Sierra Speaker Series: Lansford Hastings and His Association with the Donner Party: A Reappraisal

In partnership with California State Parks and the Nevada County Library, the monthly Sierra Speaker Series connects folks to the rich cultural and natural history of the area. Join us at Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center to learn and engage! Doors open at 4:30 pm, and the presentation is to follow at 5 pm. Admission is a suggested $5 donation. Light refreshments will be available. Parking is free after 5 pm. No registration required.

Most everyone is familiar with the Donner Party story. They were a group of several families heading to California in 1846 looking for new opportunities, but due to lost time and a variety of poor decisions, they became snowbound in the Sierra. The guidebook they possessed and largely ignored was written by western promoter Lansford Hastings who has become entangled in their spectral and physical association with him. A convenient target for their disaster, authors and historians continue to wrongfully brand Hastings as an oily-tongued charlatan. It is time to consider the reappraisal of a man who has been unfairly characterized for far too long.

Eugene Hart grew up in Indiana where his love of history began early when he excavated an old wagon sunk in a bog. In high school, he became hooked on the Donner Party saga and excitement of the California Gold Rush. He spent his thirty-seven-year career teaching eighth-grade U.S. history. He is the author of A Guide to the California Gold Rush, and his second book, Salt & Snow, was recently reviewed in Overland Journal. He continues expanding his ever-present interest in nineteenth-century American history with his son Rylan and German Shorthair Tamsen.