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The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward emigrants to travel to California, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California. [2] The ill-fated Donner Party infamously took the route in 1846.
Map of the route taken by the Donner Party, showing the Hastings Cutoff—which added 150 miles (240 km) to their travels—in orange. On July 20, at the Little Sandy River, most of the wagon train opted to follow the established trail via Fort Hall. A smaller group opted to head for Fort Bridger and needed a leader.
Lansford Warren Hastings (1819–1870) was an American explorer and Confederate soldier. He is best remembered as the developer of Hastings Cutoff, a claimed shortcut to California across what is now the state of Utah, a factor in the ill-fated Donner Party of 1846. He was a Major in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
The Donner Party stays four days to rest their oxen and make repairs. July 31, 1846: James Reed writes "Hastings Cutoff is said to be a saving of 350 or 400 miles (640 km) and a better route. The rest of the Californians went the long route, feeling afraid of Hastings' cutoff.
While camped in Wyoming, the Reeds, Donners, and several other families decided to split off from the main trail and take a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which had been advertised as a shortcut across the Great Basin. They elected George Donner captain, creating the Donner Party, and separated from the other emigrants on July 20. The ...
Raleigh writer Alice Osborn has released a CD inspired entirely by the Donner Party’s journey, each of its 13 songs narrated by a real-life character. She called her collection “Skirts in the ...
The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party had been slowed by following a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which crossed the Rocky Mountains' Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake Desert in present-day Utah. They lost many cattle and wagons in the rugged terrain, and divisions formed within the group.
However, the Donner Party pioneers had provided a sobering lesson after mis-scheduling the overland trip to California in 1846–47. Those pioneers had started late and elected to follow the Hastings Cutoff, a new route which slowed the group, and they reached the Sierra Nevada late in fall 1846. There, a storm trapped them in the mountains ...