On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reached the surviving members of the Donner party at their snowbound camp in the high Sierra Nevada Mountains. The 89-member wagon train party from Springfield was traveling to California and took what they thought was a shortcut. It delayed them, however, and they were eventually stalled by a winter storm. Fifteen of their stronger members set out for help in mid-December but the first rescue party did not arrive until February 19. Ultimately, only 45 of the 89 people survived.
