How did they find the Donner party?

The dig is taking place at a picnic area at Alder Creek Camp, where it's believed the George and Jacob Donner families were trapped. A Discovery Channel team found the site last summer by using ground-penetrating radar.
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How did the Donner Party get rescued?

As the Donner Party fought to survive in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains, four brave rescue missions ensured some traumatized members made it out alive. As the Donner Party fought to survive in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains, four brave rescue missions ensured some traumatized members made it out alive.
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How did the Donner Party get stuck on their trip west and why did they take the route?

The party was trapped by exceptionally heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada, and, when food ran out, some members of the group reportedly resorted to cannibalism of those already dead. It was the worst disaster of the overland migration to California. Donner Lake and Donner Pass, California, are named for the party.
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Who rescued the trapped Donner Party?

But what happened to them after their rescue in 1847? Unknown/Wikimedia CommonsJames and Margaret Reed managed to survive the Donner Party disaster with their four children. In the spring of 1847, the last rescue party finally reached the desperate remains of the Donner Party.
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How did the Donner Party get stuck?

Led by brothers Jacob and George Donner, the group attempted to take a new and supposedly shorter route to California. They soon encountered rough terrain and numerous delays, and they eventually became trapped by heavy snowfall high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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Did the Donner Party eat each other?

Not all of the settlers were strong enough to escape, however, and those left behind were forced to cannibalize the frozen corpses of their comrades while waiting for further help. All told, roughly half of the Donner Party's survivors eventually resorted to eating human flesh.
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Who was to blame for Donner Party?

The party began to blame James Reed for the decision to go this way, even though they all voted and made their own choice to follow. Fear was also prevalent, as food and other supplies were running out and they had traveled only thirty-six miles in twenty-one days.
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What mistake did the Donner party make?

Most historians agree that the Donner Party's fatal mistake was taking the Hastings Cutoff. It put them almost a month behind schedule and severely depleted their resources before the critical last stage of their journey.
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Who in the Donner Party survived?

The Breen family

She lived to be nearly 90 and was the last member of the fated expedition to die, passing away in 1935. The Breen family, which survived the Donner Party intact.
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Who died first in the Donner party?

Reed wrote in his journal, "Left camp early this morning. In the evening, a gentleman by the name of Luke Halloran died of Consumption having been brought from Bridger's Fort by George Donner a distance of 151 miles.
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How deep was the snow for the Donner party?

The peak snow depth was somewhere between 15 to 20 feet deep at Donner Lake. Trees cut off at snow level by the emigrants ranged from 15 to 18 feet in height when the snow was gone, indicative of the exceptional snowpack that winter.
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How accurate is the Donner Party Movie?

It is full of inaccuracies. While it is true some of the party resorted to eating human flesh to survive, no one was killed to do so. It left out the struggles of those left behind, waiting to be rescued and what they endured.
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What conditions did the Donner Party face before getting trapped?

Shortly before, the Donner family had suffered a broken axle on one of their wagons and fallen behind. Also trapped by the snow, they set up camp at Alder Creek six miles from the main group. Each camp erected make-shift cabins and horded their limited supply of food.
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Are there any descendants of the Donner party alive today?

Nearly half never left alive. And up to 200 descendants are expected to gather in August in Truckee and Reno, Nev., for what's being billed as the year's premier event California Trail Days 96 and the Donner Party Sesquicentennial.
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How long was the Donner Party stuck?

Rescuers from California attempted to reach the migrants, but the first relief party did not arrive until the middle of February 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived the ordeal.
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What happened to the Donner kids?

The two Donner families suffered greatly; all four of the parents perished. The surviving children reached Sutter's Fort as orphans, but they all found good homes. Like the Breens, all of the Reed family members escaped the disaster alive.
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Why is it called Donner Pass?

The pass gets its name from the ill-fated Donner Party who overwintered there in 1846. Today the area is home to a thriving recreational community with several alpine lakes and ski resorts (Donner Ski Ranch, Boreal, and Sugar Bowl).
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What religion was the Donner party?

Back in Utah, the road the Donner Party blazed from Fort Bridger into the Salt Lake Valley in 1846 was a godsend to the Mormon pioneer companies of 1847. It became part of the Mormon Trail, and for twenty years was the main route to Salt Lake City.
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Is the Donner Party on Netflix?

Rent The Donner Party: American Experience (2000) on DVD and Blu-ray - DVD Netflix.
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Why did the Donner Party fail?

A group of California-bound American emigrants known as the Donner Party, who after becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1847, resorted to cannibalism. Virginia Reed and the other members of the Donner-Reed Party had been suckered into a supposed shortcut to California that had led them to disaster.
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Are there any movies about the Donner party?

The Donner Party is a 2009 American period Western drama film written and directed by Terrence Martin (credited as T.J. Martin), and starring Crispin Glover, Clayne Crawford, Michele Santopietro, Mark Boone Junior, and Christian Kane.
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Did the Indians try to help the Donner Party?

Native Americans tried to help the starving Donner Party, research shows. They faced gunshots. The familiar story of the Donner Party is one of misfortune, madness, and profound isolation.
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What traits did members of the Donner and Reed families possess?

What traits did members of the Donner and Reed families possess? Support your answer with examples from the film. They possessed courage, for they did not turn back when hope was seemingly lost. They were also brave, for despite warnings and starvation, they pressed on.
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What happened to Hastings from the Donner Party?

He died at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1870, possibly of yellow fever, while conducting a shipload of settlers to his colony at Santarém.
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What did members of the Donner Party eat to survive in the Sierra Nevada Mountains?

It's clear that Donner Party members went to great lengths to avoid eating their own dead: The stranded migrants consumed a glue-like substance made from boiled animal hides, along with charred bones, twigs, leaves and bark.
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