The Donner Party Part 4

[GibsonElectricI]

Its amazing that while this was a horrible situation it ended up being worse than they could have imagined at that point. Wonder if they would have fared better if they did turn around at the salt desert?

[diddims]

@GibsonElectricI I know. But even if they imagined that things could turn out even worse, they had very few choices; Eliza Donner's account is on the mark, "It was plain that try as we might, we could not return to Fort Bridger. We must proceed, regardless of the fearful outlook."

[GibsonElectricI]

@diddims yeah very grim indeed... What would you have done if you were at that same point and knew what lied ahead? (unlike the donner party obviously who didn't know). Just out of curiosity btw because I honestly don't know what I would do.

[diddims]

@GibsonElectricI I don't know what I would do. I'd be torn between pushing forth and returning to Fort Bridger. I would not want to go through the desert again, and the Wasatch Mountains sounded like a nightmare to travel over. Then again, traveling over the Rubies and then the Sierra Nevadas with an early winter storm...

[TheZoostudio13]

Hastings was probably haunted by all the souls of these people.

[boodistGeek]

Reminds me of the Bush administration

[Duskofdead]

@boodistGeek lol right?

[MarvelousSeven]

@boodistGeek how?

[MarvelousSeven]

Read the book "Contingency Cannibalism"

[CSATexan]

@MarvelousSeven

That book sounds sick. I must have it!!!

What book can you compare it to?

[MarvelousSeven]

@CSATexan Well...its on amazon.

[CSATexan]

@MarvelousSeven

Would it compare to lets say In the Heart of the Sea? Or is it like The Zombie Survival Guide

[MarvelousSeven]

@CSATexan haven't read that sea book. All I can say for this one is its based on facts and real-world historic uses of survival cannibalism. There is some rye humor.

[CSATexan]

@MarvelousSeven

Sounds good,

The Heart of the Sea was based on the Whale Ship Essex the on that was struck by a whale. I read it a ways back and it was very disturbing.

[Jameshimselfff]

so good to watch this on halloween

[fubleduck]

Reaction to Reed & Snyder, characterized by absurd policies regarding noncatalyctic combatants(which is exactly what Reed was)is a basis of a term I coined the term.....Donnerism.

[carlsetzer]

The next time I get irritated at being stuck in a traffic jam I'm going to think of what the Donner party had to endure. It'll immediately put things into perspective.

[cramers89]

Hastings had little to do with the Donner party disaster! He guided over 250 people including 75 wagons ( the Harlan-Young party and the Leinhardt-Hoppe party) safely across the cutoff that year ahead of the lagging Donner party. Hastings was subsequently popularly elected as a delegate to the Consititutional Convention in 1849 - that shows how little he was held to blame by the majority of his contemporaries.

[boiledhooker]

I would have stopped and immediately built cabins after crossing the salt flats

[KKJohnson28]

fail..125 miles longer?

[CrimsonbloodSC]

why didn't they just go right?

[anzac2404]

Hastings had one hell of an ego & knew SFA about pathmanship or bushcraft, & had no common sense....I would have shot the bastard but the Reeds should have listened to what they were told in the first place!

Thanks for posting this, fantastic stuff; cheers.

[PassTheSkittles]

They forgot to mention that Snyder also slapped Reed's wife in the brawl.

[OpTicMontages]

When it said 'Fall' it should have said 'Fail'.

[Teobi1]

James Frazier Reed was a good man. Keseburg's the one they should have banished 

[KalissaFluffy1]

i cant believe i have to do this for HW this is very sad

[TheThh]

in wich part they eat people?

[TheRealDarthWicket]

this is really so sad

[Nonchelanteful]

i loved this docu,but man i really thought it said "fail" after the narrator said "all made it to california safely,but the donner party" at 5:08 LOL xD

[vaughn2sexy4uyo]

Did the Native Americans find it cute to kill ox for no reason?

[PamK36]

@vaughn2sexy4uyo The reason was they didn't want settlers in their territory.

[CroMarduk]

if you liked this documentary you should check out Franklin's Lost Expedition

[lacouerfairy]

They should have hunted Hastings down and strung him up from a tree.

[ladyhrist]

In retrospect, the fact that the party chose exile rather than execution for Reed is probably what saved them - had he not made it to Sutter's Fort, there would have been no one to arrange a rescue, and it's likely that everyone trapped in the Sierras would have died.

[redarrowhead]

Reed was lucky to be banished, he actually made it to Sutter's Fort.

[redarrowhead]

lol. First time I heard Indians being dicks.

[barkpeeler2000]

who else is reminded of the oregon trail game

[hivelocity100]

2:50 - 3:05.....man...that picture creeps me out

[diddims]

@hivelocity100 Why? It's just a picture of little Eliza Donner.

[RosaBlanca457]

I wonder if Hasting's party encountered the same hardships as that of the Donner-Reed party in crossing the desert and the canyon? I wonder if their only fortune (that of the Hasting's party) was based on the fact that they had an earlier start?

[YaRisbabe0707]

When I think about these people I feel like crying for them. It's horribly amazing how much they went threw.

[LambrettaGirlUK]

@YaRisbabe0707 Hi, I was amazed as well, we wasn't taught about the American West being British, we just get taught mostly about our history, but If your interested I managed to get hold of a book called Wagons West The epic story of America's overland trails by Frank Mclynn . I found it fascinating, it's account of the Donner Party is brilliantly narrated. It's a Good read , would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in this subject xx

[YaRisbabe0707]

@LambrettaGirlUK Thanks, I'll look it up

[rickyfan3956]

I wish that Lansford Hastings could've somehow been brought to justice as a murderer, for all the deaths he caused with his book full of lies. And to think, he probably didn't even care that his lies caused people's deaths. Hey, he profited off the book, anyway.

[diddims]

@rickyfan3956 Yeah, based on this, Hastings comes across as something of a sociopath or psychopath: self-interested/self-centered, grandiose, refusing to take responsibility, disregard for the safety of others, disregard of morality/ethics, cocky, persuasive, manipulative, without remorse or empathy. By these accounts, he seems to have some of the qualities.

[laynejakeeli]

Why didn't they build shelter, hunt for food and bunker down for the winter?

[gregapugh124]

@laynejakeeli well alot of them were from new york and had no excperince with hunting or how to survie in a hostile enviroment

[02Nawal]

Yayyyyyy Indians. Yo go defend your homeland.

[violetdawn369]

@02Nawal absolutely.

[dustin35713]

The musical score at 0:36 is so creepy and highlights the horror of their crossing.

[ROCKSLIDZ]

It all fell apart when Murder entered the picture.

I'm shocked that they turned an old man out of his own wagon and left him to die by the side of the road. Bad, bad karma...

[qx1zed]

MoFo, Keseberg kicked him out!

[rickyfan3956]

Keseberg sounds to me like a sick man! Notice that when James Reed killed the teamster (in self-defense), Keseberg wanted Reed hanged immediately and even offered his own wagon tongue to serve that purpose. But then, he was German, and Germans are well known for their frankness.

[diddims]

@rickyfan3956 And it's possible that Keseberg wanted revenge; Reed had reprimanded him when he caught Keseberg battering his wife. Keseberg himself admitted to an explosive temper and other travelers pitied his wife, Philippine, a young woman with two small children; Keseberg was not very popular among the group, and especially for his cruelty to his wife and their toddler daughter, Ada.

[ROCKSLIDZ]

I have flown over the Salt Desert in a passenger jet. It was years ago but I still remember that all I could see in any direction was flat gray nothingness. I was just amazed- we flew over it for so long I couldn't believe it.

Those poor people trying to cross on foot with oxen...

[uchihaaddiction]

DAMN YOU HASTINGS

[tialeetull]

that Hastings should have been strung up and hung in front of the survivors.

that would have been justice - american western style

[Psycolynch]

@uchihaaddiction

DAMN YOU LAUGHING INDIANS!!!!!!!!!

[mkervelegan]

dread falls on the viewer like a shroud

[xmattvsmondayx]

how sad =[

[woodbinedrinker]

Helpful Indians...

[SPBASS]

it gets gradually worse and worse