Skip to main content

Deep Dive: The Donner Party (1992)

Play Trailer

Film Lens

The Donner Party
The Donner Party is a documentary that recounts the tragic story of a pioneer group traveling from Springfield, Illinois to Sutter's Fort, California in 1846. The film details their ill-fated decision to take a shortcut across the Great Basin, which led to severe delays and ultimately a harrowing winter in the Sierra Nevada. Narrated by David McCullough, the film uses archival materials such as letters, photographs, and diaries from the members of the Donner Party, alongside new footage of the trail they traveled. The documentary presents the dire circumstances faced by the group, who became trapped for five months due to an early blizzard, resulting in death and cannibalism. Of the original 87 members, only 46 survived to reach California. The film premiered at the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival in May 1992 and later aired on PBS as part of the American Experience program in October 1992.

Why Watch

  • •See David McCullough narrate a gripping historical tale.
  • •Find out about the disastrous shortcut taken by the Donner Party.
  • •Meet experts like Harold Schindler discussing the event.

Did You Know

•The Donner Party traveled 2500 miles from Illinois to California.
•Only 46 out of 87 members of the Donner Party survived.
•The group was trapped in the Sierra Nevada for five months.
•The film was produced with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Perfect For

American history enthusiastsPioneer survival storiesDocumentary film lovers