Summit Station, Snowsheds and Summit Hotel Getting to Donner Summit in the winter meant riding the train through miles of snowsheds and tunnels. The Dutch Flat wagon road was there, but covered with snow and impassable. The Summit Hotel visible in the lower right was built in 1893 to replace an earlier one which burned. The same fate occurred to this one in 1925. The tree in the center watched it all happen, and is still there today, but told no tales. Photo location 39° 18.972'N 120° 20.147'W Early photograph: E. Peter Hoffman collection.