Of the nearly 90 people making up the Donner Party, up to 21 people were eaten by the starving travelers with approximately 45 surviving and make it to California.
[Foreword] In April of 1846, a group of California bound emigrants, known as the Donner Party, left Independence Missouri and began the long journey west. Along the trail, William Hastings convinced them to follow his new route through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, promising shorter passage to Sutter Fort in California.