Donner Party – DBQ



Name: ______________ Period: ____

Directions: Please read the following primary sources and answer the analysis questions that appear after each source. Pay careful attention to the author, title, and date in these documents. Look up any difficult words in the dictionary. You will be required to use this information in an essay.

Document #1 – Westward Routes

We are necessarily driven to this conclusion, when we consider the vast extent of this infant country’s plains and valleys, of unequalled fertility and exuberance; the extraordinary variety and abundance, of its productions, its unheard of uniformity, and salubrity of climate; its unexhausted and inexhaustible resources, as well as its increasing emigration, which is annually swelling its population from hundreds to thousands, and which is destined, at no distant time to revolutionalize the whole commercial, political, and moral aspect of all that highly important and delightful country… From Lansford W. Hastings, Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California. Cincinnati: G Concklin, 1945. Facsimile reprint, Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1994, pg. 134.

What were Hastings’ objectives in publishing his Emigrants’ Guide?

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What words does he use to describe the West? ___________________________________

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Document #2 – Number of Overland Emigrants

|Year |Oregon |California |

|1840 |13 |0 |

|1841 |24 |34 |

|1842 |125 |0 |

|1843 |875 |38 |

|1844 |1475 |53 |

|1845 |2500 |260 |

|1846 |1200 |1500 |

|1847 |4000 |450 |

|1848 |1300 |400 |

|1849 |450 |25000 |

|1850 |6000 |44000 |

Source: End of the Trail Museum, Oregon City, Oregon

What observations can you make about the number of emigrants traveling west during the 1840’s?

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Does the story of the Donner Party affect emigration west? Use data to answer this question.

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Why is there such a jump in 1849-1850? _________________________________________

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Document #3 – “The Hastings Cutoff”

By recent explorations, however, a very good, and much more direct wagon way has been found, about one hundred miles, southward from the great southern pass, which, it will be observed, lies principally through the northern part of California. The California route, from Fort Hall to the Sacramento River, lies through alternate plains, prairies, and valleys, and over hills, amid lofty mountains; thence down the great valley of the Sacramento, to the bay of St. Francisco… The Indians are, in many places, very numerous; yet they are extremely timid, and entirely inoffensive. Wagons can be as readily taken from Fort Hall to the bay of St. Francisco. From Lansford W. Hastings, Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California. Cincinnati: G Concklin, 1945. Facsimile reprint, Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1994, pg. 134.

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If you were thinking about moving west, how would this description & map affect your planning? Compare Hastings’ route to the primary route. Make a list of pros and cons.

|PROS |CONS |

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Document #4 – 1853 Travel Brochure

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Calabro, Marian. The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party. Houghton Mifflin Co. New York, N.Y. 1999.

How would a brochure like this tempt people to “go west, young man”? Describe it in detail.

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Document #5 - Letter

My Dear Cousin, I take this opportunity to write to you to let you know that we are all Well at present and hope this letter may find you all well to. I am going to write to you about our trubels getting to California. We had good luck we come to by Sand thare we lost our best yoak of oexens we come to Brigers Fort & we lost another ox…We had to walk all the time we was a travling up the truckee river…it was raining then in the vallies and snowing the mountains so we went on that way 3 or 4 days till we come to the big mountain or the california Mountain the snow then was about 3 feet deep thare was some wagons thare they said thay had attempted to croos and cound not. Well we thought we’d try it so we started with those wagons the snow was then up to the mules side the farther we went up the deeper the snow got so the wagons could not go…We stoped there in November and staid till March and what we had to eat I cant hardly tell you...we had nothing to eat but ox hides…we had to kill little cash the dog and eat him…you don’t kno what trouble is. (Excerpts from a letter by Virginia Reed, May 16, 1847, as found in George R. Stewart’s, Ordeal by Hunger. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986. Original spelling and grammar have not been corrected!)

What were some of the issues that the Reed family experienced as they embarked on their journey west? (Ignore grammatical issues)

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Document #6: Diary of Patrick Breen during the Winter of 1846-1847.

January 13 – Snowing fast. Snow higher than the shanty. Must be 13 feet deep. It is dreadful to look at. Don’t know how to get wood this morning.

January 15 – Mrs. Murphy is blind. Hoping for some account from the mountaineers soon.

January 17 – Landrum Murphy crazy last night. Provisions scarce.

January 21 – Denton came this morning with Eliza. She won’t eat hides. Mrs. Reed sent her back to live or die on them

January 27 – Mrs. Keseberg here this morning. Son died three days ago. Mr. Keseberg is sick. They don’t have fire enough to cook their hides. Bill and Simon Murphy sick.

January 30 – More troubles. Mr. and Mrs. Graves seized Mrs. Reed’s goods and will hold them until they are paid for goods that Mrs. Reed used. Mrs. Reed has no money. Also took most of the hides that Mrs. Reed and family had to live on. May God send help soon.

February 7 – McCutchens’ kids died five days ago.

Merryman, J.H.” Narrative of the Suffering of a Company of Emigrants in the Mountains of California in the Winter of 1846-1847.” Illinois Journal. (December 9, 1847):1.

What were the main concerns with the Donner Party at this critical point?

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Document # 7: Narrative

Previous to our arrival in the waters of San Francisco, a frightful incident transpired amidst the California mountains, which goes far to surpass an event of the kind heard or seen…it relates to a party of emigrants, whose shocking inhuman cannibalisms and seeings exceed all belief…the number of emigrants were originally eighty; through a culpable combination of ignorance and folly, they loitered many weeks on the route, when upon gaining the sierra, the snows set in, the trails became blocked up and impassable, and they were obliged to encamp for the winter…hunger came upon them, gaunt and terrible, station at last – men, women, and children starved to death, and were eaten by their fellow men, insanity followed.

“Unfortunate Emigrants”: Names of the Donner Party, Logan: Utah State University Press, 1996, pp. 134-135.

What roles to ethics and morals play when you are fighting for your life? How do you judge the Donner Party?

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Document #8: Table of Mortality by Age Group and Gender

|Adults |Children |Total |

|Men |

|Paragraph 2 – Why did people move west? Use at least 3 direct facts, quotes, statistics, & descriptive anecdotes to explain why the West was so attractive to |

|many people. Cite your source! |

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|Paragraph 3 – Discuss the experience of the Donner Party by incorporating the video notes with the relevant documents. Again use at least 3 facts, quotes, |

|statistics, and anecdotes to support your claim. |

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|Paragraph 4 – Wrap it up! Restate your thesis in a new way. Explain the 2 most important qualities you needed to survive the Oregon Trail. |

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