The Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train, 1846-47 [Paperback]

Frank Mullen Jr. (Author), Marilyn Newton (Photographer), Rollan Melton (Preface), Will Bagley (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Halcyon | Publication Date: January 1997

A commemorative volume published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Donner Party's travels across the continent.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

The Donner Party has become a tragic icon of the American march west. From Independence, Missouri to Sutter's Fort, California, the party endured almost unimaginable hardship and suffering. Author Frank Mullen Jr. gives us a day-by-day account of their struggle for survival as they journey across the trail. Profusely illustrated with Marilyn Newton's color photography.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Nevada Humanities Committee; 1 edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890591017
• ISBN-13: 978-1890591014
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the Donner Party book I've been looking for!, May 4, 2000

By 

Lisa Ebeling "laa-laa" (smalltown, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train, 1846-47 (Paperback)

The full-color, glossy photographs of major landmarks and points of interest along the Emigrant Trail from Springfield, MO to Johnson's Ranch in Bear Valley are stunning. The color photos, all taken by Marilyn Newton, are grouped together in the beginning of the book, comprising 20 slick pages of almost 50 photos. It's hard to believe that wagon ruts from over 150 years ago still exist in places; happily, our continuous farming, building and paving haven't obliterated all traces of the route that so many people rode--and walked--in order to reach California.

Portraits, maps, drawings and sketches from the period are interspersed with sepia-toned contemporary photographs, some taken by Newton and some by other photographers, and appear on every page of the book. "The Donner Party Chronicles" is visually rich and stimulating. The area around Donner Lake and the route the relief parties followed are depicted in all seasons of the year. Even in black-and-white, the photos of Donner Lake and the surrounding mountains demonstrate the ruggedness of the terrain and deeply impress upon the reader the hopelessness the members of the Donner Party must have felt upon being snowed-in at the lake.

The book reads like a journal that would have been kept by one of the emigrants traveling with the Donner Party. The text is reprinted from installments journalist Frank Mullen, Jr. published in the weekly newspaper "The Reno Gazette-Journal" over the course of an entire year. The daily routine followed, problems encountered, and decisions made by the Donner Party are chronicled in a concise manner. The entries are short, most three or four paragraphs in length.

One very interesting feature of "The Donner Party Chronicles" is the map of the Emigrant Trail that appears on every left-hand page of the book, with the progress of the doomed emigrants clearly marked with a red dot. As you read along through the book, you see on every other page exactly where the emigrants were as the day's events took place. I found this map extremely helpful and fascinating. Watching the movement of the Donner Party as they traveled on foot at the pace of slow, plodding oxen made me better able to understand how great an undertaking their overland journey was. I shared this book with my husband, my Dad and my father-in-law, and they enjoyed it almost as much as I did!

This book is well worth the price, for the interesting text as well as the terrific photos; you can easily find what you're looking for in the pages, as each page is dated and the day's entry fairly short.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book that's a gripping read - an excellent gift, May 5, 2001

By 

Karl Ahlrichs (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train, 1846-47 (Paperback)

Frank Mullen has added an important book to the history of Donner Party. The tragedy has been the focus of writing since the spring of 1847, but Mullen has found a fresh way to make the story understandable and, perhaps more importantly, human.

The book is a daily chronolgy of the year that it took the party to travel from Illinois to California, and each two-page spread of this large book is carefully laid out and presents a mix of graphics and text. It is rewarding if read straight through, yet very accessible if your reading style is more "grazing" than linear.

Mullen clearly has done his homework. The sheer volume of detail and complexity in the story can be overwhelming, and Mullen includes the details that are needed to clarify and develop the people in the story. He includes wonderful quotes from diaries and supporting material, and drawings of interesting side issues such as an analysis of the probable shape of the "Pioneer Palace Car." Additionally, Marilyn Newton's photographs of the trail as seen today make it real for a modern reader.

When I have given this book as a gift to anyone with an interest in American History, it has been very well received. A truly great book.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best All-Around Book on the Donner Party Since Ordeal, March 20, 1999

By 

[e-mail] or Frankye Craig (Reno, Nevada USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train, 1846-47 (Paperback)

The strong point of the book is the day by day account of the Donner Party's journey. Mullen writes as if he were actually on the trail with the party, and the reader has that same sense of being there. Mullen's writing style makes this book the best Donner Party telling since George Stewart's Ordeal By Hunger.