They Took a Shortcut. Nearly Half Never Made It: The Donner Party

In the spring of 1846, families left Springfield, Illinois, for a new life in California. They had wagons, oxen, money and every reason to believe they would make it. Then they took a shortcut. This is the true story of the Donner Party: the shortcut that cost them weeks, the snow that trapped them in the Sierra Nevada, the snowshoe group known as the Forlorn Hope, and the rescuers who crossed the mountains to bring the survivors home. Chapters: 0:00 A dream of California 0:33 The road west 1:09 The shortcut 1:57 The salt desert 3:00 Trapped by snow 3:52 The Forlorn Hope 4:26 The rescue 5:44 What they left behind Sources: Wikipedia, "Donner Party"; History.com, "Donner Party"; Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Donner party". Images: Wikimedia Commons (public domain), including 19th-century engravings, period photographs and paintings by Albert Bierstadt. Narration is AI-generated. #history #donnerparty #americanhistory Lost Pages of America brings forgotten stories from American history back to life, told through archival photographs and researched narration. Narration is AI-generated. Photographs are public domain unless noted. New forgotten stories every week. Subscribe and turn the page with us. #history #americanhistory #forgottenhistory