In April 1846, a group of pioneers who came to be known as the Donner-Reed Party departed Springfield, Illinois, headed for the Mexican province of Alta California. Mindful of the severe cholera epidemics across the nation and the lingering consequences of the financial panic of 1837, they were also inspired to head west by America’s grand expansionist movement, Manifest Destiny.
The Donner Party’s collective dream, however, became a collective nightmare thanks to poor timing, terrible advice, and even worse weather. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the border between Nevada and California, the party soon ran out of food and ultimately resorted to feeding off the flesh of their dead companions and family members in order to survive. It's this aspect of the Donner Party story that makes it so grotesquely fascinating, and one of the most haunting to come out of the settlement of the American West.
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