__NOTOC__ Expédition Donner (Donner Party en anglais) est le nom donné à un groupe de colons américains en route pour la Californie, pendant les années 1840 de la "fièvre de l'ouest". Après s'être trouvés bloqués par la neige dans la Sierra Nevada au cours de l'hiver 1846-1847, quelques colons en vinrent au cannibalisme, bien que cet aspect de la tragédie fut par la suite grandement exagéré.

Le noyau de l'expédition était composé des familles Donner et Reed, 31 personnes en tout, qui quittèrent Springfield, Illinois en avril 1846, pour la Californie. Ils arrivèrent à Independence, Missouri en mai, rejoignirent là un plus grand train de chariots, qu'ils accompagnèrent jusqu'à la Little Sandy River, dans ce qui est maintenant le Wyoming. À ce point, le groupe se sépara, certains dont l'expédition Donner décidant de suivre une nouvelle route, appelée le "raccourci Hastings" d'après son défricheur, Lansford Hastings, et un nouveau train fut formé. C'est là que George Donner fut élu comme chef de l'expédition qui portera alors son nom.

Le groupe continua sa route vers l'ouest, rencontrant énormément de difficultés lors de la traversée des Wasatch et du désert du Grand Lac Salé. Quand ils retrouvèrent finalement la piste vers la Californie, ce "raccourci" leur avait fait perdre trois semaines, retard qui augmenta encore lors du difficile parcours le long de la rivière Humboldt, dans le Nevada.

When they reached the Sierra Nevada, a snow storm blocked the pass. Demoralized and low on supplies, about two thirds of the emigrants camped at a lake (now called Donner Lake), while the Donner families and a few others camped about six miles (ten kilometers) away, at Alder Creek.

The emigrants slaughtered their oxen, but there was not enough meat to feed so many for long. In mid-December, fifteen of the trapped emigrants, later known as the Forlorn Hope, set out on snowshoes for Sutter's Fort, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, to seek help. When one man gave out and had to be left behind the others continued, but soon became lost and ran out of food. Caught without shelter in a raging blizzard, four more of the party died. The survivors resorted to cannibalism. Three more died and were eaten before finally, nearly naked and close to death, seven of the original fifteen snowshoers reached safety on the western side of the mountains on January 18, 1847.

Californians rallied to save the Donner Party and equipped a total of four rescue parties, or "reliefs." When the First Relief arrived, they found that 14 of the emigrants had died and the rest were extremely weak. Most had no meat left and had been surviving on boiled ox hide, but there had been no cannibalism. The First Relief set out with 21 refugees on February 22. By the time the Second Relief arrived a week later, they found that some of the 31 emigrants left behind at the camps had begun to eat the dead. The Second Relief took 17 emigrants with them, the Third Relief 4. By the time the Fourth Relief arrived, only one man was found alive. The last member of the Donner Party arrived at Sutter's Fort on April 29.

Of the original 87 pioneers, 41 died and 46 survived.

Donner Memorial State Park, near the eastern shore of Donner Lake, commemorates the disaster; the area where the Donner families camped at Alder Creek has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

See also

References

Notes

Liens externes

• New Light on the Donner Party, by Donner Party historian Kristin Johnson, features biographical information, a chronology, primary documents, and more.
• The Donner Party, a website by Dan Rosen, features a comprehensive chronology of the disaster and much additional material.
• The diary kept during the period 20 novembre 1846 – 1847, by Patrick Breen, one of the travelers, is available in hypertexte as well as color scans of the pages, at the Online Archive of California website and at New Light on the Donner Party.
• The trail diary kept by Hiram O. Miller and James F. Reed between April and October 1846 is available online, as are the diaries kept by members of the First Relief (rescue party), Second Relief, and Fourth Relief.
• Donner Party Bulletin No. 15 (Janvier 2006) is a first-person report on the presentation at the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference and rebuts media distortions about cannibalism at Alder Creek.

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