The histories written of western migration in the United States have sufficiently told the story of the ill-fated Donner Party. Most students of history are well acquainted with their entrapment by the snows of the Sierra Nevada Mountains during the Read More …
The sites of the cabins where the Donner Party wintered are in three locations. Included within the Donner Memorial State Park are the sites of the Murphy Cabin and the Breen-Keseberg Cabin. Across U.S. Route 40 and about a half Read More …
Thousands of bone fragments were recovered during excavation of the Donner family camp site at Alder Creek. Determining what animals were present in the assemblage was a priority, but it was not an easy task. Simply distinguishing human from nonhuman Read More …
This thesis is about one of the most infamous emigrant expeditions of all time: the Donner Party. After reading that sentence many people will think of cannibalism and may assume this thesis is about members of Donner Party who resorted Read More …
Archaeologists use material remains to better understand the lives and experiences of people who lived in the past. In the case of the 2004 archaeological investigation at Alder Creek, the location of the Donner Party’s Donner family camp, writing slate Read More …
The Donner Summit Public Utility District (DSPUD) is proposing upgrades and improvements on its wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and spray irrigation disposal system at Soda Springs, California (Nevada County). Project activities are planned on two separate parcels. The ten-acre site, Read More …
One of the artifacts on display in the museum at Donner Lake State Park is a freshly polished coin, one of a cache carried in the family wagon of Franklin Ward Graves and his soon-to-become-widowed wife Elizabeth, who only had Read More …
In spring of 1846, the George and Jacob Donner families and some 80 traveling companions began their overland trek to California. When the party ascended the Sierra Nevada in late October, a snowstorm forced the group to bivouac. At this Read More …
As part of the Phase 1A study, Lindström initiated a search of archaeological records housed at the North Central Information Center at California State University, Sacramento, an adjunct of the State Office of Historic Preservation or SHPO. Results disclosed that Read More …
The following article by Professor Donald Hardesty is based on a paper which he delivered at the Oregon-California Trails Association’s 1990 convention. His paper described the recent archaeological excavation which he led for the purpose of establishing the precise location Read More …