1847年2月19日，首批援救者找到了幸存的唐纳组织成员。这些来自加州移民组织的人们被大雪困在了内华达山脉长达数月。最终89人的团队中，仅有45人实现了他们的“西行梦”。
On this day in 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
1847年的今天，首批援救者找到了幸存的唐纳组织成员。这些来自加州移民组织的人们被大雪困在了内华达山脉。
In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever sweeping the United States, 89 people--including 31 members of the Donner and Reed families--set out in a wagon train from Springfield, Illinois. After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to avoid the usual route and try a new trail recently blazed by California promoter Lansford Hastings, the so-called "Hastings Cutoff." After electing George Donner as their captain, the party departed Fort Bridger in mid-July. The shortcut was nothing of the sort: It set the Donner Party back nearly three weeks and cost them much-needed supplies. After suffering great hardships in the Wasatch Mountains, the Great Salt Lake Desert and along the Humboldt River, they finally reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains in early October. Despite the lateness of the season, the emigrants continued to press on, and on October 28 they camped at Truckee Lake, located in the high mountains 21 kilometers northwest of Lake Tahoe. Overnight, an early winter storm blanketed the ground with snow, blocking the mountain pass and trapping the Donner Party.
1846年夏天，西行热席卷美国。在这一热潮中，一个89人团队——包括31个来自唐纳、里德家族的成员——驾驶着一列马车队，从伊利诺伊州的斯普林菲尔德出发了。到达怀俄明州的布里杰堡后，移民们决定不走人们通常所走的路线，而是尝试一条由加州赞助商兰斯福德·黑斯廷斯大力推荐的新路线，这条路线被称作“黑斯廷斯捷径”。他们选举乔治·唐纳作为领队，于七月中旬离开了布里杰堡。然而这条“捷径”和想象中大不相同：它害唐纳组织延误了近三周时间，还让他们多耗费了很多急需物资。在忍受着巨大的困难经过瓦萨奇山脉、大盐湖沙漠和洪堡河沿岸后，他们终于在十月上旬到达了内华达山脉。尽管气候对西行来说已经迟了，这些移民仍然选择了继续前进。10月18日，他们在距离太浩湖西北方向21公里山头上的特拉基湖边安营扎寨。夜里，一场早冬暴风雪覆盖了整个大地，阻断了通往山里的路。唐纳组织被困住了。
Most of the group stayed near the lake--now known as Donner Lake--while the Donner family and others made camp six miles away at Alder Creek. Building makeshift tents out of their wagons and killing their oxen for food, they hoped for a thaw that never came. Fifteen of the stronger emigrants, later known as the Forlorn Hope, set out west on snowshoes for Sutter's Fort near San Francisco on December 16. Three weeks later, after harsh weather and lack of supplies killed several of the expedition and forced the others to resort to cannibalism, seven survivors reached a Native American village.
大多数组员呆在了这个如今被称为“唐纳湖”的湖边。唐纳家族和另一些人则在距离奥尔德冲沟（Alder Creek）六英里的地方搭起了帐篷。他们从马车上找来任何可以用的材料搭帐篷，并杀了牛充饥。他们期盼着冰雪融化，但希望一再落空。12月16日，十五名身体较强壮的移民，开始穿着雪鞋向靠近旧金山的萨特堡西行。这些人被后人称为"敢死队"。三周后，恶劣的天气和紧缺的物资已使数名探险队成员丧生，其他人被迫自相残杀以求生存。最后七名生还者到达了一个美国原住民村落。
News of the stranded Donner Party traveled fast to Sutter's Fort, and a rescue party set out on January 31. Arriving at Donner Lake 20 days later, they found the camp completely snowbound and the surviving emigrants delirious with relief at their arrival. Rescuers fed the starving group as well as they could and then began evacuating them. Three more rescue parties arrived to help, but the return to Sutter's Fort proved equally harrowing, and the last survivors didn't reach safety until late April. Of the 89 original members of the Donner Party, only 45 reached California.
唐纳组织被困的消息迅速传到了萨特堡。1月31日，一个救援团队出发了。二十天后当他们到达唐纳湖时，他们发现帐篷已经完全被雪埋没。幸存的移民们因为他们的到来而狂喜。援救者尽其所能给这群饿坏了的人提供食物，接着便开始将他们转移出危险地带。三个救援团队陆续抵达，然而回萨特堡的旅程同样艰难，直到四月底，那些最后的幸存者才真正安全。在最初出发的89个唐纳组织成员中，仅有45人最终到达了加州。
