because he was whipping the oxen. Everyone was going mad. Indians killed 21 more oxen and then the Donner axle broke on the first wagon. To make things worse, they encountered blizzard like snow and sleet. If they had rested 4 days instead of 5 they would have made it through to California safely without having to deal with any of the conditions mentioned above. It turns out that Hastings “shortcut” was actually 125 miles longer than the longer safer route. Each of the circumstances that they dealt with could have been easily avoided by taking the longer route that had been traveled on many times before. Unfortunately, many people died and suffered because of key elements like weather and misjudgments. The lesson learned from this tragedy is, “never take no cut offs and hurry along as fast as you can.” ...
