The Donner Party Turns Deadly
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
August 4, 1846. A few months into their journey from Illinois to California, a group of pioneers encounters trouble. They’ve just found a note from their guide. It essentially says, “That shortcut I told you to take through the Wasatch Mountains – don’t.” The setback disastrously delays their trip. Weeks later, when they reach the Sierra Nevada, it’s dangerously late in the season. Soon, a winter storm traps them in the mountains. What did they have to do to survive? And what’s the truth behind the legendary Donner Party?
Special thanks to our guest: Daniel James Brown, author of The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | History this week, August 4, 1846. |
| 0:13.2 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 0:16.3 | Landsford Hastings feels like he should probably leave a note. |
| 0:22.4 | After all, he is the guy who has published a book called The Immigrants Guide to Oregon |
| 0:28.2 | and California, promising to guide immigrants to Oregon and California. |
| 0:34.9 | He spoke of green fields, fantastic farming and easy living. |
| 0:39.8 | He wrote about unexhausted and inexhaustible resources. |
| 0:44.6 | And whole families in places like Missouri and Illinois have picked up their lives |
| 0:50.1 | and packed up their wagons and followed his advice. |
| 0:54.4 | Hastings in his book describes a shortcut, a quicker way to California. |
| 1:02.8 | You can cut hundreds of miles by going through parts of what is now Utah. |
| 1:07.7 | But, although he points people towards the shortcut in his book, |
| 1:11.8 | and although it looks clear enough on a map, this is his first time actually testing it. |
| 1:19.3 | And what Landsford Hastings has found is not good. |
| 1:25.8 | The road through the canyon ahead of him is terrible. |
| 1:29.3 | There are boulders and ledges and dead ends. |
| 1:32.2 | The wagons can barely make any headway. |
| 1:34.9 | So he loops back to issue a warning to anyone following behind. |
| 1:40.0 | He scribbles down a note. |
| 1:43.3 | Actually, don't go this way. |
| 1:45.9 | Send a messenger forward to meet me and I'll show you something better. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.