Map to the Donner Summit Historical Society

The first wagon trains to California with wagons came over Donner Summit. The route is right out our back door. The Donner Party's rescuers went right by as did the first transcontinental railroad, the first transcontinental highway, and the first transcontinental telephone line. The first transcontinental air route went right overhead (beacons on nearby hillls guided the planes).

see also our brochures page for topics listed here
See the other firsts.

"We had a very slavish day’s travel, climbing the divide… [on] reaching the summit. The scenery was too grand for me to pass without notice, the changes being so great;… Being a little in the rear of the party, I had a chance to observe the company ahead, trudging along with packs on their backs. It reminded me of some Norwegian fur company among the icebergs. My shoes were ox-bows, split in two, and rawhide strings woven in, something in form of the old-fashioned, split-bottomed chairs. Our clothes were of the bloomer costumer,, and generally were made of flannel. Well I do remember a remark one of the company made here, that we were about as near heaven as we could get. We camped al little on the west side of the summit the second night."
Mary Ann Graves, 1846
of the Donnery Party's Forlorn Hope on the escape from Donner Lake
from McGlashan's History of the Donner Party and other sources