The guide standing behind the desk welcomed me as I walked in the door of the Visitors Center at the Donner Memorial Museum in Truckee, CA. I had attended a conference of the Juvenile Justice Trainer’s Association at Reno, NV and I was taking a few days vacation after the Conference and I wanted to visit the site and learn of the tragic story of the Donner Party. After looking at the various exhibits and viewing the film not only did I have a clearer understanding of that tragic story, but I was able to learn some lessons that are applicable for us today.

I believe there are several lessons we can learn from their story. 

We are in the midst of a horrible pandemic. As I write this now, May 1^st, we  are living in a divided country and we are led by a crazy man.  Many doctors and other experts are giving us excellent advice that many ignore. There is also the strong possibility that our current leadership will try to distract us from his problems by engaging in a war. Possibly, hopefully not, a nuclear one. We have an economic crisis threatening the well-being of Americans.  More than ever, we need to listen to people who know what they are doing.  

I believe that the story of the Donner Party presents several lessons for us and that if we ignore these lessons, we can only multiply our troubles.

The Donner Party story

“The Donner party left Springfield, Illinois, in April 1846. Led by two wealthy brothers, Jacob and George Donner, the emigrants initially followed the regular California Trail westward to Fort Bridger, Wyoming. From there, however, the emigrants decided to leave the established trail and take a new and supposedly shorter route to California laid out by an unscrupulous trail guide named Lansford Hastings.”

Hastings was an unscrupulous man, a con man, who had never traveled his proposed route. Not only did he rip them off for his maps and book, but he never traveled the route that he proposed. His route, if followed, would have saved them 300 miles. A look at a map of Nevada shows that the original route followed the Humboldt River offering a good supply of water and game. The new route, called the Hastings cutoff, led across a barren salt desert. 

“Hastings was not at Fort Bridger at the time–he was leading an earlier wagon train along his new route. He left word for the Donner party to follow, promising that he would mark the trail for them.

Reassured, the group of 87 emigrants left Fort Bridger with their 20 wagons and headed for Weber Canyon, where Hastings claimed there was an easy passage through the rugged Wasatch Mountains.When they reached the head of the canyon, they found a note from Hastings attached to a forked stick. Hastings warned the Donner party that the route ahead was more difficult than he had thought. He asked the emigrants to make camp there and wait until he could return to show them a better way.

Hastings’ note troubled the emigrants. To return to Fort Bridger to pick up the established route would have meant wasting several days. They decided to wait for Hastings. After eight days, when Hastings had still not arrived, the emigrants sent a messenger up the canyon to find the guide. The messenger returned several days later with instructions from Hastings to follow another trail, and the emigrants complied. The alternate route, however, turned out to be even worse than the Hastings’ road, and the emigrants had to carve a fresh road through thick trees and boulder-strewn ground.

The Donner party finally made it through the Wasatch Mountains and arrived at the Great Salt Lake. Hastings’ route had cost them 18 valuable days. Unfortunately, their difficulties were only beginning. 

The Donner party crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains late in the season. On October 28, a heavy snowfall blocked the high mountain passes, trapping the emigrants in a frozen wilderness. Eventually reduced to cannibalism to survive–at least according to legend–only 45 of the original 87 emigrants reached California the following year. Of the 87 members who began the journey, only 46 survived the winter. Most died of starvation, but some were murdered, and many of the dead were cannibalized by their traveling companions.” Source: https://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/donner-party

This is in short a brief history of the Donner Party. Please see the citations below for greater understanding of this tragedy.

Lessons for our times

Lesson No. 1: where are you getting your information 

“Gather as much data and information from reliable sources as possible before making critical decisions. The Donner Party had a choice of routes to take to California, but they relied almost entirely on a single source of information, a book entitled “The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California” by Lansford Warren Hastings. This book recommended a shortcut from the normal route, the so-called Hastings Cutoff. But there were many sources that expressed doubt about this little-used route, sources that the Donner Party did not fully consider before making their fateful decision on which route to take.” Source: https://www.survivopedia.com/survival-lessons-from-the-donner-party/

Many Americans depend on only one source of news or they restrict their information gathering to only those sources that promote their own belief system. If one gets their information from only those who reflect their views, they get a distorted picture of what is really going on. We all know of people get their only information from Fox News or MSNBC. 

Good group members and good leaders will try to get information from a variety of sources. Even then, most of the time information will be incomplete and time constraints may force a decision before adequate Information is complete. Refusing to consider opposing viewpoints, their minds are made up and as the old saying goes, “Don’t confuse me with the facts; my mind is made up!” Their minds filter other opinions and contradictory facts.

“Given this reality, it is even more important for leaders to fully understand and use the information they do have, and not just look to it as a way of confirming a decision already made. The Donner Party chose to rely almost entirely on the optimistic predictions of Hastings’ book, but did not heed the warning in that same book that ‘Unless you pass over the mountains early in the fall, you are very liable to be detained by impassable mountains of snow until the next spring, or perhaps, forever.’” Source: https://www.survivopedia.com/survival-lessons-from-the-donner-party/

Lesson No. 2: who is the leader 

Leadership was missing in the Donner Party. Group cohesion and the sense of common goals placed the group into a precarious position. The ability to refocus the group was absent. This absence would lead the group to death.

Poor information was a critical factor in the failure of the Donner Party. The other problem was that leadership shifted from one person to another. Group members came and went and many joined the party who had only the goal to get to California. The lack of cohesion and a common purpose would be a critical factor in the days and weeks to come. A common mission and feeling of interdependency must be cultivated in good times if you want it to survive in bad ones. This leads to the third lesson.

Lesson No. 3: what is the common vision

Our President is a prime example of a leader who unfortunately divides and polarizes people. There seems to be no common purpose for unifying the country. For many, the American Dream is lost. Unfortunately, you cannot create that sense of purpose when you most need it. 

“The Donner Party was a group of decent people who all had their own reasons for traveling across country to start a new life. They had high expectations, based partly on faulty or absent information, about what they might face en route. Once hardships began, the group tended to splinter along factional or family lines, rather than always looking to the welfare of the group as a whole. Leadership was inadequate and ineffective, and decisions were not made in consideration of all members.” Source: https://www.survivopedia.com/survival-lessons-from-the-donner-party/

In conclusion, it is important to gather information in order to make a good decision. By educating ourselves, understanding history and the prior mistakes made by our predecessors, we can avoid the same devastating problems. Know your leaders. Are they able and/or willing to make decisions that are in the best interest of all—or just for themselves. We need to have leaders who unite the country to work together to achieve a common goal. Unfortunately at this time, we don’t have a leader with the qualities to inspire the Country to reach its highest aspirations.