A lot of headline writers had a field day in the middle of April, putting toppers on stories suggesting that members of the Donner Party might not have engaged in ...

In May 1846, the nine covered wagons made the slow journey from Springfield, Illinois to Independence, Missouri. The Donner Party would purchase provisions here for their long, arduous journey to ...

One hundred and sixty years ago, 81 people drove their wagons up the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada hoping to reach California before winter. Months later, only half of them made it. On Oct. 7 and ...

Last year, I won the lottery. After 36 years of writing about Tamsen Donner and the Donner Party, I sold two books on her: a memoir, “Searching for Tamsen Donner,” and a novel, “Impatient With Desire.

On Jan. 17, 1847 Wm. Eddy, supported by two Native Americans, knocked on the door of a small cabin at Johnson’s Ranch (near today’s Wheatland). Seventeen-year old Harriet Ritchie opened the door and ...

The Sacramento Theatre Company is premiering a new show based on California history: a musical about the Donner Party’s famously ill-fated journey in 1846. The show is an impressive production about a ...

Five and a half Big Macs a day would have saved Sarah Graves from the horrors of the Donner Party disaster of 1846. It may seem irreverent for Redmond author Daniel James Brown to mention two all-beef ...

The snow in the passes through the Sierra Nevada can be more than 30 feet deep. For the wagons of the Donner party, a group of 81 westwardbound pioneers who were stopped by a blizzard at the gateway ...

The fastest way to see California’s iconic Donner Pass is to cruise Interstate 80 between Truckee and Reno. But if you really want to experience the environment and culture of one of the state’s most ...

With snow drifts 20-feet deep, seven men approach Donner Lake and spy a cabin near the east end of the shore. As they approach, a frail woman appears and in a weak voice asks, “Are you men from ...

Ranger Mike Rominger points to a ribbon tied to a wagon wheel, which helped pioneer children count the wheel’s revolutions to determine mileage covered. The replica of an 1846 covered wagon is part of ...