In 1846, the Donner Party crossed the Great Salt Lake Desert on a shortcut they believed would save them valuable time. Instead, the crossing would cost them wagons, cattle, supplies—and precious weeks as winter approached.
In this video, we travel west across Utah on Interstate 80 through the landscape once crossed by the Donner-Reed Party as they followed the controversial Hastings Cutoff toward California.
Promoted by Lansford Hastings as a shorter route west, the Hastings Cutoff led the emigrants through the Wasatch Mountains and onto the vast, waterless Great Salt Lake Desert, known today for the Bonneville Salt Flats.
The crossing proved far more difficult than expected. Cattle weakened and disappeared, wagons became bogged down, possessions were abandoned, and exhausted families struggled toward water near Pilot Peak.
Today, Interstate 80 crosses this landscape in little more than an hour. In 1846, crossing it took days.
The Donner Party survived the Great Salt Lake Desert, but the shortcut that was supposed to save them time had instead helped make them dangerously late.
And ahead of them stood the Sierra Nevada—and the approaching winter of 1846.
This video combines modern footage of the Great Salt Lake Desert with historical recreations showing how this remarkable landscape may have appeared to the emigrants traveling west nearly 180 years ago.
▶ Watch my video about the Van Ornum Wagon Train Massacre: https://youtu.be/C7H99StxjTU
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Until next time, keep your wheels rolling.
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