Franklin Graves sold his Illinois cabin and land before setting off west with his family in 1846. He was paid in a collection of coins from various countries. (This was common then; the United States was still a young country and not a lot of minted money to go around.) … Read More
Posts Tagged: Donner Party
Patrick Breen
Not a lot in the way of controversy is often said about Patrick Breen. His claim to fame is that he maintained the only diary we have of the Donner Party’s time at the lake. I’ve never heard anyone really categorize him as a villain or a hero. But … Read More
James Reed
Next up in our Heroes & Villains series: James Reed.
More often than not, Reed is painted as a villain. There are some justifiable reasons for this. I’m going to list some of them below. But as you’ll see—I think he’s another complicated character. We just can’t put … Read More
William Eddy
When we stayed at Donner Lake, we rented a cabin, just off Eddy Avenue.
The next day at the state park, I got to geek out a little with a really kind volunteer named Greg about the gun they have on display.
This is supposedly the … Read More
Donner Party Round-up: Screen edition
Need a Donner Party film fix? How about either of these:
Donner Party Round-up: Book edition
Want to read more about the Donner Party? Here are a few titles you can peruse:
Release Day!
Today a book is born.
Reviewers are saying kind things about it.
… Read More“With her refreshingly varied form and ever-earnest tone, Brown weaves a compelling story of suffering, sacrifice, and survival.” — Booklist
“Across four seasons, Brown uses words and form effectively to evoke the hopeful idealism, love, joy, and life-or-death
Donner Party Round-up: Podcast edition
Do you want to learn more about the Donner Party? Here are some podcasts to get you started:
How Stuff Works has one here.
Stuff You Missed in History Class has one here.
The BBC has one here. (Every story is better when narrated in a British … Read More
First mention in newspaper of the Donner Party
“Emigrants in the Mountains”
“It is probably not generally known to the people, that there is now in the California mountains in the most distressing situation,
a party of emigrants from the United States, who were prevented from crossing the mountains by an early heavy fall of snow.
The party … Read More
Why Mary Ann Graves?
I get asked often why I chose Mary Ann Graves as my main character in the novel I wrote about the Donner Party. I knew right away that unlike in Caminar, I wanted to use an actual person. I didn’t want to make up any characters in this … Read More