Salt & Snow: Lansford W. Hastings, The Donner Party, and the Haste to Blame Donner Party 500 people who's homeland stretched

500 people who's homeland stretched from Mono Lake in the South to Honey Lake in the North the Washoe were reduced to only 500 people in 1866 with no land to call their own

Two subjects continue to fascinate people—the Old West and a good mystery

The hikes circle the lake

the Reed children

and gratitude

Salt & Snow: Lansford W. Hastings, The Donner Party, and the Haste to Blame Donner Party 500 people who's homeland stretchedSalt and Snow follows promoter and expansionist Lansford Hastings, author of the Emigrants Guide to Oregon and California, and his role in the opening of a new wagon route in 1846. His demanding cutoff started from Fort Bridger to the southern end of the Great Salt Lake, then west across the Salt Desert. The narrative also follows the Donner Party wagon train and the choices they made before, during, and after their unwise decision to take Hastings