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We're told in early life to avoid untested shortcuts because they often surprise us with poor results. Few historical episodes demonstrate the principle more dramatically than the tragic expedition of the Donner Party (also called the Donner-Reed Party), snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains to endure starvation, misery, disease, exhaustion, hypothermia, murder, and cannibalism, all thanks to poor decisions and a failed shortcut. Of the 83 people trapped in the mountains for 111 days, only 45 survived, mostly children.
Pipe smoking, it turns out, was part of the story, and many in the party, both men and women, enjoyed pipes. In fact, they depended on them, and a pipe was a thematic parting emblem of one of this journey's fallen heroes.
By the time the travelers became stranded in the mountains, they were called the Donner Party, though when they started their 2,500-mile journey, they were led by James Frasier Reed, a businessman hoping to build a fortune in California. The wagon train is therefore sometimes referred to as the Donner-Reed Party. The West Coast was seen as a land of opportunity, and Manifest Destiny — the nationwide conviction that the continent belonged to European Americans and they needed only to settle it — seemed particularly attractive to people seeking a brighter future than seemed attainable in the East. It was a dangerous journey, and many gambled on the potential rewards.
Though the Oregon Trail was becoming more reliable, the turnoff onto the California Trail was more difficult. The railroads were not yet built, and Westbound emigrants faced a four-to-six-month overland journey. They had to start their wagon trains late enough in the year so that grass and vegetation would be available for their mules, horses, and oxen along the way, and to get over the mountains before the inevitable winter storms. These storms are fierce, but the winter of 1846-47 would come early and surpass worst expectations.
The journey started in April 1846 when nine covered wagons departed from Springfield, Illinois, and spent a month traveling to Independence, Missouri, where they rested for two days before leaving for California on the Oregon Trail. They would join other wagons along the way, and stragglers would join them.
Though Reed was ostensibly the leader of the group, he wasn't well-liked. Many interpreted his comportment as aristocratic and superior, his wealth seemed to antagonize others, and he faced a common prejudice of the time because he was Irish. He brought two hired servants and his main wagon (his family brought three wagons with hired teamsters to drive the oxen) was a two-story affair with a built-in stove and spring-cushioned seats, taking eight oxen to pull it, and it slowed progress in difficult terrain.
The railroads were not yet built, and Westbound emigrants faced a four-to-six-month overland journey.
Reed had read a book by Lansford Hastings called The Emmigrants' Guide to Oregon and California, and that experience would contribute to the tragedy. Hastings claimed that he had found a shortcut that saved 350-400 miles. Unfortunately, he had not actually traveled his shortcut. Hastings was anxious for this route to become used because he hoped to build his own wealth at Sutter's Fort, which today is known as Sacramento, and the shortcut would bring many people there to purchase the goods necessary to start a new life.
Reed's wagons were filled not only with the supplies necessary for the trip. Knowing how valuable they were in California and for trading with Native Americans along the way, he brought various goods, including:
15 barrels of flour, 1 barrel of pork, 400 pounds of sugar, 100 pounds of cocoa, 20 tins of ground coffee, 17 pounds of tobacco, 6 frying pans, 4 camp kettles, 24 blankets, 48 pairs of woolen stockings, 2 pounds of sewing thread, 84 yards of flannel, 30 yards of calico, 30 yards of shirting, 24 pair of pantaloons, 11 pair of flannel drawers, 30 red flannel shirts, 6 pair of adult shoes, 15 pair of children's shoes, 2 axes, 2 hatchets, 1 shovel, and 12 iron spoons....(Eckert 234)
Journals from the Donner Party mention pipe smoking even toward the end of their travail — when they were starving and boiling hides to make broth — so it's likely that Reed's tobacco was depended upon.
Things were looking good when the wagon train left Independence, Missouri, and moved toward Fort Laramie. About 100 miles into that part of the journey, they joined a larger wagon train led by Colonel William Henry Russell. He doesn't enter the final parts of the story, but the merging and separating of different groups occurred regularly, and the size of the wagon train varied.
After leaving Fort Laramie and arriving at the Little Sandy River in modern Wyoming, the group had a decision to make about what route to take. James Reed met an old friend, James Clyman (a well-documented pipe smoker), who had traveled the new route with Hastings. Clyman told Reed not to take it because it was too rough for wagons, but Reed chose to ignore the warning.
A letter from Hastings arrived before they left, saying that he would meet travelers at Fort Bridger and guide them on the new cutoff, and this news brought confidence to the group. The wagon train split, the majority heading north to follow the established trail. The others elected George Donner to lead the wagon train. They arrived at Fort Bridger on July 28, but Hastings was not there. He left a note explaining that he was leading another group and that the Donner Party should follow.
About 100 miles into that part of the journey, they joined a larger wagon train
Stumps of trees cut by the Donner Party in Summit Valley, Placer Co., 1846, by Thomas Houseworth & Co.
They left Fort Bridger and made fairly good time, traveling at 10-12 miles per day, and reached the Weber River on August 6, where Hastings had left another note. It advised them not to follow him down the canyon because of its difficulty and directed them to a different trail into Utah's Salt Basin. The group now numbered 87, and they voted to follow Hastings' new trail.
That trail slowed them considerably. It would be learned later that the new trail was 125 miles longer than the established trail, and it was extraordinarily difficult. Some days, they hardly went a mile. Brush and trees had to be cut for the passage of the wagons, boulders moved, and when they crossed the salt Basin, their wagon wheels pushed through the hard, salty crust almost to the axles. Hastings had said the crossing would require two days, but it took five. By the third day, the water was nearly gone, and many oxen ran off to find their own. During the 80-mile trek through the desert, 32 oxen were lost.
The travelers were forced to abandon four wagons and proceed on foot, caching their goods by burying them. Those caches were later pilfered by Native Americans and various wild animals. Members of the wagon train blamed Hastings for their trouble, and also blamed James Reed for supporting the shortcut. In all, the shortcut lost the group almost a month, and they would have to rush to get over the Sierra Nevada mountains before winter weather closed the opportunity.
The party inventoried their food supply and realized it was woefully inadequate to sustain them over the remaining 600 miles. Two men, Charles Stanton and William McCutcheon, were sent ahead to California to bring back necessary supplies. The others continued on and by the end of September reached the Humboldt River, where Hastings' new trail met his original shortcut. The shortcut overall was almost impassable and 125 miles longer than the established trail. The party had lost a month, and they were mad at Hastings and at Reed.
Two wagons became tangled on October 5, and the teamster leading one of the teams began whipping the oxen. Reed used his knife to cut the tangled harnesses and ordered the teamster to stop beating the animals. The teamster obliged by attacking Reed, opening his scalp with the butt of a whip. Reed defended himself and, with the knife already in his hand, he stabbed the teamster, who died.
Humboldt River
Some members of the party recommended hanging Reed for his crime, but they finally decided to banish him from the party. Reed left his family and started toward California, catching up to the Donners, who had gone ahead, the next day. Walter Herron, one of Reed's teamsters, was accompanying the Donners, and he opted to leave with Reed. The two made it to California on their own.
Back at the main wagon train, Louis Keseberg, who had loudly recommended hanging Reed, decided to lighten his wagon load by forcing the elderly Mr. Hardkoop to walk instead of ride. Hardkoop was too weak to walk, though, and his feet were badly swollen. He visited all the other wagons, but no one would allow him on board. He sat down at the side of the road and was left behind. No one saw him again.
It would be learned later that the new trail was 125 miles longer than the established trail
A couple of nights later, Paiute Indians attacked, killing 21 oxen, stealing another 18, and wounding many others. In all, the party had now lost more than 100 draft animals. More wagons and possessions had to be left behind. One member of the party, Mr. Wolfinger, stayed back to cache his wagon and goods with the help of two others. The others returned alone, claiming that Wolfinger was killed by Indians, but one of the men later admitted to murdering him.
By mid-October, the group had reached the Truckee River and the beginning of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but they were out of food. On October 19, however, Charles Stanton returned with seven mules loaded with supplies and two Native American guides, Luis and Salvador. McCutcheon, who had left with Stanton, had become ill and unable to return from Fort Sutter in California. Descriptions of Stanton always mention his pipe smoking. He was single, had no family with the wagon train, and had achieved his goal of arriving in California, but he made the arduous journey back to the mountains to help these unfortunate people.
James and Margaret Reed
Stanton reported that the path through the Sierra Nevada was difficult but viable if they could get through before winter weather arrived. The group accepted the news by deciding to rest for five days before attempting it. Those five days could have saved them had they started immediately.
A week later, James Reed arrived at Sutter's Fort. McCutcheon was there and recovered from his illness, and the two began gathering supplies to return to their families in the mountains. Their rescue attempt was ruined by snow, however, and just 12 miles from the summit, they were forced to return to the fort for additional supplies and to wait for a break in the weather.
Reed left his family and started toward California, catching up to the Donners, who had gone ahead
Snow started falling in early November before the party could reach the pass over the mountain. Stanton and one of the guides who accompanied him from Sutter's Fort managed to reach the summit, but the snow forced them to turn back. The 22 people in the Donner family were still six miles behind the rest of the party, having suffered a broken axle and George Donner an injury while repairing it.
George Donner
The snow was already five feet deep, and they were stuck. It must have seemed horribly unfair. They had traveled 2,500 miles and were only 150 miles from Sutter's Fort, but they could not proceed. The weather continued, and it was impossible to force through what became 12 feet of snow. The party was forced to set up shelters made from sticks, brush, and canvas, making tents, lean-tos, and using a small abandoned cabin.
By the end of November, all the cattle were dead from starvation and cold. The party butchered the oxen they could find, but many of the remaining livestock were lost under the snow, and their bodies were impossible to locate despite multiple spirited excavations. Several tries at the summit failed.
Stanton and a man named Graves made snowshoes for the party as the only way to navigate the now 20-foot-deep snow, but additional attempts by the party failed. They would huddle in their makeshift shelters for the next four months. With all of their cattle slaughtered or lost, the party subsisted on boiled oxen hides, bones, bark, and twigs. They did have adequate coffee, tea, and tobacco, however, and they were great consolations, as related by author Joseph King:
One of the few comforts of the survivors was tobacco, smoked by the women as well as the men. It was relaxing and suppressed hunger pangs. We know from family sources that Margaret Breen was a pipe smoker, as were many Irish and other women of the day. No doubt the pipe she used was the kind found in recent years by archaeologist Don Hardesty of the University of Nevada in digs at the site of the Murphy cabin. This was a long-stemmed, white, kaolin (a kind of clay) "Dublin" pipe, the most popular 19th-century model. It is exciting when the work of scholars in different disciplines comes together and produces new knowledge. In this case, we have a picture of women of the Donner Party engaging in perhaps the only luxury they had during the months of their ordeal: smoking their pipes in the mountain shanties. (page 68)
By December 15, members of the party were dying from malnutrition, and heroic efforts were necessary if any of them were to survive. Fifteen people made up a group now dubbed The Forlorn Hope. They donned handmade snowshoes and began climbing toward the summit.
Their rescue attempt was ruined by snow, however, and just 12 miles from the summit, they were forced to return to the fort
Charles Stanton had been over the ground and was their leader, but his malnutrition was making him weaker, and he was suffering from snow blindness as well. Each day, the group would move forward, but Stanton was lagging behind and would catch up to them each night as they camped, flopping himself down at the fire, exhausted and smoking his ever-present pipe.
Sunday, December 20, the fifth day out, began ominously. Though the skies overhead were again clear, dark clouds were gathering on the western horizon, far out over the Sacramento Valley toward which they all yearned. As Jay and the rest of the party began to move down the Yuba, Sarah and Mary Ann hung back, trying to fix a problem with Mary Ann's snowshoes. When they had made the repair, Sarah started on ahead to catch up with Jay. As Mary Ann began to leave, though, she noticed that Charles Stanton had not departed with the others. He was, in fact, sitting quietly nearby, resting his head against a snowbank, puffing on his pipe, making no effort to get going. Mary Ann asked if he was coming along, and he said yes, he would join them shortly. She hesitated. Stanton gazed in her direction, but his snow blindness had severely damaged his vision, and he likely could not see her. He did not get up. Finally, Mary Ann turned and hurried away to catch up with the others. Stanton continued to sit there smoking. Five months later, a party traveling eastward found his bones in a hollow stump near the same spot. (Brown 154)
Stanton had brought the party to a place where he knew they could find their way over the summit before he gave up. He urged them to go on without him and spent his last living moments with his pipe. His companions were too exhausted and feeble to go back for him in the 15 feet of snow, and he perished. Another account says that Stanton's pipe was found with his remains by a rescue party, but there is no indication of what happened to it: "A party that subsequently returned from the settlement, headed by Mr. Fallen, found his remains at the place where they had left him. His pistols, pipe, and some other articles were found by him, but his body was in a great measure consumed by beasts of prey." (Johnson 50)
With all of their cattle slaughtered or lost, the party subsisted on boiled oxen hides, bones, bark, and twigs.
While Stanton's pipe was lost, fragments of other pipes have been found during archaeological investigations at the various sites where the Donner Party wintered:
Tobacco pipe fragments are the next most common category of artifacts with identifiable uses found at the cabin. Written accounts of the Donner party' mention tobacco smoking several times. Perhaps the best known describes Charles Stanton sitting by the campfire and smoking his pipe just before he died from starvation and exposure. Most of the tobacco pipe fragments found at the Murphy cabin are long-stemmed white kaolin clay "Dublin" pipes, the most common type in the nineteenth century. Four of them are marked with "T," "TD," or "D" impressed into the bowl or stem. Such marks, usually attributed either to Thomas Dennis of Bristol, England, or to Thomas Dormer of London, first appeared in the early eighteenth century. The only other pipe found by the excavators is a gray ceramic bowl with two grooves and rows of repeated circles; the bowl was used with a detachable reed stem. (Hardesty 44)
Additional fragments were found at the Murphy cabin and revealed more about the smoking habits of the Donner Party:
Most of the tobacco pipe fragments found at the Murphy cabin site are bowl and stem fragments of the so-called white kaolin clay Dublin pipes with long stems (Table 14). Four of the pipes bear the maker's mark "TD," which probably was first used either by Thomas Dennis, a pipe maker in Bristol, England, between 1734 and 1781, or by Thomas Dormer of London (Figure 35), 52 although other pipe manufacturers used the mark well into the nineteenth century as well. Another pipe fragment bears the name "McDougall Company, Glasgow, Scotland," a company that began producing pipes in 1846. In addition to these fragments, the Murphy cabin site yielded a bowl from a gray detachable-stem pipe (Figure 36). It is decorated with two molded grooves and a row of repeated circles around both the bowl rim and the mouth end of the stem part. (Hardesty 106)
A few days after Stanton's death, the Forlorn Hope group was caught in a blizzard and was unable to maintain a fire, resulting in the deaths of four more people. Desperate and near death, the survivors resorted to the cannibalism of the fallen.
Living off the bodies of those who died along the path to Sutter's Fort, the snowshoeing survivors were reduced to seven by the time they reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 19, 1847. Only two of the 10 men survived ... but all five women lived through the journey. Of the eight dead, seven had been cannibalized. Immediately, messages were dispatched to neighboring settlements, and area residents rallied to save the rest of the Donner Party. (Alexander)
Stanton's pipe was found with his remains by a rescue party, but there is no indication of what happened to it:
On February 5, the first relief party left California, and Reed's second rescue attempt left two days later. Among the supplies brought by Reed was 17 pounds of tobacco, which indicates how important tobacco was. Seventeen pounds is a lot of weight to carry in 15 feet of snow. When rescuers found the remnants of the Donner Party, the full implications of starvation in the mountains became clear:
On February 19, the first party reached the lake and found what appeared to be a deserted camp. Then, the ghostly figure of a woman appeared. Twelve of the emigrants were dead, and of the 48 remaining, many had gone crazy or were barely clinging to life. However, the nightmare was by no means over. Not everyone could be taken out at once, and since no pack animals could be brought in, few food supplies were brought in. The first relief party soon left with 23 refugees, but during the party's travels back to Sutter's Fort, two more children died. En route down the mountains, the first relief party met the second relief party, who came the opposite way, and the Reed family was reunited after five months.
On March 11, the second relief party finally arrived at the lake, finding grisly evidence of cannibalism. The next day, they arrived at Alder Creek to find that the Donners had also resorted to cannibalism. On March 33, Reed left the camp with 17 starving emigrants, who were caught in another blizzard just two days later. When it cleared, Isaac Donner had died, and most of the refugees were too weak to travel. Reed and another rescuer, Hiram Miller, took three refugees with them, hoping to find food they had stored on the way up. The rest of the pioneers stayed at what would become known as "Starved Camp." (Alexander)
Among the supplies brought by Reed was 17 pounds of tobacco
It took five separate rescue parties to bring the survivors to safety, and the rescues were full of heroic and courageous acts. But the last of the refugees were rescued only when winter began to wane:
Survivor Keseberg reported: "I had no hope of help or of being rescued, until I saw the green grass coming up by the spring on the hillside, and the wild geese coming to nibble it. The birds were coming back to their breeding grounds, and I felt that I could kill them for food. I also had plenty of tobacco and a good meerschaum pipe, and almost the only solace I enjoyed was smoking." (King 135)
Keseberg was the last of the party to escape the mountains and reach California. The survivors were emaciated, and many had lost their toes to frostbite, but 45 of the original 83 lived through the ordeal. It was a hellish experience, but the travelers who endured the horrible conditions were comforted by their pipes and tobacco, a luxury contrasted against the harsh terrain and weather of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
Bibliography
- Alexander, Kathy. "The Tragic Story of the Donner Party" (March 2025), Legends of America
- Brown, Daniel James. The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride (2009)
- Craig, Frankye. A Donner Party Story: Daughters of Destiny (2007)
- Craig, Frankye. The Fateful Journey of Tamsen Donner (2006)
- Eckert, Allan W. Dark Journey: The Tragedy of the Donner Party (2009)
- Houghton, Eliza P. Donner. The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate (1911)
- Johnson, Kristin. Unfortunate Emigrants: Narratives of the Donner Party (1996)
- King, Joseph A. Winter of Entrapment; A New Look at the Donner Party (1982)
- McLaughlin, Mark. The Donner Party: Weathering the Storm (2007)
- McLaughlin, Mark. "Charlie Stanton: Unsung Hero of the Donner Party" (Dec. 2021), YourTahoeGuide.com.
- Hardesty, Donald L. The Archaeology of the Donner Party (1997).
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Comments
This was a very interesting read! Thank you!
Of all the pairings I have tried over the years with my pipes, there is one I have meaningfully avoided. Thanks for this excellent article!
A very interesting article- while I have enjoyed reading most of Chuck Stanion’s articles, this one was particularly interesting!
Thank you so much. I really found this interesting read!
Awesome read!
I have traveled that route from Sacramento to Salt Lake quite a few times. The Sierra's are impressive. It's understandable why they had so much trouble. Last time through I stopped to get gas in Donner's pass. It cost me an arm and a leg.
What type of tobacco would they most likely have been smoking ?
I’m curious about this, too. Bright, flue-cured tobacco was first created by accident in the 1830s, but I believe it was first produced in quantity a few years after these events. My guess is that the party was carrying Burley in a twist or rope form that traveled well and could be chewed or smoked. Others may have a better idea.
Very interesting article. Unfortunate people, but at least they had their pipes and tobacco for a little confort.
I’ve been starving for articles like this! It really hit the spot, I devoured the content. Hungry for more!
Great read!! I also wonder what tobacco they had?
Excellent historical account. Always heard about the Donner Party, and cannibalism, but never got the full story. Rode through Donner Pass by rail some time ago.
Interesting that the "evil tobacco weed" helped them to survive. Different from what we are supposed to know. Think I will keep smoking my pipe!
Very interesting and informative. I was aware of this story but had no idea that the party originated in Springfield, Illinois…my home town. Thank you for this well written and historical account. JB
Chuck, another well-researched article. Unbelievably informative. I have stood on The Oregon Trail at Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska. The information center noted that they buried the dead in the ruts so the packing from the wheels prevented the varmints from digging up the corpses. I have also seen Chimney Rock. When the Mormons saw Chimney Rock, the knew they were halfway there.
Keep up up the great work!
Great story! I didn’t know about the pipe connection to the Donner Party.
Very good article! Interesting to note that one of the main things they relied on for comfort is the very thing that’s deemed to be so detrimental to us today. Keep on smoking brothers and sisters!
Anyone else find it interesting that the warning labels are plastered all over tobacco tins, yet my sister’s legal Mary Jane has none of it?
Over the years as I come across stories of people or individuals facing nearly unbearable conditions, fighting against all odds, powered only by their will to survive, I ask myself, "What would I have done in that situation?" I like to think I would be the hero and save all. Then I think deeply about it and I'm haunted with the thought that I could be the opposite of a brave hero.
Great read Chuck.
Similar thoughts. Most of us will never know, thankfully, how we would behave in similar straits.
Fascinating article! If you disagree, eat me!
Great article. One interesting point is that the party twice was forced to abandon much-needed supplies, yet kept their tobacco in both instances.