Finding Treasure at a Donner Party Site | Expedition Unknown

hey guys guys what do you got
whoa Josh
we got something up here check this out
oh
huge piece look at this wow
that’s the edge of a plate I’m with a
team of researchers looking for the Lost
ruins of Johnson Ranch a Pioneer era
Homestead reached by the survivors of
the doomed Donner Party
here
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wow look at that that’s incredible
Flathead nail and then this very cool
piece of pottery we can see the edge of
a pattern there too we dig around the
pottery and quickly find more fragments
and more pottery look at this oh there’s
more see that’s actually more look at
that wow there it’s just Pottery
everywhere you look here
that’s the edge of a plate right there
sure looks like it yeah so this Adobe
was in use between what years primarily
1844 1854. just just that 10-year period
yeah if this is something that was used
here in the Adobe we’re bright in that
time period
the lidar scan research and physical
artifacts in this field are all but
conclusive we are in the middle of
History here this is Johnson Ranch every
single one of the forlorn hope survivors
all seven they slept here slept where
we’re standing they were all reunited
after being saved this is the place they
were reunited this is one of those parts
of the story that
is kind of lost the time it really is
until now until now
it’s humbling enough to stand in the
footsteps of the Donner party but then I
remember this is where their Rescuers
stood as well
let’s talk about the relief parties when
most people think of the Donner Party
they think of the doomed Expedition the
people trapped up at the lake there’s a
whole other chapter to the Donner Party
story people have never heard that’s
right it’s a story of survival
the human instinct to survive it’s
remarkable when those first survivors
limped into Johnson Ranch it became
Nationwide news but most of the Donner
Party were still trapped back at Truckee
Lake and that meant people were going to
have to go and get them and these are
people that volunteered they didn’t get
lost they didn’t get stuck in snow they
found out people were stuck in snow
they’re fellow immigrants and they
volunteered how many people went up to
try to save them like total close to 40.
and there were several men that
volunteered to not go just once but
several times
The Rescuers who set out to save the
stranded emigrants were the kind of
Heroes that history rarely remembers in
this case literally the actual route
that they took to reach the Donner Party
at Truckee lake is totally unknown
Bob and Tim are aiming to do something
about that something big your hat says
Donna relief Expedition 2022 what are
you guys doing what are you planning
we’re gonna retrace the steps of the
first relief from right here in Johnson
Ranch to Donner Lake and we are going to
arrive at Donner Lake 175 years after
the first relief to arrived to the day
to the day using years of research
Diaries from the survivors and their
considerable outdoor skills they have
charted the most likely course that the
original relief Expedition took to
rescue the Donner Party the distance
you’re going to cover is about 100 miles
on foot back up into those mountains I
don’t know if you know this or not it’s
not warm up there it’s harder this way
this is going to take you how long it’s
going to take us five days their effort
is the culmination of years of planning
and will be tracked by satellites as
they go I’d love to join them but my
camera team and I stand a zero percent
chance of keeping their Pace still I’m
not getting out of it that easy well why
don’t you meet us somewhere along the
way okay we can intersect with your
group at the finish line with hot
chocolates I could just be lounging
there yeah I don’t think so it’s a
little too easy it’s a little too easy
yeah all right how about Donner Pass you
have snowshoes yeah I can get them bring
them with you I’ll be there
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all right I’m chasing down Bob and his
expedition team as they attempt to
retrace the Donner Party relief route
now we’ve been tracking them on GPS and
in the last three and a half days they
have covered unbelievably more than 80
miles on foot these guys are animals so
I got some serious catching up to do
I hop off the bike at the closest point
I can get to the team and head out to
meet them on foot hey lucky for me they
agree to stop for a moment how are you
man along with Tim and Bob our team
members and experienced endurance
athletes Jennifer Hammond and Elke
Reimer oh I’m so impressed I’m amazed to
see all of you I mean last time I saw
you was nearly a hundred miles ago
that’s right back in Johnson Ranch we’re
93 miles into the 100 mile Trek now your
animals all you mind if I tag along with
you it’d be great be great yeah where
are we headed towards the Donner party
that way I’m right behind you let’s go
just me and four of the most
well-trained athletes in the world now I
know how Ringo Starr felt
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okay how about a break
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you’re doing great thanks
the weather is on our side but trekking
in these conditions is slow going we’re
following a trail that hasn’t existed in
nearly two centuries fortunately it’s
late in the day which means we do get to
rest
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what do you guys think for Camp yeah
it’s a nice little divot all right we
got we got flak around let’s take it we
make camp for the night thankfully we’ve
got much better equipment than the
donners that is if we can figure out how
to set it up
nope what’s this like crazy knot going
into this like sheered section it’s an
open letter to tent manufacturers stop
innovating just crossed poles nobody
asked for this nobody asked for this
oh what do you think guys we’re gonna
make sunrise or
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Camp it’s time to get warm so we gather
around a fire just as The Rescuers did
near this very spot
it’s hard not to imagine sitting here by
this fire
what it must have been like 175 years
ago for that relief party so
what did they find when they arrived at
Donner Lake nothing nothing they arrived
at the cabins and everybody’s inside
hunkered down I think everyone there had
given up hope they probably watched the
past for weeks when are they going to
come get us
by the time the first Rescuers arrived
at the lake the Donner Party had been
trapped there for over 12 weeks in fact
by this time the shelters of the lake
were all but invisible one of the women
comes up out of the ground because they
were all underground buried in snow
their shelters
looks up and says are you men from
California or were you sent here from
heaven
right like they didn’t even really have
a grip living or did we just die and
this relief party is also in a terrible
position here because they can’t bring
everybody out right they say we don’t
have food and they say why have you come
to save us only to kill us
13 people have already died and the
remaining 54 are starving and desperate
still there are only enough supplies to
bring 23 of them back to civilization
the rest will have to stay behind a
second relief party organized
immediately after the first arrives 10
days later and discovers a horrific
scene
called by one an Unholy feast
four human bodies are in the process of
being consumed the remaining survivors
have made the same Unthinkable decision
as those of the forlorn hope Jacob
Donner himself has died and is consumed
by his family to extend their own lives
the second rescue party will bring 17
more survivors mostly children back to
Johnson Ranch
in all four rescue parties would make it
to Truckee Lake
to say I can sense that all of you feel
a real connection to the members of this
relief party at this point what we
didn’t anticipate is becoming fixated on
the characters which are so interesting
so one of the ways that helps us remind
ourselves who they are as people is we
make up little tribute cards with their
picture on the front this is a card for
instance of John Stark and we’ll lay
John Stark and 47 other cards like this
at the Donna Memorial state park
tomorrow at the Pioneer Monument wow can
I see one
wow this is something so this is John
Stark
was part of the third relief party on
their way out Stark and the other
Rescuers came across a group of 11
stranded in the snow clinging to life
The Rescuers took a vote and initially
decided they could only save two
John Stark pulled nine children out of
that hole and he’d put them on his back
he’d carry them a hundred yards he’d go
back and get the next three children
carry them 100 yards and set them in the
snow and then do it over and over again
he did that for three days without any
help at all and he said I would have put
all nine of them on my back if I had
room and when asked why did he do it he