Hastings Cutoff – The warnings
Edwin Bryant, a journalist, tried to publicize a warning, but it didn’t reach some wagon trains in time. James Clyman, a mountaineer who had traveled with Hastings, had reservations about the Hastings Cutoff. He ran into an old friend at Fort Laramie. His friend James Reed was determined to take the Cutoff, although Hastings advised Reed to avoid Weber Canyon. Winter was rapidly approaching and shortening the travel by three hundred miles was vital. His friend James Reed was co-organizer of the 90-person strong Donner Party. Hastings had promised to guide the Donner-Reed party but had gone on ahead with the Leinhardt party. Clyman warned Reed to “take the regular wagon track and never leave it – it is barely possible to through if you follow it – and may be impossible if you don’t.” Sometimes the shortest route between two points is not a straight line.