Lansford Hastings
Lansford Warren Hastings (ca. 1819 – 1870 is best remembered as the developer of Hastings Cutoff, a shortcut across what is now the state of Utah that was a major factor in the Donner Party disaster of 1846.
Born in Ohio and trained as a lawyer, Hastings traveled overland to Oregon in 1842. He was disappointed with what he found there and left in the spring of 1843 for California. By the time he returned to the United States in 1844 he had entered into a scheme to wrest California from Mexican control and establish an independent "Republic of California," with himself holding high office in the new country.
To this end he wrote his The Emigrants' Guide to Oregon and California encouraging emigration to California in the hope by sheer numbers, Americans could effect a relatively bloodless revolution. In addition to praising California, Hastings also gave practical advice to emigrants. Contrary to popular belief, however, he did not promote the cutoff which bears his name; he merely sketched it out in a single sentence as a possible route.
Published in 1845, Hastings' guide did influence emigration to California, though not to the extent he had hoped. In the spring of 1846 he sent an open letter inviting emigrants on the trail to meet him at Fort Bridger and he lead would them on a new route that would significantly reduce the time and distance to California. Between 60 and 75 wagons traveled with Hastings on this cutoff and arrived in California safely. The Donner Party, following after him, did not.
Hastings' dream of empire fell through and in 1848 Mexico ceded California to the United States as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Hastings practiced law in California for some years and served as the postmaster of Yuma, Arizona in the 1860s.
During the Civil War Hastings took the part of the South. He died in 1870 while conducting a shipload of settlers to a colony for ex-Confederates in Brazil.
External links
Categories: American people stubs | 1819 births | 1870 deaths