Donner Summit Historical Society

16/07/2026

Today's post celebrates the recent designation of the Sierra Haus/Heidelmann Lodge as a Nevada County Historical Landmark. The original Sierra Haus was built in 1930 and burned down in 1943. The lodge was rebuilt in 1947 and named the Heidelmann Lodge. For more info see this link https://www.sierrasun.com/news/donner-pass-lodge-designated-nevada-county-historical-landmark/

14/07/2026

Norden really started out as a railroad maintenance complex. Railroad workers and their families lived in a row of houses connected to the snowsheds. Also under the sheds was a station, a restaurant, a maintenance shop and a large turntable for turning locomotives and snow removal equipment. The wood sheds were replaced with concrete sheds in the 70s. The turntable was damaged by heavy snow in 1983 and was removed. Today the concrete sheds are all that remain of the complex. For more photos of early Norden, check out this link https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=188645737%40N03&view_all=1&text=norden+railroad

10/07/2026

Another one bit the dust...
There is a recurring theme for all the small towns and villages that sprung up and then disappeared as the route to the Summit changed over time. Cisco Grove started as the location for the toll booth for the Dutch Flat Donner Lake Wagon Road before the railroad was finished in the 1860s. Later it became a stop along the Lincoln Highway and then a gas and food stop when Highway 40 opened up the Summit to automobile access after 1930. Then came I80 in the 1960s which allowed non-stop travel to the Summit which became the death knell for many of the stops like Cisco Grove. For more photos of the Cisco Grove area in our collection check out this link https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=188645737%40N03&view_all=1&text=cisco+grove

05/07/2026

Just a reminder to everyone that you can access the entire DSHS photo collection at our Flickr site.
188645737@N03/albums/" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/188645737@N03/albums/

04/07/2026

02/07/2026

Kingvale Park...
On the long drive up Highway 40 to the Summit in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Kingvale Park was a convenient spot to get some gas, a meal and maybe even some car repair work. As with most of these spots, activity was severely curtailed after I80 was built in the 60s.

25/06/2026

What's for dinner? - fresh Trout of course...
This was Herstle Jones' Rainbow Tavern, circa 1940, where you could catch your dinner at the trout farm and dine in style.

22/06/2026

Keeping up with the Joneses...
This would be hard to do at the Summit. The Jones family had a huge impact on the Summit area. Today's photo is of Oscar Jones on his horse in front of the Soda Springs hotel which he built in 1927. His brother Herstle built the Rainbow Tavern and Oscar's son Dennis was a driving force that made the Summit a commercial skiing success.

14/06/2026

Not exactly "picturesque"...
In 1967 at the top of Donner Pass, the Southern Pacific railroad had a working "yard". Highway 40 (at the top left of the top photo) had replaced the railroad passenger trains as the predominant people mover over the Summit. Many of those old passenger cars were stored at the yard. Trains still used the single track line that went through the wooden snow sheds at the entrance to Tunnel 6. All of the railroad infrastructure in these photos is gone now. (see last photo)

04/06/2026

Taking a family ride around the lakes...
This photo of a family of equestrians on a ride around Lake Dulzura is from the early 1960s. Back then, before cabins ringed the shores of Serene Lakes, there were stables at the lakes that you could rent a horse for the day and explore the forest around the lakes and/or ride down to Van Norden Meadow. When was the last time you saw a horse at the lakes?