Place:Donner Pass, Nevada, California, United States

About Donner Pass, CA

Donner Pass (el. 7,056 ft (2,151 m))[1] is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake about 9 miles (14 km) west of Truckee, California. It has a steep approach from the east and a gradual approach from the west.

The pass has been used by the California Trail, First Transcontinental Railroad, Overland Route, Lincoln Highway (later U.S. Route 40 and still later Donner Pass Road), as well as indirectly by Interstate 80.

Today the area is home to a thriving recreational community with several alpine lakes and ski resorts (Donner Ski Ranch, Boreal, and Sugar Bowl). The permanent communities in the area include Kingvale and Soda Springs, as well as the larger community below the pass surrounding Donner Lake.

History

To reach California from the East, pioneer emigrants had to get their wagons over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. In 1844 the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy Party followed the Truckee River into the mountains. At the head of what is now called Donner Lake, they found a low notch in the mountains and became the first overland emigrants to use the pass.[2]

The pass was named after a later group of California-bound emigrants. In early November 1846 the Donner Party found the route blocked by snow and was forced to spend the winter on the east side of the mountains. Of the 81 emigrants, only 45 survived to reach California;[3] some of them resorted to cannibalism to survive.[4][5]

On January 13, 1952, another group became stranded about seventeen miles (27 km) west of Donner Pass at Yuba Pass, on Track #1 adjacent to Tunnel 35 (on Track #2), at about MP 176.5.[6] Southern Pacific Railroad's passenger train City of San Francisco was en route westbound through the gap when a raging blizzard slowed the train to a halt. The passengers and crew were stranded for three days until the nearby highway could be plowed sufficiently for a caravan of automobiles to carry them the few miles to Nyack Lodge.