Sounds great, right? In the Spring of 1865, the Plains tribes again became very troublesome and raided the stage line almost from end to end. A large, well equipped wagon train rolled toward California in 1846. Cooper Smith: We're just giving you moral support. Twenty-two people, consisting of the Donner family and their hired men, stayed behind while the wagon was repaired. Tensions continued to mount as more and more people headed West, though, and on August 19, 1854, one hotheaded idiot kick-started a 22-year war. Cholera was the main scourge of the trail. Hide hunters, hunters who kill buffalo for their hides only, have temporarily joined up with the wagon train. The originator of this group was a man named James Frasier Reed, an Illinois businessman, eager to build a greater fortune in the rich land of California. In nine brand new wagons, the group estimated the trip would take four months to cross the plains, deserts, mountain ranges and rivers in their quest for California. Caching their provisions in Bear Valley, they returned to Sutters fort hoping to recruit more men and supplies for the rescue. On their eighty mile journey through the Salt Lake Desert, they had lost a total of thirty-two oxen; Reed was forced to abandon two of his wagons, and the Donners, as well as man named Louis Keseberg, lost one wagon each. During 1863-65 the Sioux, Arapaho, and Cheyenne were all upon the warpath. Also dumped? Twelve of the emigrants were dead and of the forty-eight remaining, many had gone crazy or were barely clinging to life. This custom of guarding coaches by soldiers along the Overland Trail was inaugurated during the Sioux uprising of 1863. The story of the Donner tragedy quickly spread across the country. Beside the driver, named Frank Williams, sat one of the robbers, thoroughly disguised. On March 1stthe second relief party finally arrived at the lake, finding grisly evidence of cannibalism. Two men and all the women got through to the Sacramento Valley. On December 16 a party of 10 men and 5 women set out to cross the mountains on improvised snowshoes. The letter ended up in the hands of Fort Bridger's founders, owners, and the people who stood to gain the most if thousands of settlers started passing through their trading post, so you can probably guess what happened next. Let's talk about why, in the least gross way possible. "Tragedy at Mountain Meadows takes . Two men who had joined the party at the lake also died. The troopers charged twice, killing and wounding more than a hundred Indians, but the chief escaped, and, when the soldiers finally captured the village, they found there the body of Mrs. White, yet warm, with three arrows in her breast. Continuing to encounter multiple obstacles, on October 16th,they reached the gateway to the Sierra Nevada on the Truckee River (present-day Reno) almost completely depleted of food supplies. At last, we were all in the wagons. The Donner party stranded in the Sierra Nevada Range, 1847. The Denver Post reports the plan was simple: British and Scandinavian converts who were too poor to buy wagons would load all their worldly possessions onto a handcart, push them across the U.S., and make the journey in only 60 days. Soldiers were used to guarding the stagecoaches, yet attacks were frequent, and the loss in property and lives was large. On August 30, after gathering as much water and grass as they could carry, they entered the Great Salt Lake Desert.

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