Daniel James Brown

So as they turn southwest, they come to the Wasatch Mountains in Utah.

And this is really where things start to go terribly wrong for them.

This was the route that Lancerd Hastings had proposed to them.

When they get there, they find a note fluttering on a bush from Lansford Hastings, who had met a previous group and tried to lead them through the mountains.

Hastings' note says, the road ahead is not good.

Wait here or send somebody ahead to meet me.

So James Reed goes ahead, makes it through the Wasatch Mountains.

The Wasatch Mountains are this dense jumble of boulders and scrub oaks and just extremely difficult terrain.

James Reed makes it over the mountains to the Salt Lake Valley, finds lands for Hastings.

Hastings only agrees to go partway back with him to show a better route.

So they ride up to the top of the mountains.

Hastings sort of waves at some canyons to one side and say, try that route there, and then disappears back to guide the party he has ahead of them across the salt flats.

So what is now the Donner Party, as you say, it's full complement of 87 people now.

They spent days trying to hack their way up through this canyon in the Wasatch Mountains.

Just almost completely impenetrable.

They're having to cut

oak trees down and roll boulders out of the way.

And it takes them days just to get finally to the summit of the Los Angeles Mountains.

So it delays them terribly.

It was literally a fluttering on a bush.