Includes bibliographical references (page 494).

Presents a story of terrible hardship and awesome courage - a story that aims to increase our understanding of what kind of people made this nation and what a full and immeasurable price they paid.

In 1846 several hundred wagons set out from Independence, Missouri, to follow the California Trail. One group, the Donner Party, braver or more foolhardy than the rest, chose an untried route that would shorten the distance. It did. It also subjected them to obstacles so formidable that it cost many of them their lives. Yet it preserved their names and the story of their travail down through history-crowded years.