@historybytheslice: The Donner Party is remembered for cannibalism, but the thing that killed them was a shortcut. Lansford Hastings promoted a route across the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert as a faster way to California — he had published the guide before ever taking a wagon over it. The delays cost the party several weeks, and early snow closed the Sierra Nevada. Around half of the 87 died. Survival tracked family size more than physical strength. Follow for the history that got left out. ❄️ #donnerparty #USHistory #survival #westernhistory #History Scholarly source Ethan Rarick, Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West (Oxford University Press, 2008).