Donner Summit Overlook

Donner Pass was crossed by Native Americans for thousands of years and later by emigrants including the Stephens Party and the remnants of the Donner Party. Nearby Schallenberger Ridge recalls Moses Schallenberger, who in 1844 stayed behind with most of the Stephens Party wagons when two companions left to follow the main group into California. Seventeen years old, he remained alone through the winter in a small cabin, eating coyote and fox to survive until his friends returned in the spring, when they hiked with him over the summit snow into California. The same corridor later carried the first transcontinental highway and the first transcontinental railroad, and it now also carries transcontinental fiber optic cables, a gas pipeline, an air route, and satellites visible overhead at night.

California · United States