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James and Margret Reed of the Donner Party
The
Donner Party
was a group of
American pioneers
who set out for California in a
wagon train
, but became snowbound in the
Sierra Nevada
mountains in November 1846. Running out of food, some resorted to
cannibalism
to survive. The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party had been slowed by following a new route called the
Hastings Cutoff
, which crossed the
Rocky Mountains
'
Wasatch Range
and the
Great Salt Lake Desert
in present-day
Utah
. They lost many cattle and wagons in the rugged terrain, and divisions formed within the group. Their food supplies ran low after they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall high in the mountains. In mid-December some of the group set out on foot and were able to obtain help. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California. Historians have described the episode as one of the most spectacular tragedies in California history. (
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