Daniel James Brown

They were perceived as having a good deal more money than the rest of the party.

And sort of holding themselves above the rest of the party.

They were in a kind of airstream, yes.

Yes.

So along the trail, some of them were undecided whether to go to Oregon or to California.

I see.

And sort of infamously, they came across this character named Wansford Hastings.

Wansford Hastings had written up one of these pamphlets that people had been reading back east called The Immigrant's Guide to Oregon and California.

In that pamphlet, Lancard Hastings had talked about this, what was theoretical cutoff that would take people directly down to California rather than going up to Fort Hall in Idaho, a much longer route.

from which one could go either to Oregon or to California.

But Glensford Hastings had an ulterior motive.

He had made a deal with John Sutter.

John Sutter was this Swiss immigrant who had established a little sort of kingdom in the Sacramento Valley.

And they had agreed to create a sort of real estate development, if you would, where they would sell land to these immigrants who came to California.

So Lansford Hastings, having published his book, realized that he didn't want people going to Oregon.

He needed people to turn south and head for California.

Wow.

And as the Donner Party was traveling westward, many of them had read Hastings' book.

But they came on, I think it was July 11th, they came across a character named Wales Bonney, who was carrying an open letter

from Lansford Hastings, saying, it's great, I've got this cutoff.