Donner Crossing

In September 1846, and running weeks behind schedule, the Donner-Reed Party chose to bypass the California Trail several hundred miles to the north and attempt a new route across the Great Salt Lake Desert. Miscalculations of time and distance resulted in the party running out of water only partially across the desert. As the situation worsened, many members abandoned wagons, supplies and animals to make it across alive only to face even more difficulty weeks later in the Sierra Mountains. Many of the party’s belongings were retrieved years ago and placed in Grantsville’s Donner-Reed Museum. Recently, the California Trail Association installed markers throughout the county to mark the trail taken by the Donner-Reed Party and others that followed on the Hastings Trail. The first marker is located in Lake Point and the rest proceed west through Stansbury Park, Burmester, Timpie, etc. The adjacent map shows the route the Donner-Reed Party took. Also included on this page are artifacts from the Donner-Reed Museum.

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