Donner Memorial State Park

1846

Snow stopped the Donner Party just short of the pass

The park preserves part of the camp where the Donner Party was trapped by weather, just short of Donner Pass, in the winter of 1846 to 1847. By early November the migrants had reached the Sierra Nevada and were stranded by an early, heavy snowfall near Truckee Lake, now Donner Lake.

The monument

A pedestal 22 feet high, the depth of that winter's snow

The Pioneer Monument was unveiled on June 6, 1918. Its pedestal rises 22 feet, the height of the snow during that winter, and a statue of a pioneer family stands another 17.5 feet above it. The statue, The Pioneer, was made by the artist John McQuarrie.

22 ftheight of the snow, and of the monument's pedestal

1928

The land became a state park on August 18, 1928

The historian Charles McGlashan bought an acre for a monument where a cabin once stood. In 1927 the state moved to acquire the 11 acres of the Donner campsite, and on August 18, 1928, the property was transferred to the state at a celebration. A purchase in 1948 added the southeast shore of Donner Lake.

The museum

The visitor center opened on the monument's 97th anniversary

The first museum, the Emigrant Trail Museum, was dedicated on September 9, 1962. The current visitor center opened on June 6, 2015, the 97th anniversary of the Pioneer Monument. Its exhibits cover local Indigenous peoples, the Donner Party and the builders of the first transcontinental railroad.

The winter

Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived

The group was caught without shelter or adequate supplies, and some resorted to cannibalism to survive. In one case two Miwok guides were murdered and eaten. The first relief party did not arrive until the middle of February 1847, almost four months after the wagon train became trapped. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived.