Donner Memorial State Park
Donner Memorial State Park is a California State Park, located at the town of Truckee, California, United States. The park preserves a portion of the Donner Camp site, where members of the ill-fated Donner Party were trapped just short of Donner Pass by weather during the winter of 1846–1847. Caught without shelter or adequate supplies, members of the group resorted to cannibalism to survive. The camp site, high in the Sierra Nevada, has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
The Donner Memorial State Park was established in 1928. It includes memorials to the Donner Party, such as the 1918 Pioneer Monument, along with a visitor center. Recreational opportunities include of trails, campgrounds, and of frontage on Donner Lake.
History
As snowstorms stranded the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada, two camps were established where they would attempt to survive the winter. At Alder Creek, a smaller group—including the Donner families—would settle in tents for the season. The larger portion of the wagon party traveled approximately further up the trail, and established their camp near Truckee Lake ; the state park contains the sites of two of the three cabins used at this larger camp.Early attempts to memorialize the Donner Party at the larger camp site included at least two different crosses, with the Donner Ice Company erecting a cross in 1906, after an earlier one was toppled in a storm. However, these crosses were built at the site of the Graves Cabin, which lies outside the current state park.
Within the future park's boundaries, Historian Charles McGlashan acquired of land for a monument, where once sat the Schallenberger/Breen Cabin. This property was acquired by McGlashan from Joseph Marzen, owner of Donner Ice Company. With the help of the Native Sons of the Golden West, a monument at the site was constructed and then dedicated in June 1918.
In 1927, Cora Woodbridge brought forth legislation which allowed the state to acquire the now of property at the larger Donner campsite owned by the Native Sons of the Golden West, including the 1918 monument. Passed by the California State Legislature that year, the bill also allowed for the purchase of additional land, all to be part of a new state park. On August 18, 1928, the property was ceremoniously transferred to the state during a celebration at the site.
Since its establishment in 1928, numerous land acquisitions have added to the park's acreage. This includes a major purchase in 1948, which brought the southeast shore of Donner Lake under the state's control. A number of trails and campsites were developed on the additional land.
Features
Visitor center
While the monument was owned by the Native Sons of the Golden West, they leased land to T. C. Wohlbruck, who built a concession just west of the memorial. Opened in April 1920, Wohlbruck called the site the "Pioneer Donner Park," and within the concession he sold fuel, food, soda, souvenirs and provided a museum. The state cancelled the concession in 1930, and the building become park headquarters. At least two additional museums/visitor centers have been created since; the Emigrant Trail Museum in 1962, which was replaced by the Donner Memorial State Park Visitors Center in 2015.Ground was broken for the Emigrant Trail Museum at the park in June 1961. As completion of the museum neared, relics of the Donner Party were moved from the museum at Sutter's Fort to the new museum. Inside, exhibits focused not just on the Donner Party, but on the Indigenous peoples of the area, early transportation at the Pass, and the emigrant era in general. The completed museum, costing $250,000, was dedicated on September 9, 1962. During the dedication, Bennett Gale, from the US National Park Service presented a plaque honoring the site being listed as a National Historic Landmark, and Charles DeTurk of the state's park department provided an address. The museum's audio-visual room was named in honor of Bizz Johnson, a US Congressman from California, who helped secure funding for the building.
After years of planning, construction for a new museum began in 2011 to replace the aging, small Emigrant Trail Museum. Originally meant to be called the High Sierra Crossing Museum, the building was finished in 2013, but due to contract disputes and a lack of funds, its opening was delayed. After the challenges were resolved, the new Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center opened on June 6, 2015, which was also celebrated as the 97th anniversary of the Pioneer Monument in the park. The new visitor center cost $9.6 million, and contained of space. Inside the visitor center are exhibits about the cultural history of the area, including local Indigenous peoples, the Donner Party, and builders of the First transcontinental railroad. Park staff offer hikes, special presentations and campfires by the museum.
The old Emigrant Trail Museum building is now used as office space and storage.
Donner Party monuments
Pioneer Monument
Historian Charles McGlashan had acquired of land for a monument at the site of the Schallenberger/Breen Cabin. This property came from Joseph Marzen, owner of Donner Ice Company. By the late 1890s, McGlashan had enlisted the Native Sons of the Golden West to help bring the monument to fruition. After years of planning and fundraising, a cornerstone laying ceremony for the monument was held on June 10, 1910. The stone, weighing, was meant to be temporary, and carved on one of its sides was a message which noted a future monument would be built at the site "to the pioneers who crossed the plains." Present at the ceremony were three women, who, as young girls, had been part of the Donner Party; they were Frances Donner-Wilder, Virginia Reed-Murphy, and Martha "Patty" Reed-Lewis. McGlashan exhibited several relics during the ceremony and auctioned off small wooden pieces of the Murphy Cabin, which he had sealed in glass vials. Also present was Chester W. Chapman, chairman of the NSGW's Donner Monument Committee. By the time the cornerstone had been laid, it had already been decided that the planned monument would be too small to "express the story that the monument was to tell" and that for the time being, only the stone would be laid, while new plans were made and additional funds raised.[Image:The Donner Party Monument.jpg|thumb|right|The Pioneer, sculpture atop the monument]
The completed monument was unveiled on June 6, 1918. Present at the ceremony were California Governor William Stephens and Nevada Governor Emmet D. Boyle. Also present were Frances Donner-Wilder, Eliza Donner-Houghton, and Martha "Patty" Reed-Lewis, who had been members of the Donner Party as young girls. The monument's base is with a pedestal that rises high ; both base and pedestal are faced with cobblestone. Placed on top of the pedestal is a statue of a pioneer family, rising an additional high. The statue, titled "The Pioneer", was created by artist John McQuarrie.
The completed monument's cost was $35,000, and the bronze statue atop it was said to be the largest in the United States west of the Mississippi River at the time. It was thought to have been built on the exact spot of the Schallenberger/Breen Cabin– a position McGlashan would defend, even writing a booklet, titled The Location of Site of Breen Cabin. However, others—most notably NSGW's Chester W. Chapman—claimed the cabin was just south of the monument's location. Another point of contention had arisen between McGlashan and Chapman during the planning of the monument. McGlashan felt the monument should honor and memorialize only the Donner Party, and Chapman and the NSGW, wanted it to represent all pioneers who traveled west to settle California.
The plaque on the front of the Pioneer Monument reads:
The plaque on the rear of the Pioneer Monument reads:
The monument underwent a comprehensive restoration in 2022, with funding from the Sierra State Parks Foundation.
Schallenberger/Breen Cabin site
[Image:Donner Memorial State Park - panoramio (4).jpg|thumb|right|Plaque with the history of the Schallenberger Cabin; the Pioneer Monument can be seen in the background]The Pioneer Monument was built on or near the site of the Moses Schallenberger Cabin, which the Breen family occupied two years later while stranded at the site with other members of the Donner Party. A plaque was added in 1995 with a history of the cabin, it reads:
Murphy Cabin site
[Image:DONNER MEMORIAL STATE PARK, CALIFORNIA.jpg|thumb|right|Monument at the site of the Murphy Cabin]The site of the Murphy Cabin was added to the park as part of a 1948 purchase of additional property. At the site is the large granite boulder against which was built the cabin that sheltered members of the Murphy, Pike, Foster, and Eddy families. A 1919 plaque on the boulder's face reads:
On the plaque, this quote is followed by a list of the members of the Donner Party, divided into "Survived" and "Perished."