the whole journey. that reason they must have been important to the work not just from the east and the west, from the outside The Stephens Party was the Native Americans. in, but from the inside out. When you get to the center of first wagon train to get to the 1659 foot Tunnel 6 look up. There is the central shaft, California with wagons. They No one knows what the 89 feet high. You can see the top from the parking lot at had to leave half their wagons petroglyphs mean. Perhaps stop number 1. Flash your light on the north side of the at Donner Lake and take the they are religious or magi- tunnel below the shaft. Look for the other half apart to get them cal symbols. Perhaps they drill marks of the Chinese workers. up here. 17 year old Moses are records of what had occurred. Perhaps they are wishes There are many here. Then look for Schallenberger offered to stay or predictions. There are no human or animal forms some drill holes. The 1 ¼ inch ones at Donner Lake and guard the although there is one bear paw here. Can you find it? were for nitroglycerine. The 2 ½ inch wagons. ones were for black powder. They Stop #3 - Tunnel 6 are almost 150 years old. The Basic History Tour parking lot. Just to the right there is an historical marker It snows a lot in the Sierra and it kept snowing at Donner Hop in your car and go back to Even working four faces at once (bottom of the 4th panel). Take the trail behind the build- Lake. It did not melt. There was no game because the the top. Just opposite Donner Ski 4th graders in California study California history. They Chinese workers only made progress ings that goes uphill two hundred animals had all left. Moses spent most of the winter alone Ranch is Sugar Bowl Rd. Park should not miss a tour of Donner Summit. Neither should of less than a foot a day. yards or so to a magnificent view at Donner Lake in a small cabin that had no door and cow- where the two 20 Mile Museum others who like scenery and history. seen above. The 1869 view is to the hides and branches for a roof. He was so lonely. “My life signs are, just before the overpass. When you get out of Tunnel 6 you are in the sunlight. right. was more miserable than I can describe,” he said. Moses Walk across the overpass and Donner Summit is integral to California history; it is the When the railroad was built it was all in darkness here. A ate fox, coyote and crows. For Christmas he had saved just look down on the left side. That’s most historically significant area in California and maybe long building, a snowshed 40 Up this draw came the Stephens enough coffee for one cup. At the end of February he saw Tunnel 6 (right), the longest of in the entire Western United States. Native Americans miles long, covered the train Party, the first wagon train to reach one person coming towards him over the snow. Imagine the original Sierra tunnels for the crossed for thousands of years leaving behind mortars, tracks to protect them from California with wagons, in 1844. how he felt. transcontinental railroad. It was petroglyphs, metates, and millions of basalt flakes from snow. It was led by 81 year old Caleb carved from the Sierra granite and making arrow and spear heads. The first wagon trains Greenwood. You can see the route Schallenberger Ridge, on the south side of Donner Lake, took two years to build. to come to California went over Donner Summit as did of the first transcontinental highway is named for Moses Schallenberger. On leaving Tunnel 6, look left thousands of wagons afterwards. Rust marks and grooves immediately. Here is the origi- coming up as well, on the right. It was put together in Go back across the overpass and worn into the granite show the routes. The first transconti- nal road used to help build the 1913 with expectations that the maximum speed would Two years after Moses the Donner Party came along late then down underneath to walk nental railroad went over Donner Summit followed by the railroad and get over Donner be 35 mph for cars and 10 mph for trucks. The average in the season. Of the through the tunnel. You’ll really first transcontinental highway, the first transcontinental air Pass. Wagons and cars had to cross the railroad tracks and speed for crossing the country would be 18 mph because 83 members of the want a flashlight to spot the tool route, and the first transcontinental telephone line. Many travel for a distance inside the snowshed. On coming to not all stretches of the road were optimal. Look down at Donner Party, only marks that are 150 years old (left). of the emigrants who built California came over Donner the Donner Summit Bridge and follow the road below it 45 survived. the tracks the driver turned off his engine so he could hear Summit as did the first bicyclist to cross the Sierra and the if a train was coming. Then he opened the big door. Still to the horseshoe curve. Their troubles gave It was a race. The Union Pacific was building a railroad country and then to go around the world. The first auto no train? He went across the tracks and then fifty yards That’s our next stop. Na- their name to Donner from the east. The Central Pacific was building from the over the Sierra went over Donner Summit as did the first down the tunnel to open the other door on the other side. tive Americans carved Lake, Donner Peak, west, from Sacramento, but the Central Pacific was stuck. motorized vehicle crossing of the U.S. There’s lots more. Still no train? He went back to his car, started up the en- petroglyphs into the and Donner Pass. The Sierra was the hardest part of the country to cross, Over Donner Summit went the gine and drove into the snowshed, across the tracks, down granite there thousands of Mr. Stephens was just as it had been for the emigrants with their wagons, products of California to the rest the shed, and out the other door. Sometimes there were years ago. almost forgotten. and 15 tunnels were needed, all in solid granite. Day after of the country and the world. accidents. The picture to the left shows an automobile Stop #2 - The Petroglyphs day, 24 hours a day Chinese drillers drilled into the granite Donner Summit is extraordi- leaving the snowshed just outside Tunnel 6. First though, thousands Go down Old 40,driving past the Donner Summit Bridge to set explosives. Rock rubble was all removed by hand. narily historically rich. Even of emigrants headed for to the first big curve. Pull off and park after you’ve done today Donner Pass is a gateway Continue along California. When they about half the 180 degree curve (above). You’ll see a 20 To speed things up the Cen- to California. the railroad route saw the Sierra Nevada it was a huge barrier. It was “steep Mile Museum sign for petroglyphs and China Wall and tral Pacific started Tunnel 6 through the next as the roof of a house.” It struck terror in their hearts. you’ll see a monument off the road to the right. Just above from the west and the east at tunnel, Tunnel 7. Stop One - The Donner Pass Overlook They were so close to California. But first they had to get the monument, which explains the petroglyphs, there is a the same time. They still only Next you cross the Take the Soda Springs exit from I-80 or approach on Old over the mountains and they had to get over quickly be- rock slab with ancient drawings 2-4,000 years old. Granite made inches of progress ev- underpass (above) 40, Donner Pass Road, from Truckee and Donner Lake. At cause by the time the emigrants reached the Sierra, winter is one of the hardest rocks on the planet. Imagine how ery day. So they bore a hole that was built in the very top of the pass is a large building (above) and a and snow were coming. The Sierra was the hardest part of long it took to carve the petroglyphs into the granite. For down the center so they could hill in the background is After you cross the rocks next to the road look for the the Soda Springs ski hill. granite erratics. Turn left here looking for the views in the previous column (if you go right you’ll find an emigrant The railroad builders trail marker). Look on the far side of the largest granite were in such a rush that slab for rust marks. The picture in the previous column they decided not to wait has been enhanced to show rust marks. Keep going west for tunnels, but rather to aiming for the tree. Under the arrow is a fallen tree that go ahead and build the was used to let wagons slowly down the slope with rope. railroad into Nevada. Along this road, three locomotives, Turn right just before the live tree and head downhill fifty 80 miles of track and railroad car parts went on wagons yards. Look for the scene over Donner Summit to Truckee and beyond. Locomo- to the left which is looking 1914 to make crossing the tracks safer. Walk along just was a fancy solid granite kitchen appliance a thousand tives weighed about 12 tons. The rails weighed 100 tons uphill. a bit further and stop before Tunnel 8. Look down on years ago. Native Americans, living here only in summer, to the mile. Each rail weighed 532 lbs. and was 24 feet the lake side of the old railroad bed. You are on top of ground larvae, insects, nuts, seeds, tubers, and other soft long. The third locomo- There are rust marks on the the China Wall. Here is an amazing wall built by the foods in the mortars. Granite is one of the hardest rocks tive went over Donner rocks but the best spot is Chinese. There is no mortar holding the rocks together. on the planet. How long did it take to grind these holes Pass in the snow. Oxen just next to the trail marker Look for the tool marks that can still be seen along with into the rock? pulled this on a sledge in the tree ( shown left up- some drill holes. and wore snowshoes per right in the picturet) and below the “trail duck”. On the opposite end of the rock from the mortars rub your made for oxen so they Stop #4 - Native American Mortars hand around to find a really smooth spot that’s about the would not sink into the Stop #6 - State Park Visitors’ Center snow. At the blinking light in Soda Springs turn and cross the size of a piece of paper. This is a metate used for grind- Now that you have an overview of railroad tracks. Turn left into the dirt parking lot and ing seeds into flour and maybe for treating animal skins. Donner Pass and its importance, Stop #5 - Emigrant Wagon Rust Marks look for the dirt road it’s time to head for the museum Head back to the freeway, getting off at the Rainbow exit that is just to the left of While you are out in the valley look around and note at Donner Lake. Head towards (or, if you are a real historian, just stay on Old Highway the dam. It’s easy driv- all the large granite boulders lying around. The granite Truckee on I-80 or take Old High- 40). You are heading for Big Bend, just past the Rainbow ing and is the original is a hundred million years old but the rocks have only way 40. At the east end of Don- Lodge building. There is a parking lot and bathrooms on Lincoln Highway, the been sitting where they are for ten thousand years or so. ner Lake is the State Park and just the right just up from the fire station. first highway across These glacial erratics were scraped off mountain peaks by inside and to the America. When you get glaciers and when the glaciers melted the rocks were left left is the visitors’ Big Bend was named to the bridge, go just a bit behind. One early American visitor, seeing all the light center. Before going in take a look at for the big bend in the further and stop at the 20 colored rocks lying around in the distance, thought they the large statue, the Emigrant Monument river. It was here that the Mile Museum sign for the looked like sheep grazing in the valley. (and our 20 Mile Museum sign). The women and children of the Native American mortars on the right. Walk south paral- base of the statue is 22 1/2 feet high. Stephens party, the first lel to Castle Creek. After you get out of the trees head On the way back to the That is how high the snow was when the wagon train, spent most of for the large rock in the clearing a hundred yards ahead car see if you can get Donner Party was trapped here. the winter. The men had (above). Climb on top and find a Native American mor- yourself into the spot gone off for help to Sutter’s Fort. The women and chil- tar thousands of years old. That’s just a warm up. where the picture here was taken. The wagon dren ran out of food and had to eat cowhides. The first What Next for adventurous Historians? white baby, Elizabeth Yuba (named for the river) Murphy Keep heading south a few hundred more yards. You’ll in the picture is on the There’s lots more to explore. Stop in at was born here. cross an old road. Dutch Flat Wagon Rd. the DSHS at the blinking light in “down- Keep going look- built to help with the town Soda Springs” for brochures to take Park in the parking lot and head across the rocks on the ing for the rock and railroad construction. you to other historical spots. north side of the road. Here is where the wagon trains the view pictured to The ground is still so went – thousands of wagons. the right. On this compressed that noth- Check out the 20 Mile Museum. So many wagons traveled here “gossip” rock there ing grows on it 150 years later. that their iron wheels left rust are four mortars and Read the Heirloom - free marks and grooves on and in the a metate. This rock The auto at the top of the next column won the race in www.donnersummithistoricalsociety.org 1911 to be the first car over the summit that summer. The granite. *particularly for 4th graders who study California history