From November 20, 1846 to March 1, 1847, Irish immigrant Patrick Breen, a Donner party member, kept a diary of his ordeal in the mountains. Clinging to survival with his wife Margaret and their ...

Tell students that the program they will see, The Donner Party, recounts the tragic story of pioneers who were stranded in a mountain winter just short of their destination. Explain that the ...

On Dec. 26, 1846, some members of the ill-fated Donner Party are believed to have turned to cannibalism in order to survive during a Sierra Nevada snowstorm. The information below originally ...