In the
Spring of 1846 a group of families left Springfield Illinois to start a new
life in California. However before reaching their destination this ill-fate
group of emigrants known as the Donner Party suffered one of the most tragic
and horrific episodes in the history of America's western migration.
Although the Donner Party's story is a
somewhat complex narrative and the details of their plight are not always
agreed upon; it is generally agreed that the decision to deviate from the well
traveled Oregon Trail and instead trek across Utah using an unproven shortcut
known as Hasting Cutoff is what led to the Donner Party's failure to reach
their final destination before winter set in leaving them stranded in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains having to resorting to cannibalism to stay alive.
