Historically, the adventure of the Donner Party is considered a minor incident. That is so well remembered might be attributed to fascination with other tragedies such as the sinking of the Titanic - innocent people caught up in a whirlpool of events. Many were doomed, the rest irrevocably scarred.
The Donner Party story took place during the winter of 1846-47. It has been recounted so many times using so  many types of media: Contemporary newspaper accounts, memoirs, children's books, TV Interviews, novels, a Ric Burns documentary, a Gary Larson cartoon - the plight of the Donner Party has become part of the frontier foundation mythology.