A pair of NASA astronauts, who were stranded in space for more
than nine months, returned to Earth on Tuesday, landing in the
Gulf of America off Tallahassee, Florida, bringing an end to an unforeseen odyssey.
NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reached surviving
members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound
pioneers stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains
for nearly four months.
James Frazier Reed (1800 – 1874) was
an organizing member of the party.
William H. Eddy, survivor and chief
rescuer of the ill-fated Donner Party
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members
of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded
by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever
sweeping the United States, 89 people—including 31 members
of the Donner and Reed families—set out in a wagon train from Springfield, Illinois.
After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to
avoid the usual route and try a new trail recently blazed by
California promoter Lansford Hastings, the so-called “Hastings
Cutoff.”
After electing George Donner as their captain, the party departed
Fort Bridger in mid-July.
The shortcut was nothing of the sort: It set the Donner Party back
nearly three weeks and cost them much-needed supplies. After
suffering great hardships in the Wasatch Mountains, the Great Salt
Lake Desert and along the Humboldt River, they finally reached the
Sierra Nevada Mountains in early October.
Despite the lateness of the season, the emigrants continued to press
on, and on October 28 they camped at Truckee Lake, located in the
high mountains 21 kilometers northwest of Lake Tahoe. Overnight,
an early winter storm blanketed the ground with snow, blocking the mountain pass and trapping the Donner Party.
Donner Party Monument at Donner Memorial State Park
Truckee, California.
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members
of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants
stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever
sweeping the United States, 89 people—including 31 members
of the Donner and Reed families—set out in a wagon train from Springfield, Illinois. After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to avoid the usual route and try a new trail
recently blazed by California promoter Lansford Hastings, the
so-called “Hastings Cutoff.” After electing George Donner
(below) as their captain, the party departed Fort Bridger in
mid-July.
The shortcut was nothing of the sort: It set the Donner Party back
nearly three weeks and cost them much-needed supplies. After
suffering great hardships in the Wasatch Mountains, the Great
Salt Lake Desert and along the Humboldt River, they finally
reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains in early October.
Despite the lateness of the season, the emigrants continued to
press on, and on October 28 they camped at Truckee Lake,
located in the high mountains northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Overnight, an early winter storm blanketed the ground with
snow, blocking the mountain pass and trapping the Donner
Party.
George Donner (1836 – 1874)
James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen
in this file photo taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the
tragic Donner Party.
Map of the route taken by the Donner Party, showing the Hastings Cutoff—which added 150 miles (240 km) to
their travels—in orange.
