Lake Tahoe and Donner Pass

Today:  Nov. 3rd, 2013
Date we went:
October 20th, 2013
Clear and warm
Lat/Lon 39.1N 120.0W

This is the east side of the Sierra Nevadas, as we headed up and over.  The valley, far below, is where the town of Genoa sits.

Sierra Nevada means 'snowy mountains'.  Seems about right.

Stopped for lunch in Tahoe.  

Chawley shared Cheetos with Emmy and Nitro. 

Downtown Tahoe

South side of Lake Tahoe 

West side of Lake Tahoe - Emerald Cove 

 More Sierras to cross.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

- Donner Memorial State Park -

This is a memorial at the site where the Donner Party was trapped during the winter of 1846-47.   The top of the man's head is 22 ft high, designed to represent the depth of the snow that winter.  After seeing the site, I realize how little I knew about the Donner Party, so I began researching it. 

In my ignorance, I envisioned a group of about 15 people, trapped in covered wagons on Donner Pass without food.  So they ate the first person that died, and everybody that died after that, and then in a few days, were able to go on their way across the mountains to California.  Well, that was not at all what happened.   

So let me share just a tiny bit of what I learned.  

The Donner Party consisted of about 90 people.  Being delayed several times on their way from Missouri to California, they hit the Sierra Nevadas in mid October, 1846.  They had already lost most of their wagons and livestock along the way and were nearly out of food.  After trying to cross the pass in blizzard conditions, most of them turned back to find shelter and wait for better weather to try again.  But early, heavy, and unrelenting snow trapped them in place. 

They wintered over by hurriedly building makeshift 'cabins' at the east end of Donner Lake (was Truckee Lake).  The 'cabins' were made from some felled trees, a small amount of wood from what wagons they had left, and the roofs were hides from the oxen and horses they butchered for food. Each tiny cabin housed about 3 or 4 families and a handful of 'singles'.   The rock below was the north wall one of the cabins.  The plaque on it, (below), has a list of Survived on one side, and Perished on the other.  

 Fatalities were about 50%. 

This Donner Campsite is at 6,200 ft in elevation and Donner Pass is 7,100 ft., which meant they still had to climb 1,000 feet in elevation before they could even begin to go down the other side.  But unlike   the Rocky Mts, which is a chain of mountains in basically a single line, the Sierras are a 'cluster' of mountains, so even after getting over one, there were several more mountains to cross before escaping the mountains completely.  

Several attempts were made to send a few people west over the mountains for help.  Most died or returned quickly.  One attempt sent 17 people out.  It took 3 weeks to make the trip to the nearest 'help'. The snow was so deep they would sometimes only make 100 yards per day. Only 7 members of that group survived.  The rest all starved or froze to death.  Attempts were also made from the other side to send rescue parties east over the mountains, most were turned back without success, or died in their attempt, because of the 20 to 30 feet of snow in the mountains.  

Here is a pic I found from the 1950's of the Pacific Railroad, stopped by snow on Donner Pass.

Here is another interesting tidbit about the Donner Party,...  Donner was not really the 'leader' or the decision maker of the group.  Most of the decisions were made by a man named Reed, but he was generally disliked, so nobody wanted him to have the actual power of 'leader'.  It was not until they were well into the journey that Donner was elected leader, and then simply because he was a likable man.  (Reed continued to be the leader/decision maker.)  Oh, and the Donners were not even in one of the cabins, they were in tents almost 4 miles away, on,... get this,... Alder Creek. 

Here is a more modern pic of Donner Pass, showing a LOT of snow. 

Regarding the cannibalism, it was not until after several people had already died from starvation that they began boiling and eating the ox hide roofs, shoes and anything else they could find just to stay alive.  When that option ran out, they cannibalized one of the more recently deceased, feeding it to the children and the very most frail in the group.  Not everyone participated in cannibalism.

If you have an interest, this is an amazing book about the Donner Party.  They use modern archeology and meteorology techniques to prove or disprove many of the rumors, stories and myths about the Donner Party.

OK, on the lighter side....

The area of the Donner memorial was beautiful.

Here's Chawley posing for when a statue is made of him someday.

Donner Creek ran clear and beautiful.  The reflections from the evening sun was incredible.

 So clear you can see logs on the bottom.

Evening settling over a beaver pond on Donner Creek.

Sunset on Donner Creek.