- 1846
| Apr 16 | Donner Party: The George & Jacob Donner and James Reed families depart Springfield IL for Independence MO in nine wagons. | Ref: 27 |
| May 12 | Donner Party: The Donner Party departs Independence MO. | Ref: 27 |
| May 14 | Donner Party: Riders bring the Donner Party mail informing the travelers that hostilities had broken out with Mexico. | Ref: 27 |
| May 19 | Donner Party: The party joins a large wagon train captained by William Russell, which is camped on Indian Creek about 100 miles west of Independence. | Ref: 28 |
| May 25 | Donner Party: The Graves family leaves St. Joseph, Missouri. | Ref: 28 |
| May 27 | Donner Party: They reach the Blue River. It is too swollen to pass. Makeshift ferries are built. | Ref: 27 |
| May 29 | Donner Party: Sarah Keyes, James Reed's mother-in-law, becomes the first Donner casualty. | Ref: 27 |
| May 31 | Donner Party: The last of the wagons is ferried over the Blue River. | Ref: 27 |
| Jun 09 | Donner Party: The party reaches the Platte River, along which they travel for the next month. | Ref: 28 |
| Jun 20 | Donner Party: William Russell, Edwin Bryant, and seven others trade their wagons for pack mules and leave the wagon train. Hiram Miller, a teamster for the Donners, goes with them. The wagon train is now led by William M. Boggs. | Ref: 28 |
| Jun 27 | Donner Party: One week behind schedule, the Donner Party arrives at Ft. Laramie. A mountain man friend of Reed, named James Clyman, advises against the Langsford Hastings southern route, in favor of the traditional route. | Ref: 27 |
| Jul 04 | Donner Party: The Boggs Company celebrates the Fourth at Beaver Creek; the Graveses are a week behind at Fort Laramie. | Ref: 28 |
| Jul 11 | Donner Party: The Boggs Company reaches Independence Rock. Here they meet Wales Bonney with an open letter from Lansford W. Hastings announcing that he will meet emigrants at Fort Bridger and lead them on his cutoff, which passes south of the Great Salt Lake instead of detouring northwest around it via Fort Hall (modern Pocatello, Idaho). | Ref: 28 |
| Jul 17 | Donner Party: Landsford Hastings sends a letter to all immigrants on the road urging them to Ft Bridger where Hastings himself wojuld lead them west. | Ref: 27 |
| Jul 18 | Donner Party: The Donner Party crsosses the Continental Divide. | Ref: 27 |
| Jul 19 | Donner Party: The Boggs Company and several others camp at the Little Sandy River in present-day Wyoming. A group of emigrants decides to take Hastings Cutoff. They elect George Donner their captain, thus creating the Donner Party. The other emigrants take the usual Fort Hall route. The George Donners take in a stranger, Luke Halloran, who is ill and cannot continue on his own. | Ref: 28 |
| Jul 20 | Donner Party: The Donner Party reaches the Little Sandy River. Most wagons turn right (based on the advice of James Climon) taking the more reliable route. Twenty wagons, including the Donner Party go left to Ft. Bridger and the Hastings Cutoff. | Ref: 27 |
| Jul 21 | Donner Party: George Donner is elected captain. James Reed was a better choice but his autocratic manner alienated too many of the group. | Ref: 27 |
| Jul 28 | Donner Party: The Party arrives at Ft. Bridger. Hastings had gone ahead a week earlier with another group leading 60-75 wagons (the so-called Harlan-Young Party) on his cutoff. Jim Bridger and his partner Louis Vasquez assure the Donner Party that Hastings Cutoff is a good route. The Party stays 4 days for rest and repair. | Ref: 27 |
| Jul 31 | Donner Party: The Party leaves Ft. Bridger following Hastings trail into the Hastings cutoff. The McCutchen family and Jean Baptiste Trudeau join them. The group now numbers 74 people in twenty wagons. | Ref: 27 |
| Aug 06 | Donner Party: The Party reaches the Weber River; find note from Hastings advising them not to follow him down Weber Canyon. The main body camps near modern Henefer, Utah, while James Reed, Charles Stanton, and William Pike go ahead to get Hastings' advice. They find him at the south shore of the Great Salt Lake. He accompanies Reed part way back to point out a route. Stanton and Pike remain with Hastings’ party until their exhausted horses are able to continue. Meanwhile, the Graves family has caught up with the Donner Party, which now numbers 87 people in 23 wagons. Reed returns with news about the route on August 10. | Ref: 28 |
| Aug 11 | Donner Party: The party begins clearing a new route through the Wasatch Mountains. Stanton and Pike rejoin the wagon train after this date. | Ref: 28 |
| Aug 21 | Donner Party: The party climbs Donner Hill and enters the Salt Lake Valley. | Ref: 28 |
| Aug 25 | Donner Party: Luke Halloran dies of consumption and is buried in the Tooele Valley, near present-day Grantsville, Utah. | Ref: 27 |
| Aug 28 | Donner Party: The emigrants cut grass for the dry drive across the Great Salt Lake Desert. | Ref: 28 |
| Aug 30 | Donner Party: The Party starts across the Salt Desert. After 3 days the Reed's oxen bolt from lack of water. 36 oxen are lost in 5 days across the Salt Desert. | Ref: 27 |
| Sep 04 | Donner Party: After a grueling crossing of the Salt Flats, the emigrants rest at the spring near the base of Pilot Peak, repair their wagons, and hunt for missing livestock. Having lost almost all his cattle, Reed abandons two of his wagons; George Donner and Louis Keseberg also abandon one each. The emigrants realize that food is getting low and send Charles Stanton and William McCutchen ahead to Sutter’s Fort to bring back supplies. | Ref: 28 |
| Sep 10 | Donner Party: The party follows Hastings’ tracks from Pilot (now Donner) Spring into Nevada and around the Ruby Mountains. | Ref: 28 |
| Sep 26 | Donner Party: The party reaches tthe junction with the California Trail about 7 miles west of modern Elko, Nevada. Travel along Humboldt River for the next two weeks. The Hastings Cutoff proves to be 125 miles longer and more treacherous than the proven trail. The Humbolt River is where the Hastings Cutoff and the proven trail come back together. Most immigrants have arrived in California by this time. | Ref: 28 |
| Oct 05 | Donner Party: With tempers running short, James Reed kills teamster John Snyder in an altercation largely provoked by Snyder at Iron Point. Reed is ultimately banished; he goes ahead to bring back supplies. Walter Herron accompanies him. | Ref: 27 |
| Oct 07 | Donner Party: Lewis Kesberg turns out old Mr. Hardcoop out of his wagon. No one else can take him in. He is last seen sitting by the road, no longer able to walk. Joseph Reinhardt and Augustus Spitzer later report that he has been killed by Indians. | Ref: 27 |
| Oct 16 | Donner Party: The Party reaches Truckee Lake (present-day Reno). | Ref: 27 |
| Oct 18 | Donner Party (date approximate): William Pike accidentally shot and killed. | Ref: 28 |
| Oct 19 | Donner Party: Charles Stanton returns from Sutter's Fort with 7 mules loaded with provisions and 2 Indian guides, Luis and Salvatore. The Party rests for 5 days. | Ref: 27 |
| Oct 21 | Donner Party: Paiute Indians kill 21 oxen with poison arrows. | Ref: 27 |
| Oct 31 | Donner Party: George Donner's axle breaks. The Donner wagon falls behind. The Party camps 1000 feet below the summit waiting for Donner to catch up. It never catches up. By morning there is 5 feet of snow and the Indian guides cannot find the road. The Party becomes trapped in what is now known as Donner Pass in the Sierra Mountains in what will become the worst winter on record. | Ref: 27 |
| Nov 01 | Donner Party: With the summit impassable the Party retreats to Truckee Lake to build a winter camp. | Ref: 27 |
| Nov 05 | Donner Party (date approximate): More snow, more unsuccessful attempts to cross the mountains. The emigrants slaughter their remaining cattle, but many animals, including Sutter's mules, have wandered off in the storms and their bodies are lost, buried in the snow. William Eddy has but little success hunting. Reed and McCutchen attempt to reach their stranded companions but are forced back by the snow; they cache provisions in Bear Valley and return to Sutter's. The Mexican War has drawn away virtually all the able-bodied men, so rescue will have to wait. Not knowing how many cattle the emigrants have lost, the men mistakenly believe that the Donner Party will have enough meat to last them several months. | Ref: 28 |
| Dec 01 | Donner Party: With the last livestock gone the Party takes to mixing leaves, twigs, hides, charred bones and bark with any meat they have. | Ref: 27 |
| Dec 06 | Donner Party: Charles Stanton and Franklin Ward Graves making snowshoes for "another mountain scrabble." | Ref: 28 |
| Dec 16 | Donner Party: Baylis Reeves dies of malnutrition. After the weather clears, the snowshoers, or "Forlorn Hope," set out: Stanton, Luis, and Salvador; Franklin Ward Graves, his daughters Mary and Sarah, and Sarah’s husband Jay Fosdick; William and Sarah Foster, Sarah’s sister, Harriet Pike, and their two younger brothers, Lemuel and William Murphy; William Eddy; Patrick Dolan; Antonio the teamster; "Dutch Charley" Burger. William Murphy and Burger turn back the first day, but the 15 others continue. They are weak from hunger and have few provisions. Seven will survive. | Ref: 27 |
| Dec 22 | Donner Party: Food runs out for "The Forlorn Hope". Milt Elliott returns from the Donner camp at Alder Creek with news: Jacob Donner, Samuel Shoemaker, James Smith, and Joseph Reinhardt are dead. About this time Charles Stanton, snowblind and exhausted, is unable to keep up with the other snowshoers and tells them to go on. He never rejoins them. | Ref: 28 |
| Dec 25 | Donner Party (date approximate): The first suggestion is made to consume human flesh. Patrick Dolan is designated to die, but no one has the heart to kill him. Patrick Dolan is part of the group called "The Forlorn Hope." A blizzard catches the "Forlorn Hope" in the open. They have great difficulty getting and keeping a fire lit. Antonio, Patrick Dolan, Franklin Graves, and Lemuel Murphy die at the "Camp of Death." With nothing left to eat, the survivors tearfully resort to cannibalism. | Ref: 27 |
| Dec 26 | Donner Party (date approximate): Patrick Dolan dies. Someone cuts the flesh and roasts it. The two Indians do not eat. The dead are butchered and labeled so no one would eat their relatives. | Ref: 27 |
| Dec 29 | Donner Party (date approximate): The Indians abandon "The Forlorn Hope" when they discover there are members of the group planning to kill them and eat them. Back at the lake camp, "Dutch Charley" Burger dies. | Ref: 27 |
- 1847
| Jan 10 | Donner Party: Los Angeles is taken by the US Marines. This will free up manpower for rescue efforts. | Ref: 27 |
| Jan 18 | Donner Party: Seven survivors of the Forlorn Hope -- William Eddy, William Foster, and the five women -- reach safety at Johnson’s Ranch. Of the eight dead, seven have been cannibalized. Jay Fosdick died of exhaustion and starvation, but the two Indians, Luis and Salvador, were killed for food. Messages are dispatched to neighboring American settlements. The shocking news eventually reaches San Francisco, and public meetings are held to raise funds and organize rescue parties. | Ref: 28 |
| Jan 24 | Donner Party: Louis Keseberg, Jr., dies. | Ref: 28 |
| Jan 31 | Donner Party: Landrum Murphy dies. The First Relief, led by Aquilla Glover and Reason Tucker, leaves Sutter’s Fort. | Ref: 28 |
| Feb 02 | Donner Party: Harriet McCutchen dies. | Ref: 28 |
| Feb 04 | Donner Party: Margaret Eddy dies. | Ref: 28 |
| Feb 07 | Donner Party: The second rescue party leaves lead by the banished James Reed. Eleanor Eddy dies. | Ref: 27 |
| Feb 08 | Donner Party: Augustus Spitzer dies. | Ref: 28 |
| Feb 09 | Donner Party: Milt Elliott dies.
Milt Elliott dies. | Ref: 28 |
| Feb 19 | Donner Party: The first rescue party sights Truckee Lake. They can only take out about 24 people. Eleven emigrants have died, and the others are in bad shape physically and emotionally. Most have been without meat for some time, and they have been eating boiled rawhide, leather, bones, dogs, mice. Weak with hunger, they have great difficulty getting firewood and have been unable to hunt or fish.
Some of the rescuers go to the Alder Creek camp. The Donners inform them that they will start eating the dead soon if they can’t find the cattle lost under the snow. | Ref: 27 |
| Feb 20 | Donner Party: Catherine Pike dies. | Ref: 28 |
| Feb 21 | Donner Party: First Relief leaves with 23 refugees: Edward and Simon Breen; John Denton; Elitha and Leanna Donner, their cousin George, and George’s half brother William Hook; Noah James; Philippine Keseberg and her daughter Ada; Mary and William Murphy; Naomi Pike; Eleanor, Lovina, and William C. Graves; Margret Reed and her children Virginia, Patty, James Jr., and Thomas; their servant Eliza Williams; Mrs. Wolfinger. Patty and Tommy Reed give out and are taken back to stay with the Breens. Ada Keseberg dies and is buried in the snow. John Denton gives out and is left behind to die. En route down the mountains they meet Second Relief coming the opposite way, led by James Reed. After an emotional reunion with part of his family, he hurries on to the cabins to get Patty and Tommy. Only a few days from safety, young William Hook dies after overeating. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 01 | Donner Party: Second Relief arrives at lake camp. The rescuers find grisly evidence of cannibalism. James Eddy and George Foster, two little boys whose fathers survived the Forlorn Hope, are alive but very weak. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 02 | Donner Party: At Alder Creek, Reed finds that the Donners have also resorted to cannibalism. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 03 | Donner Party: Reed leaves the camps with 17 emigrants: Patrick and Margaret Breen and their children John, James F., Peter, Patrick Jr., and Isabella; Mary and Isaac Donner and their half brother Solomon Hook; Elizabeth Graves and her children Nancy, Jonathan, Franklin Ward, Jr., and Elizabeth; Patty and Tommy Reed. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 05 | Donner Party: A blizzard traps the Second Relief in Summit Valley; when it clears, Isaac Donner has died. Reed and his friend Hiram Miller can carry Patty and Tommy Reed. Solomon Hook can walk, but the rest of the refugees are too weak to travel and stay at "Starved Camp." The rescuers and their three charges continue, hoping to find food they cached on the way up. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 12 | Donner Party: On their way to the lake, the Third Relief, led by William Eddy and William Foster, reaches Starved Camp. Mrs. Graves and her son Franklin have died. They and Isaac Donner have been cannibalized. One of the rescuers, John Stark, stays to help the Breens and others out of the mountains while the others continue up to the camps. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 13 | Donner Party: Eddy and Foster's party arrive at the lake camp. They find their sons are dead. | Ref: 28 |
| Mar 14 | Donner Party: George Donner is dying from infection in the hand he injured months before. His wife Tamzene, though in comparatively good health, refuses to leave him; she sends her three little girls on without her. The Third Relief departs with four: Frances, Georgia, and Eliza Donner and Simon Murphy. Elizabeth and Lewis Donner have died. Samuel Donner, Levinah Murphy, and Louis Keseberg are too weak to travel. Jean Baptiste Trudeau is left behind to care for the Donners, but he leaves them and catches up with the Relief. | Ref: 28 |
| Apr 17 | Donner Party: The Fourth Relief reaches the camps, finds only Louis Keseberg alive among the mutilated remains of his former companions. | Ref: 28 |
| Apr 21 | Donner Party: The last of the Donner Party departs the winter camp. | Ref: 27 |
| Apr 25 | Donner Party: The last of the Donner Party arrives at Bear Mountain. 46 of 87 survived, 2/3 of the women and children and 1/3 of the men. | Ref: 27 |
| Jun 20 | Donner Party: Gen. Stephen W. Kearney, heading east, reaches the "Cannibal Camp." Mormon Battalion veterans who form part of Kearney’s entourage are detailed to gather the remains into the Breen cabin, which they then set afire. | Ref: 28 |
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The Donner Party Chronology