did the donner party cross the salt flats in utah?

Their twelve-year-old daughter Virginia wrote in her diary:

James and Margaret Reed were very sad to leave their friends behind. Reed also stocked two support wagons with fine food and liquor.Īlthough the Reeds were anxious to begin a new life in California, the departure from Illinois, leaving friends they had made there, was difficult. Eight oxen were required to pull the luxurious wagon, and its sheer size was a hindrance when the trail got rough. Dubbed the Palace Car by their fellow travelers, it was by all accounts the largest and fanciest vehicle anyone had built for westward migration. He outfitted their main wagon with an iron stove, spring-cushioned seats and bunks for sleeping. To make the trip as easy as possible for Margaret, who suffered from terrible headaches, James Reed built a two-story wagon. Reed had made a fine life for himself and his family in Illinois as a farmer and businessman, but in 1846 James and Margaret Reed caught California Fever. Born in Ireland, he came to the United States as a young boy with his widowed mother. James Frazier Reed was one of the organizers of the wagon train that would become known as the Donner Party. This is more the story of the Reeds than the Donners because the Reeds left diaries and letters about that tragic journey. An early snowstorm trapped the travelers in the treacherous passes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1846, Margaret Reed and husband James left Illinois on their way to the promised land of California, where they hoped to begin a new life, but their migration did not go smoothly.

Did the donner party cross the salt flats in utah?