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James N.
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 24 2007
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 Posted - September 16 2012 : 10:50:41 AM
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Looking east towards Nevada from near the summit of Ebbett's Pass
The mountain range called the Sierra Nevadas ( Spanish for "snowy mountains" ) effectively separates California from Nevada and was the last barrier to pioneer emigrants crossing the continent on their way to the "promised land". In the case of my recent trip there, I chose to take a less-used route via Ebbett's Pass, some 8,800" elevation. It is traversed today by CA 4, a well-surfaced but very narrow and torturous state highway closed in winter months.
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Highway 4 follows the course of the Stanislaus River down through rocky gorges including those now occuppied by Calaveras Big Trees State Park which protects two outstanding groves of Giant Sequoyas at an elevation of around 4000". From there it opens into fertile land around the former Gold Rush town Murphys, now home to many thriving vineyards.
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Descending the range we began to see evidences of former habitation, in this case an apparantly deserted house and large brick kiln.
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Giant Sequoya in Calaveras Big Trees State Park, subject of a separate topic in this section. One of the branches of a tree this size is easily equal to an entire tree of another species!
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James N.
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 24 2007
Status: offline
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Posted - September 16 2012 : 12:57:27 PM
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One bunch of pioneers who didn't fare well in making the mountain crossing was the notorious Donner Party, led by brothers George and Jacob Donner, heading for Sutter's Fort ( today's Sacramento ) in 1846. They made many mistakes in their journey, from a late-in-the-season start to overloaded wagons, but their fatal mistake was in following the advice in a newly-published guidebook recommending a "cutoff" that was supposed to take 300 miles from the long trip: it did, but at the price of a month's travel as they blazed their way through Utah's Wasach Mountains where no wagon had gone before.
The upshot of all their tribulations was that they arrived just one day too late to miss the Autumnal rain and snows at the beginning of November which closed Truckee Pass trapping them on its eastern side. The Donners, their extended family, and hired help were even farther to the rear of the now strung-out train with a wagon with a broken axle; in attempting to repair it, George Donner dealt himself a serious wound that eventually proved fatal.
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Meadow where the Donners pitched tents around a large tree and made lean-tos against the sides of their wagons as shelters from rain and snow storms that left them buried for a very hard winter.
About six miles farther along another group settled into an abandoned cabin or built two others, all about 1/4 mile apart from each other. This may have been from bickering or a sense of survival, but was likely a combination of both. Another group of thirteen of the younger, hardier members attempted to go onward, guided by two Indians sent for the purpose from Sutter's Fort. Unfortunately, even they lost their way and suffered for it by becoming food for the others! Of this group of ten men and five women, all of the women but only two of the men survived and were rescued.
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This rock bearing a tablet with names of Donner Party members is especially significant because its flat face served as one wall of the cabin occuppied by the Murphy and one other family group. Almost half the 81 members of the Donner Party died altogether; however, 41 of them, including many children, were rescued and survived the ordeal.
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Pioneer Monument in Donner Memorial State Park stands on the site of another of the cabins and where U.S. Army troops later buried the scattered remains of many of those who failed to survive.
Today the site of the pioneers' suffering is another state park, containing a museum devoted to them and others who passed this way, the large Pioneer Statue, and several smaller markers. The site of the third cabin, occuppied by the Reed and another family and marked only by a large cross, is now almost lost amid service stations at the nearby Interstate: ironically, the renamed Donner Pass is now the route of I-80 connecting Reno, Nev. with Sacramento and San Francisco!
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James N.
Colonial Militia
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
October 24 2007
Status: offline
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Posted - September 16 2012 : 1:11:11 PM
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On an altogether happier note, we turned south at nearby Truckee to beautiful Lake Tahoe's northern shore before returning to Reno and our homeward flights. Not nearly as developed as South Lake Tahoe with its gaudy casinos, it has somewhat the pristine and picturesque appearance of Lake George in its quieter seasons.
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Fitzhugh Williams
Mohicanland Statesman
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
July 17 2005
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Posted - September 16 2012 : 3:03:58 PM
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That's quite a trip! I would love to see those places.
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"Les deux pieds contre la muraille et la tete sous le robinet" |
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IWLFNDU
Colonial Settler
USA
Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 08 2010
Status: offline
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Posted - September 16 2012 : 3:40:06 PM
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American Experience aired an episode on the Donner party a few years ago. One day...so tragic.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1401950336/
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''Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money.''
~ Cree Proverb |
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The Sierra Nevadas, Donner Pass, and Lake Tahoe
