18:58

train that was already very late in

19:00

getting to the Sierra Nevadas. On

19:02

August 6th, the group reached the mouth

19:05

of Weber Canyon, which cut through

19:07

the Wasatch Mountain Range in

19:09

the northeasternmost part of modern

19:11

Utah. There at the mouth of

19:13

the canyon, secured to a sagebrush,

19:16

was a note from Lansford Hastings. The

19:19

group was appalled when they read it. Hastings

19:22

told them the road ahead was not passable,

19:25

and they should not go forward. Instead,

19:28

he said they should select a different road over the mountains.

19:31

He left them a crude outline of how to do

19:33

it, and he told them to send a messenger

19:35

ahead so he could advise them. The

19:38

Donner party had no choice. They

19:41

appointed James Reed, Charles Stanton,

19:43

and a man named William Pike to ride

19:46

ahead to Hastings and bring him back

19:48

to their own party to find a new road.

19:51

On August 7th, the trio set out.

19:54

They didn't have to ride very far to understand

19:56

what Hastings was talking about. Weber

19:59

Canyon was littered with trees and boulders

20:02

and thick sagebrush.

20:03

It would definitely be dangerous and

20:06

time consuming to try it with wagon.

20:09

They caught up with Hastings near the Great

20:11

Salt Lake. No doubt they were

20:13

angry as hell, but they persuaded him

20:16

to return to their camp so he could guide

20:18

them ahead. Reed

20:20

exchanged his horse for a fresh one so

20:22

he could ride back with Hastings in a hurry.

20:25

Stanton and Pike had to ride back

20:27

more slowly on their tired horses. On

20:30

the way back, Hastings quit

20:33

his mission to help the Donner Party. He

20:35

explained that he needed to return to his other caravan.

20:39

The best he could do was lead James

20:41

Reed to a peak called Big Mountain,

20:43

east of the Salt Lake. At

20:45

Big Mountain, Hastings pointed out vague

20:48

directions. Then he rode

20:50

off to the west, and it was the last

20:52

time anyone from the Donner Party spoke

20:54

with the man who had promised to lead them.

20:58

James Reed rode down the mountain and

21:00

found an Indian trail. He marked

21:02

it on the way back to the wagon train. On

21:05

August 10th, he rode into camp and

21:08

told them the bad news, but

21:10

tempered it with news that he'd marked a new

21:12

route. He qualified his new

21:14

route with assurances that it wasn't going to

21:16

be easy, but it would be less dangerous.

21:20

Shortly after Reed announced their change of

21:22

plans, the Graves family

21:24

joined the Donner Party. They

21:26

had traveled just behind it for most of the

21:28

spring and summer, but looking for

21:30

help and companionship, caught up

21:32

with it for this last leg of the journey. That

21:35

would prove to be a terrible mistake, but

21:38

at the moment, the Donner Party was

21:40

at its full number, 87 people and 22 wagons,

21:43

as it headed

21:45

for its next obstacle, the Great

21:47

Salt Lake Desert.

21:54

In mid-August 1846, the Donner Party had 750 miles

21:57

to travel and

22:00

two bad choices. They

22:02

could turn around, go back to Fort

22:04

Bridger, and then continue on the old

22:07

Oregon Trail up into Idaho before

22:09

turning on to the traditional California

22:11

Trail that led through Nevada. If

22:14

they did that, they would lose a ton of

22:16

time. Or, they

22:18

could continue on their current course and

22:21

try to navigate an uncharted route that

22:23

they hoped would lead them to the California

22:25

Trail on the other side of the Great Salt

22:27

Lake. There's no evidence

22:30

to suggest the Donner Party considered backtracking

22:32

to Fort Bridger. They were already

22:35

the very last of the very last

22:37

wagon trains on the trail. For

22:39

westward travelers in the 1840s, there

22:42

was really no way to pivot so drastically.

22:45

There were few places to rest and regroup

22:48

or to take shelter while they reevaluated

22:50

their plans. So, in the middle of August, they

22:54

began bushwhacking a trail through

22:56

the Wasatch Mountains. By

23:01

all accounts, it was awful. They spent weeks

23:03

cutting underbrush to get through

23:05

a segment of the mountains. Then they had to navigate

23:07

a treacherous descent on the other side. They

23:11

also had to send a search party after Stanton and Pike,

23:15

who had not been seen since Reed had raced

23:17

ahead of them. The party finally found

23:19

their friends, half-starved

23:22

after several days of struggling through

23:25

the confusing mountain terrain. The

23:30

biggest challenge thus far came on August 22nd, when they made

23:32

it to within a mile of the Salt Lake Valley. They

23:37

needed to climb over a hill so steep that

23:40

it required 10 to 12 pair of oxen to

23:43

draw each wagon up to the summit. It

23:45

took five days of alternating

23:48

between cutting a road and traveling, but

23:51

they managed to zigzag to the top. At

23:54

least the slope on the opposite side was gradual, and

23:57

on August 27th, they managed to

23:59

get down and go. other side. The

24:02

next morning, they crossed the river that

24:04

flowed from Utah Lake to the Great

24:06

Salt Lake. There, they

24:08

were heartened to find the trail of the Hastings

24:10

party. But as Eliza

24:13

Donner, the youngest Donner child recalled

24:15

later, it had taken them 30 days to

24:17

reach that point, which they'd hoped to

24:19

make in 10. Back

24:22

at Fort Bridger, James Reed had estimated

24:25

it would take them seven weeks to reach California.

24:28

It took them four weeks just to get to

24:30

central Utah. They still

24:33

had 600 miles to go, and

24:35

there were more problems. A young

24:37

man in their party died from tuberculosis.

24:40

Then, they found another note from Hastings.

24:43

It was terse, but suggested that travelers

24:46

could get through the upcoming desert in

24:48

two days and two nights. He

24:51

said nothing about mileage, but they

24:53

recalled he had been telling people that the

24:55

desert would be about 40 miles without

24:57

water. The party

24:59

spent most of August 28th and

25:01

29th cutting grass for their livestock

25:04

and gathering as much water as they could. On

25:07

August 30th, they departed Redlam

25:09

Spring, the last source of water

25:11

for what they thought was a two-day trek

25:14

across the Great Salt Lake Desert. On

25:17

day three, the party was out of water.

25:20

They'd had little sleep or rest. Most

25:23

of them experienced the phenomenon of mirages,

25:26

and they couldn't keep pulling their wagons. Not

25:29

only were the poor animals too tired

25:31

and thirsty, but moisture underneath

25:33

the sand bubbled up and turned

25:35

it into a sort of slime. Muds

25:38

sucked down the wagon wheels all the way

25:40

to the axles. Some of the

25:42

animals dropped dead in their tracks. Finally,

25:46

the party combined only the most basic

25:48

of their belongings into fewer wagons

25:51

and unhitched their animals. James

25:54

Reed rode ahead until he reached water 20

25:57

miles up the trail. He left

25:59

his horse dead. there and started back on a

26:01

borrowed horse with water for his stranded

26:04

family. On the way, he

26:06

met up with Teamsters who had gone ahead with

26:09

all the cattle and horses. He

26:11

warned them to hold the animals tight

26:13

on the road, or they would smell water

26:15

and stampede. And of course, that

26:18

was what happened. What

26:20

was supposed to be a two-day, 40-mile

26:23

trek ended up being five days

26:26

and 80 miles. They

26:28

crossed the western part of Utah, and

26:30

the half-dead party reached Pilot

26:32

Peak, just inside the modern border

26:34

of Nevada, in the early hours

26:37

of September 5th. They

26:39

lost at least 40 cattle and oxen,

26:41

in all but their most basic belongings. They

26:45

finally had a water source, but then

26:47

they discovered they didn't have enough food

26:49

to get to California. The

27:00

Donner party spent a few days camped along the

27:02

base of Pilot Peak. They were alive, but in bad shape.

27:07

Once revived, some of the men were able

27:09

to go back and retrieve some of the wagons they'd left behind.

27:12

They repaired the damaged ones, but soon

27:14

realized it was a pointless exercise, since

27:17

they didn't have enough animals to pull them.

27:20

Finally, on September 10th, they got

27:22

back on the trail. They

27:26

made it just six miles before

27:28

a severe snowstorm hit them. They

27:31

eventually passed through the storm, but

27:33

it gave them a taste of what was to come. They

27:36

were extremely low on food, so

27:38

Charles Stanton and a man named William

27:40

McCutcheon offered to go ahead

27:42

to John Sutter's fort in California.

27:46

Sutter was a Swiss immigrant who had persuaded

27:48

the Mexican government to let him establish

27:50

a colony in California's Central

27:53

Valley. He spent two years

27:55

building a tiny settlement in the area that

27:57

is now the city of Sacramento. Sutter's

28:00

Fort was a beacon for wagon trains

28:03

headed to California. They needed

28:05

to make it to his outpost before

28:07

winter snowstorms blocked the passes

28:10

of the Sierra Nevadas. Charles

28:12

Stanton and William McCutcheon were proposing

28:15

a desperate plan. They would ride

28:17

ahead, cross the mountains, make

28:19

it to Sutter's Fort, buy provisions,

28:22

then ride all the way back to the wagon train.

28:25

It had very little hope of success, but

28:28

they had to try. Meanwhile,

28:31

the wagon train pressed on. Finally,

28:38

mercifully, the wagons reached

28:40

the south fork of the Humboldt River. They

28:43

were officially back on the established California

28:46

Trail. Whether they knew it or

28:48

not, the Hastings Cut-Off and

28:51

then the detour around Weber Canyon

28:53

had added 125 miles to their journey, rather than being at least 200 miles

28:55

shorter than

29:00

the well-traveled California Trail. A

29:04

few days later, the party was greeted

29:06

by two seemingly friendly men from

29:08

the Paiute tribe who spoke a little English.

29:11

The men camped with the party that night, and

29:14

when a campfire ignited some brush, the

29:16

Paiutes helped put out the blaze. When

29:19

everyone woke up the next morning, the

29:21

Paiutes were gone, and so

29:23

were a yoke of oxen and some clothing.

29:26

Shortly afterward, on October 1st, one

29:29

of the graves' family's horses was stolen.

29:32

The travelers had no time to go look for lost

29:35

animals. They knew they were extremely

29:37

late in reaching the Sierra Nevada mountains,

29:40

and all they could do was try to make up

29:42

for lost time. Given

29:44

the circumstances, extreme hunger,

29:46

extreme stress, and lack of sleep,

29:49

it should have been no surprise that James

29:51

Reed and wagon driver John Snyder

29:54

came to blows on October 5th. They

29:58

were 200 miles northeast of the modern city

30:00

of Reno, Nevada, and at that point

30:03

the wagon train was moving as two

30:05

separate groups. The Donner

30:07

family and some others were several miles

30:09

out in front, and the Reed family

30:11

and a few others were behind. The

30:14

Donner group had navigated their wagons

30:16

over a steep sandbank and had

30:18

moved on ahead. Now it

30:21

was the Reed group's turn to get over

30:23

the hill. John Snyder,

30:25

a teamster with the Graves family, struggled

30:28

to get his oxen to pull his wagon up the

30:30

steep, sandy hill. His

30:32

oxen became tangled with a team from another

30:34

wagon, and Snyder ruthlessly

30:37

whipped his team. When James

30:39

Reed tried to stop the abuse, Snyder

30:42

beat Reed with the handle of his whip. Then

30:44

Snyder hit Reed's wife, Margaret. When

30:47

Snyder turned the whip back to James

30:49

Reed, Reed stabbed Snyder

30:51

with a knife. John Snyder

30:54

died on the sand hill. Even

30:56

though Snyder was clearly in the wrong, Reed's

30:59

reaction was too much. The

31:01

Reed group held a council that night.

31:04

They discussed a number of options. Louis

31:07

Kiesberg demanded that they hang Reed

31:09

from a tree. While that seemed

31:11

outrageous, others understood Kiesberg's

31:14

feelings. Reed was a hard

31:16

man with a bad temper, and he'd

31:18

treated Kiesberg poorly at times because

31:21

of Kiesberg's German heritage. In

31:24

the end, the group decided to exile

31:26

James Reed. His family

31:29

could stay with the wagon train, but

31:31

he had to go. They allowed him

31:33

to take his horse, but nothing else

31:35

except the clothes on his back. They

31:38

wouldn't kill him outright, but by

31:40

banishing him, they were giving him the

31:42

slimmest chance to survive. Before

31:45

he left, he secured a promise from

31:47

the group that they would care for his family,

31:50

though his circumstances might not have been as

31:52

dire as they seemed. The

31:54

Donner group was two days ahead of the Reed

31:56

group, and the Donners knew nothing of the

31:59

situation with the Reed.

31:59

Reed's.

32:01

James Reed could probably survive

32:03

until he reached the Donner Group. And

32:05

then one of his daughters snuck

32:08

out of camp and caught up with him. She

32:10

gave him a little food and his rifle,

32:13

pistols and ammunition. With

32:15

that, he was in much better shape to reach

32:17

the Donners. Two days later,

32:20

Reed found the Donner wagons and

32:23

offered a sanitized version of what had

32:25

happened. A man

32:27

named Walter Herron offered to ride

32:29

with James Reed to California. They

32:32

would follow in the footsteps of Charles Stanton

32:34

and William McCutcheon. They would hurry

32:37

to Sutter's Fort and hopefully hurry

32:39

back. On October 7, 1846, the Donner

32:43

Group was about 140 miles

32:45

from the California border and the rest

32:48

of the wagon train was about 170.

32:51

James Reed and Walter Herron were

32:53

about to head out on their own. The

32:55

days were noticeably cooler and

32:57

the nights were bitterly cold. They

33:00

were about to enter the heart of Paiute territory,

33:03

but the threat of war parties was the least

33:05

of their worries. The deaths

33:08

that were about to happen would not be

33:10

at the hands of the Paiutes. Next

33:19

time on Legends of the Old West, the Donner

33:22

party fights through another desert, suffers

33:24

more losses within the wagon train, but

33:27

finally arrives at the Sierra Nevada

33:29

Mountains, just in time to

33:31

get slammed by early winter blizzards.

33:34

That's next week on Legends of the Old West.

34:00

link in the show notes or on our website

34:02

blackbarrelmedia.com. This

34:05

series was researched and written by Julia

34:07

Bricklin. Original music by

34:09

Rob Valier. I'm your host and producer

34:12

Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show

34:14

please leave us a rating and a review on Apple

34:17

Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check

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out our website blackbarrelmedia.com

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for more details and join us on social

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and Twitter and all our episodes are

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available on YouTube. Just search for

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