Salt and Snow: Lansford W. Hastings, the Donner Party and the Haste to Blame For Sale

Salt & Snowdiscuses promoter and expansionist Lansford Hastings\' role regarding his new wagon route to California. His demanding cutoff started from Fort Bridger to the southern end of the Great Salt Lake, then west across the Salt Desert. The narrative follows the Donner Party wagon train and the choices they made before, during, and after their unwise decision to take Hastings\' new cutoff. Lansford Hastings and his association with the Donner Party has been unfairly criticized for decades as the cause of the Donner Party\'s catastrophe. However, this book defends Hastings and debunks many myths about him laying to rest his alleged ambitions and ensuing blame. The poor decisions and resulting catastrophe that engulphed the Donner Party was headed by their de facto leader James Reed. Because of their gambles and loss of time, they were eventually trapped in the snowy hold of the Sierra Nevada mountains during the winter of 1846-47. This led to their last resort to survive: cannibalism.