Feel like having nightmares? Read it all and pretend it's happening in real time: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party_timeline

how romantic

You brought your cat camping? Lmfao

"Never take no cutoffs, and hurry along as fast as you can" is the quotation

Yes and no. If everyone maintained the same trail all the time, nothing new would ever be tried and discovered.

Have you read Virginia Reeds book? Across the Plains in the Donner Party? Try it sometime, it is a great story with a tragic end.

Which also means it isn't a wonderful story.

One of the definitions of wonderful is 'inspiring admiration'. The story of their survival does inspire admiration.

zarasbazaar - then I wish the lady had said "it's a story that inspires admiration" - not a giggly "It's a wonderful story" - she may have meant admiration, but to me it sounded inappropriate. My opinion only - thanks for yours

I have read it - and several others about the Donner party. They touch my heart, but the party also made some pretty stupid mistakes [in my opinion]

At last, an intelligent comment.

While it is certainly a sad story, the old saying “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” applies.

I bet there's a few million native Americans that may have stories just as sad.

@@VanderlyndenJengold no doubt about it

@@VanderlyndenJengold of course there is. I’m related to some of the people that were on the trail of tears, and there are some stories that have been passed down in the family that are horrendous.

Two true heroes of this saga get rare mention. Two Indians with the Americanized names of Louis and Salvador risked their lives in a expedition from Fort Sutter in an attempt to save this unfortunate group. They ultimately gave their lives - they were shot by a member of the party when found after being warned away by another member that they were being considered for killing and cannibalization.

***** I know, right? Why were these settlers in such a hurry? California wasn't going anywhere...I can understand that if they were prospectors during a gold rush and wanting to get there before the gold was depleted but that wasn't the case here.

They were trying to beat the winter's first snowfall through what would later be called The Donner Pass, and I believe that snow beat them by just 1 or 2 days. That made all the difference in the world, sadly.

Brian Smith you sound like a liberal

Ah, politics. Lets bring it in where its not needed.

Must have been a Trump or Romney Supporter, lol.

Did he rob the graves as well?

No, Bernie supporters are the ones who love theft.

C. W. Kennedy lo

@@troyturton8197 A Trump Supporter from 130 years ago... That was a pathetic joke.

were spoiled now, when we think life is difficult now we need to remember what our ancestors went through

Totally agree, folk complaining over Covid 19. It’s nothing compared to this

They were a bunch of thieves murderers and idiots. They saw the prospect of gold and fortune in California and put themselves in that situation. Instead of just holding out till next spring they decided they could conquer a strange new land before winter's first snowfall. People were murdered along the way stolen from, and they were brutal enough to kick out the elderly, women and children from their group for any inconvenience.

@@andreac6064 it's actually, nothing at all.

Yeah I'm sure the homeless agree with you

Here's somebody who will never know what Liveleak was..

They chose their own fate who cares

i think it is the height of respect that after all these years the people here know and care who the donner party was and search for evidence of them.

Rare that I comment on these posts. But I’ve always been fascinated by the Donner party. So many people are just mean and ugly inside and it’s easier for them to do it behind a keyboard.

@@itwasaliensyes all those children chose their fate……they could’ve stayed back and lived on the streets …. Christ you serious? Meh anyone with an attitude like yours almost always life likes to teach them a lesson of humility and empathy.

They killed their native American guides and ate them. Even in their darkest hours they decided to be racist.

Oh wow what a great and moral person you must be! Thanks for sharing, I to love the joy of being offended and being morally superior!

@@Spooky_515 bruh you’re 6 years late to being pressed about that

Do you feel embarassed about what a redditor you were 6 years ago? Or do you still fulfill the prophecy of 2 Timothy 3 in your King James Bible?

Clearly they are archaeology students and not English majors...lmao. I caught that too. I think at one point she said "they ate cannibalism" as well.

Those were visitors to the site, not the scientists.

some of the scientists were pretty bad about it as well.

A R E A L H U M A N B E I N G

Julianne, I know and they also completely destroyed the site!! digging a foot down with spades dragging all the soil out OMG. The worst, that site needs locking down asap and real teams coming in. This is the problem sites get dug up by amateurs with 4yrs training! what a waste of a part of history its scrabbled now.

Thank you for letting me know that they found nothing not even a human bone???

Ha Ha Ha... I know, I noticed it too. Cannibals people... duh, lol.

They were forced to resort to cannibalism. There. How's that?

Don't you do it Billy !!!

Digesting bad language lol

They became cannibalistic or resorted to cannibalism to survive.

They camped, and remained camped at ground level, with tunnels and dugouts ascending to the surface of the snow.

I have that book…..it’s incredible.

yes because most assemblies in those days used a dowel system not a screw type system like we have - like they were looking for. large hole in two planks of wood held together by a wooden dowel, a system that was never truly abandoned.

A lady in the video said that they destroyed a lot of roots of the tree. So they did all that digging for nothing, while destroying a 500 year old tree in the process. WAY TO GO!

The tree was actually killed by Mother Nature in the winter of 1996, the rot from the old fire scar at the base had spread upward enough that the tree succumbed to the winter and broke in half, a good 6 years after this video and archaeology occurred. I know because I worked for the Tahoe National Forest for 17 years. It certainly didn't help the tree that they dug all around the roots like that, but that isn't what killed it, either.

@Daydreams of a Vintage Girl: To your point of having worked there, many more emigrants passed through this area during the Gold Rush which began just a couple years later. So couldn't many artifacts discovered and dated to the period technically belong to later emigrant parties? Not to mention artifacts were collected as souvenirs and sold to benefit the Donner children. Furthermore, the coal fire pit the Donners used became exposed to the elements after the shelter was torn down (or blew down or fell down etc), and as far as we can tell from the area, there are no natural stone formations they may have used as a fire pit (which would still be there if it existed), so point being, wouldn't the significantly harsh elements you're familiar with from your 17yrs service have destroyed evidence of the type of coal fire the Donners likely used? They even said rodents may have spread the coal fragments they did find. Seems the evidence these archaeologists are using is a bit shaky to be so certain (not counting their poor grammar in the video).

slysnide - Yes all very true. The area this dig took place in now a state park (and adjacent national forest land) on the side of Interstate 80. I would presume the same, that the area has been so heavily travelled and impacted by people since the Donner party, that finding any *actual* Donner Party artifacts seems to equate to searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack, in this situation, and even finding any artifacts from the same time period would be difficult to attach to the Donner Party itself. For what it's worth, the park does house a museum & visitor center with many real known Donner Party relics on display.

Vintage Girl: I agree 100%. When I was a teen in the mid 80's we used to follow parts of the Santa Fe Trail. That was heavily traveled & artifacts were easy to find but virtually impossible to date accurately. The hardware used on wagons didn't change much for years so if you find a bearing, or a truck, or bracket or something, you know it's from that era but it still leaves you with an 80+ year spread of time. If you find a coin purse with dates of 1830,1833, 1838 & 1841 all that tells you is it was lost after 1841. That's certainly helpful but that coin purse very well could have been lost 5 years later. Who is to say the person that lost it had a coin made the year they lost it? It can't be tied to an exact event without lots of supporting finds & that's just not going to happen with the Donner Party artifacts. People were up there shortly after the rescue collecting things from the Donner Party so they could make a few $$ on the artifacts. Every group that went up to collect artifacts made their own camp. Countless people went through during the gold rush. It's a high altitude site with lots of snow & rain every year. Things get taken, things get washed away, other things get left by other parties. Like you say, even if they find stuff from the right time period, it's virtually impossible to tie it to the Donner Party. Honestly, I wouldn't necessarily even expect to find much evidence of their fires. I would think the burned tree would last longer than charcoal in a fire pit. It's not like excavating a cave where humans lived for 1,000 years & there is 8 feet of dirt built up. The Donner Party was there for 1 winter. No doubt the burned lots of wood but it all stayed on, or close to the surface & that's going to get washed away easily. I am inclined to believe the burned tree is accurate. It may not be but it was identified as "the tree" many years ago, when there were artifacts left & the burned area is at least some evidence. I could be swayed if solid evidence was found elsewhere but, for now, I think the tree site is reasonable.

why don't they let them rest in peace instead of digging them up...JC...its like some party there at.. those people should go home...

J. Peters Yeah. Silly ppl. Go take care of the homeless or something. Let the dead rest.

you are mistaken, it is considered American mythology because it's tied to the great westward migrations of the 19th century

It's not mythology because it's not a myth.

It's a mix of history and myth, I propose it's myth unless evidence backs it up is it not? I was surprised to see how many of the stories differ of the survivors and news writers at the time. All I known is it was horrible and absolutely incredible the will to survive. These people should not be vilified. Even the older German fellow who survived (his name slips my mind), who seems to have been made into the villain of the story. And yet even with him I get conflicting stories of he went on to be successful and own multiple properties, including... A restaurant...? Lol. And other stories claiming he died alone and penniless (shrug)

🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Roman Bronze statue has been found in someone's back garden in Horfield, UK..

women generally have more body fat on reserve

Women and children will huddle up while men are more likely to be solitary.

Gold.

It's called "quality time" for the whole family.

Just be a little suspect on any burgers being passed around.

They were from the University of Nevada.

Wow what an ignorant comment. The extent of the Donner Party site is actually a combination of state and federally owned and protected land. There is a small historical museum and a park with interpretive trails which one can hike and read signs about the different historical aspects. Definitely not a theme park. I know because I worked there for 17 years.

Daydreams of a Vintage Girl We were just at the museum last week. It is so surreal to hear, see and read about what they went through.

I wondered why the were digging so deep myself. Why dig one foot BELOW the tree roots? Yet all of the metal objects found by the metal detectors were within 6" deep. And I agree with Noevilea, that is a lightning strike scar on the tree. Not the result of a camp fire. Also, PooPipeBoy is correct. That is a wood boring auger bit, usually used with a tool called a hand brace.

Unless they too select amateurs like these. Trust me, the US has very competent technology and archeologists of their own. These people however....... smh.

imagine censoring god lmfao

and force them to go into it with their entire family, not much more than stone knives and bearskins, and not enough food to last the duration. See how wonderful the story is then, is my thoughts on this.

Carmen Morton they had to eat

Animals in the wild often suffer... That's nature...So whether they suffered with these people or as creatures of the wild they'd suffer... and if they were in barns and fed well, they might have hated it... Hey you never know... This is earth. Things suffer here... Just do the best you can... It's not like they had trucks and cars back in those days and they sure didn't expect to die or have to endure what they did either...

That's so awesome. I love your post. GOD be with you Mike Nichols.

april blonski I'm thinking the cabin rotted away over the years

passibal?? LMFAO

You have my sympathy. US Forest Service is very gifted at making crappy videos... lol

This is not much of an obstacle. You've got Google and the Internet at your fingertips. All you do is type in exactly what you want to know about and you get endless articles and videos. Before the internet, we had to fish through hours and hours of microfilm an article indexes just praying to find something that would relate to what we were trying to find out about lol.

When you're too stupid to realize google is a thing