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A segment of the wagon train headed to California in 1846. They had been enticed by young promoter Lansford W. Hastings, who advertised a new and faster route to California (which he only tested once with a horse; it turned out not only more dangerous but 125 miles longer than the charted route). The twenty wagons of the Donner Party left the regular route in early July and headed for Fort Bridger, the first stop on the shortcut. Beginning on the shortcut in late July, they at first made good time but soon found that the trail over the Wasatch Mountains was almost impassible. Instead of only a week, the trip over the steep Wasatch to the Great Salt Lake took a whole month. Next, the journey over the Great Salt Desert took nearly six days instead of two. The shortcut rejoined the established trail two months after they had embarked on it. By late October, they reached the Sierras but an early winter storm blocked the pass. The travelers were trapped, only 150 miles from the safety of Sutter's Fort. Trapped in the mountains from November until April, two thirds of the men died as did a third of the women and children. Desperation drove most of the Donner Party to eat the dead. A group of fifteen of the strongest immigrants (nine men, five women, and a boy of twelve) and two Indian guides set off to find help in mid-December, but when they found help in mid-January only two of the men (both married with children) were alive; all five women survived.

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