On Oct. 5, 1846, John Snyder was angry that James Reed’s slow-moving heavy wagon was keeping the Donner Party from making ...

Back in May 1891, Truckee was abuzz with treasure fever. While on a fishing excursion near Donner Lake, Edward Reynolds uncovered a cache of coins near the shore, claiming that they had been buried by ...

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 ...

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.

In 1846, at Green River, Wyoming, Capt. Charles Imus of Santa Cruz was being lectured on why he was a fool not to take the ...

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 ...

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts. This Sunday’s books pages include a review of the memoir ‘Searching for ...

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 ...

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 ...