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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ivartshiva (talk | contribs) at 09:30, 17 February 2021 (→‎George C. Yount). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Featured articleDonner Party is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on May 23, 2019.
Article milestones
DateProcessResult
March 25, 2010Peer reviewReviewed
April 4, 2010Featured article candidatePromoted
Did You Know
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on March 25, 2010.
The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that the three primary factors to survival in the Donner Party were age, sex, and the size of each person's family group?
Current status: Featured article
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California

The introduction references the survivors reaching California and the rescuers coming from Califonia. The Donner campsite is in California.

Hastings Cutoff

"To promote his new route, Lansford W. Hastings sent riders to deliver letters to traveling emigrants. On July 12, the Reeds and Donners were given one of them.[27] Hastings warned the emigrants they could expect opposition from the Mexican authorities in California, and advised them to band together in large groups. He also claimed to have "worked out a new and better road to California", and said he would be waiting at Fort Bridger to guide the emigrants along the new cutoff."

Did Hastings benefit financially from the use of his route (I assume that's why he was promoting it - or was it pure altruism?) If he did benefit financially, how? Tolls? Charging people to show them the way? Deals with store owners on the route? Other ways?

Washoe Account

This seems credible and relevant.

"Until now the Native American perspective has been left out of the telling of the Donner tragedy, not because the wel mel ti did not remember the pioneers, but because they were never asked, or perhaps were not ready to share. Their oral tradition recalls the starving strangers who camped in an area that was unsuitable for that time of year. Taking pity on the pioneers, the northern Washoe attempted to feed them, leaving rabbit meat and wild potatoes near the camps. Another account states that they tried to bring the Donner Party a deer carcass, but were shot at as they approached. Later, some wel mel ti observed the migrants eating human remains. Fearing for their lives, the area's native inhabitants continued to watch the strangers but avoided further contact. These stories, and the archaeological evidence that appears to support them, certainly complicated my interpretation of the Donner Party event. The migrants at Alder Creek were not surviving in the mountains alone—the northern Washoe were there, and they had tried to help."

https://archive.archaeology.org/1205/letter/donner_party_alder_creek_washoe.html

Orchidnecromancer (talk) 10:51, 17 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This appears to be an article by U.Oregon archaeologist J. Schablitsky, published in Archaeology (magazine) Volume 65 Number 3, May/June 2012. The archaeological expedition appears to have unearthed many bone fragments:

"Back at the laboratory, with his collection of comparative bone samples at hand, Tasa listed the cuisine on the Donner Party desperation menu: small rodent, rabbit-sized animal, canine, cow, and deer. But no human."

"Using an optical microscope to observe osteons, or the fundamental structural units of bone, Schug found 85 bone fragments that belonged to cow, deer, horse, and dog. But again, there were no human bones. This, of course, does not mean that the Donners did not practice cannibalism."

"Although the absence of identifiable human bone was an interesting problem, I was much more intrigued by what we did find: None of the survivor accounts from Alder Creek mention successfully hunting and killing rabbit or deer. We also found lead shot and sprue from lead casting, suggesting the pioneers had attempted to make ammunition for their guns. Perhaps one of the Donner Party members or rescuers had been successful at hunting wild game. But if the Donners found themselves too weak to hunt in the deep snow, or their aim was off, how could they have ended up eating these animals?"

Where in the article should this important archeological research finding be added? Mang (talk) 14:59, 20 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Just add it near the end as a separate chapter. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.239.206.63 (talk) 04:28, 7 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I think this research would benefit the article. It is also referenced in Wa She Shu "The Washoe People" Past and Present by The Washoe Cultural Office, 2009. Ynneblack (talk) 15:50, 19 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

George C. Yount

[Edit February 17 2021 to present the historical evidence as evenly as I could. I think the evangelical pressure might be highlighted. This event scared the shit out of people and they really wanted to know that God would never abandon them. This is in the earliest days of an 'internet': wire communication coast to coast, a daily national narrative.] I noticed a reference in Richard H. Dana. Jr's 'Twenty-Four Years Later' (p. 48) to a "John Yount" recounting a 'thrice-repeated' dream that led to the rescue of the Donner Party in 1847. My edits to the wiki entries for 'Donner Party' and 'George C. Yount' reflect research I have done on this subject. I believe Dana either misrecalled Yount's name or Yount was called "John". Ivartshiva (talk) 13:33, 13 January 2021 (UTC) comment added by Ivartshiva (talk • contribs) 13:30, 13 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nisenan Maidu rather than Miwok Native Americans Who Help Forlorn Hope Survivors

After several years of research, it has become clear several authors who have retold the Donner Party story have confused Luis and Salvador (Miwok Native Americans) who John Sutter had in his services at Sutter Fort and two members of the Forlorn Hope, with the Native Americans whose settlement the seven surviving members of Forlorn Hope stumbled upon and who subsequently assisted the Forlorn Hope to reach Johnson’s Rancho. These Native Americans were members of the Nisenan sect of the Maidu, NOT Miwok as our current wiki description indicates. The suggestion is to correct this error by replacing instances within the Forlorn Hope paragraph of “Miwok” with “Nisenan”.

Imcrowley (talk) 23:24, 10 February 2021 (UTC) Bob Crowley[reply]

</ref></ref> https://www.forlornhope.org/research-resources/

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