Published: October 22, 2009 10:00 pm      

Mike James: Real people, real history:10/23/09

The Donner Party. Even non history buffs feel a shiver up their spine when they hear the name.

The ill-fated wagon train stranded in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the winter of 1846 and 1847, the starving pioneers, the accusations of cannibalism, all are part of the dark side of the winning of the West.

Actually there were several families who headed out over the prairies bound for California, but took an ill-considered shortcut through mountains and desert that slowed their wagons and sapped their strength.

Trapped by the winter snows in the mountains, they hunkered down; bereft of supplies they slowly starved; desperate, some of them did the unthinkable, dining on their erstwhile companions.

But the Donner Party didn’t set out to be a Halloween creepshow and they deserve better, at least the ones who chose hunger over human flesh. And historian Allan W. Eckert has done his part to give them what they deserve — a detailed telling of their story as a pioneer tragedy instead of a horror epic.

Eckert’s account, “Dark Journey, The Tragedy of the Donner Party,” has just been published by the Jesse Stuart Foundation, and Eckert plans a book signing at the foundation in November.

“Dark Journey” is what I like to call history for novel lovers. Not that Eckert made it up. To be sure, he did his homework — between seven and 10 years worth, according to James M. Gifford, senior editor and chief executive officer of the foundation.

However, the book is anything but a dry compendium of facts. With a novelist’s eye, Eckert has woven threads from diaries, journals, memoirs and earlier histories into a compelling narrative.

The result is a fully dimensioned portrait of whole families, real families, beset by circumstances, the elements and their own foibles.

Because some of the diaries and journals are their own, “Dark Journey” reveals their genuine hopes for a new life in the West and their fear spiraling into despair as the harsh trail takes its toll.

“Allan has a way of taking bits and pieces of information he dug up over the years,” Gifford said. “It’s a fascinating book, and what makes it so is that it’s true.”

Eckert is the author of 40 books. The foundation has reissued several that had been out of print, among them the “Winning of America” series, Gifford said. “Dark Journey” is the first new work by Eckert the foundation has published.

Eckert will be at the Jesse Stuart Foundation from 3 to 6 p.m. Nov. 5 and 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 6. The foundation is at 1645 Winchester Ave.

As with all books submitted to The Independent, I plan to offer this one to the Boyd County Public Library for its collection, so chances are you’ll be able to find it there.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.