Back to the Beginning: Springfield and Riverton
Today I returned to the beginning of the Donner Party story.
After following the trail westward across the country—through the plains, deserts and mountains, and finally to California—I spent today exploring the places around Springfield, Illinois, where the journey began in April 1846.
My first stop was Abraham Lincoln’s home. Lincoln and James Frazier Reed knew one another not only because they had served together during the Black Hawk War, but also because Lincoln had represented Reed in a number of legal matters. Lincoln was living here when the Donner and Reed families prepared to leave for California. Standing outside his house gave me a useful sense of scale: these people occupied the same small community, traveled the same streets and undoubtedly knew many of the same people.
Despite that connection, Lincoln was not present for the Donner Party’s farewell gathering at what is now the Old State Capitol on April 15. He was 50 miles away in TREMONT and could not return to Springfield in time for the bon voyage event. That small detail adds another human dimension to the story: even though Lincoln knew Reed well, he missed the moment when Reed and the other emigrants formally set out for California.
From Lincoln’s home, I drove to the Old State Capitol. On the south side of the Capitol plaza is a plaque commemorating the departure of the Donner Party from Springfield. I photographed both the building and the plaque. After visiting so many remote locations associated with the expedition, it was satisfying to find this modest marker at the place where the journey officially began.
I then drove along what was probably one of Springfield’s principal streets in 1846, following the likely route from Lincoln’s neighborhood toward the land where the Donner families gathered before setting out. The distance is surprisingly short. These were not figures from some distant and disconnected world; they were Lincoln’s neighbors.
At the southeastern corner of what is now the junction of Interstate 55 and Interstate 72, I passed the former Donner property. Much of the land remains green and relatively open. There are modern sanitation buildings nearby, but enough undeveloped ground survives to make it possible to imagine wagons, livestock and families assembling there 180 years ago. For a few moments, the modern highways and buildings receded, and the landscape again seemed large and empty.
From there, I continued east to Riverton, known as Jamestown in Reed’s time. James Frazier Reed had substantial interests in this area, including land, a mill and a furniture-making operation. I drove through town and located at least one property associated with Reed. Riverton remains a pleasant little community, with enough open land and older streets to retain something of its nineteenth-century character.
The day’s most unexpected discovery was Wheeland Park on the Sangamon River. It is now a small public campground and boat-launch area—quiet, green and very lightly developed. It may look much as the surrounding countryside did in 1846, which is precisely its appeal.
In fact, Wheeland Park may be the ideal starting point for anyone attempting a future retracing of the Donner–Reed trail. I would camp there the night before beginning. The next morning, I would imagine James Reed packing his wagons, leaving his property near Riverton, passing the Donner encampment outside Springfield and joining the families as they headed west.
That would provide a far more tangible beginning than simply starting beside a historical marker. It would recreate, as closely as the modern landscape permits, the gathering of the families and the first movement of the expedition.
Tonight I am camped at White River Campground near Cicero, Indiana. Although most of the campground is occupied by RVs, the staff gave me an isolated and secluded site. I finished arranging the Grenadier just as the last usable daylight disappeared and darkness settled over the campground—exactly on schedule.
Today did not involve dramatic mountain passes, deserts or pioneer graves. Instead, it supplied something equally important: a clearer understanding of where the Donner–Reed story began and how close together its principal participants once lived.
After traveling thousands of miles along their trail, I finally returned to their first few miles.
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