These stories describe a group of travelers starving over the long winter months. Low on ammunition, the members of the party wouldn’t have had the strength to go hunting anyway.Īrchaeologists also took another look at some of the stories that have long been passed down through the history of a local Native American tribe, the Wel Mel Ti. Among the bones that were found at the site were rabbits and deer, but according to all the firsthand accounts of the Donner Party, those animals weren’t eaten by the travelers. What they found was pretty incredible: Members of the Donner Party hadn’t been alone-other people had tried to help them.
The general location of the camp at Alder Creek was long known, but it was only in 2012 that archaeologists found the exact site of the party’s camp. For decades, it was a bit of a mystery just where the Donner Party’s final camp was. The Donner Party is perhaps the most well-known chapter of the Oregon Trail, and it’s one that hasn’t been completely written yet. 10Wel Mel Ti Tried To Help The Donner Party But the game truly only scraped the surface of the fascinating stories that were forged on the real Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail was written by history teachers looking for a new way to get their students interested in learning about the country’s history. Not literally, of course, but figuratively: It was one of the most successful computer games from the early age of computers.
If you’re of a certain age, part of your childhood was spent on the Oregon Trail.