Donner Summit Historical Society

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Donner Summit Historical Society

Donner Summit has been called the most historic square mile in the American West. This page will help you find out why.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJenAxPCb47Y14agmVGI-zA

14/04/2026

Today's post is for those Serenites out there. This is a then and now comparison of photos of Serene Lakes. The top one is from 1946 which shows the modern level of the lakes after the 8 ft dam was built on Serena Creek. Before the dam was built there were three separate lakes, Serena, Sybil, and Dulzura. After the dam raised the level of the lakes, Sybil became part of Serena. At this time the first Ice Lakes Lodge was under construction and there were some tent cabins on lake Dulzura (shown on left side of photo). There was only one road and it crossed over an isthmus between the two lakes, which is now gone (shown in bottom photo).

10/04/2026

Today we look back on historical events that resulted in the Donner namesake for the Summit area. The two well dressed senior women are sisters Virginia and Patty Reed, two of the original Donner Party. The event on June 6, 1910 was the dedication of the foundation of the Donner Pioneer Memorial that stands today at Donner State Park. Virginia and Patty were children in the winter of 1846 and were in their seventies when they posed for this photo in 1910. It would be another 8 years before the monument would be finished.

20/03/2026

Our photo today from the 1930s shows how RVers were traveling over the Summit on Highway 40, long before the I80 freeway. This was quite the "rig" for its time.

06/03/2026

Some early "kite" skiing at Donner Ski Ranch (tic)

15/02/2026

Remember when...
At this time while the winter Olympics is going on in Italy, it's a good time to remember when they came to the Tahoe area in 1960 at Squaw Valley. Today's photos are of two Donner Summit residents that carried the Olympic torch - Norm Sayler and Starr Walton.

02/02/2026

Here is what pre-downhill "skiing" at Donner Summit was like in the 1930s. Check out the "rumble seat" ski rack.

28/01/2026

If you were heading up to the Summit around 1950, to do a little skiing, you might have been staying at the Cisco Grove Lodge. Today's photo illustrates what your experience might have been like going up Old Highway 40 and staying at the lodge. (It's all gone today)

10/01/2026

Things that don't exist anymore...
Back in the day of steam locomotives chugging over Donner Summit, there were several whistle stops where train crews and railroad maintenance crews hung out to keep the trains running over the summit. Today's photo shows a cab-forward locomotive stopped at the Stanford "station" (named for Leland of course). The other photo is an old section map that shows where some of these little whistle stops were. As railroad technology progressed and diesel engines replaced the water guzzling steamers, there wasn't a need for these small stops. Today the locomotives are gone and so are the stops.

31/12/2025

Anybody at this Christmas party at the Royal Gorge Wilderness Lodge circa 2000??

15/12/2025

Today we have a little video snapshot of the old snow shed complex at Norden around 1990. At that time there were still wooden snow sheds and also a wooden covered turntable. Norden was a critical depot for trains heading east and west over Donner Pass and through the Summit Valley.

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