Educational Films about U.S. History (Part 11 - The Donner Party)

Trail of Tragedy: The Excavation of the Donner Party Site
AVA19387VNB1 - 1994

For many years a plaque has marked the spot where the donner party presumably spent their tragic winter of 1846-47 trapped by the heavy snows of the Sierra Nevada. The Tahoe National Forest working with archaeology students from the university of Nevada.

Producer: Department of Agriculture, United States Forest Service,
Tahoe National Forest

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

DOWNLOAD (Divx as multi-part rar-file, 28:45)
Part 1 (95 MB)
Part 2 (95 MB)
Part 3 (95 MB)
Part 4 (55 MB) 

NOTE: You'll need a program like WinZip, WinRar or similar to extract/combine parts.

Public Domain (and downloadable) Literature:

Houghton, Eliza P (Donner),

The Expedition of the Donner party and its Tragic Fate (1911)

(PDF, 53.4 MB)

 

McGlashan, C. F. (Charles Fayette),

History of the Donner party: a Tragedy of the Sierra (1902)

(PDF, 32.8 MB)

The Location of Site of Breen Cabin; General C.F. McGlashan, Donner Party Historian, declares present pioneer monument covers exact spot where hut stood. Array of interesting facts presented relating to early investigation of sites of various cabins occupied by members of ill-fated pioneer party (1920) (PDF, 2.6 MB) 

The fate of the Donner Party was also dramatised for Episode #09
of the 1935 radio series "Frontier Fighters" -
DOWNLOAD THAT EPISODE (32 kbps mp3, 3.26 MB, 14:14)
or download and listen to the complete series  
(134.2 MB zip-file) at archive.org.


"Insight", KXJZ, Sacramento, CA, October 30, 2006


"Insight", KXJZ, Sacramento, CA, March 24, 2008

Patrick Breen's diary, in its entirety, at the Academy of Pacific Coast History

Daily Diary of the Donner Party (from primary sources), compiled by Daniel M. Rosen

PBS American Experience - watch online