History + Museums
EXPLORE TRUCKEE
Donner Memorial State Park & Visitor Center The Pioneer Monument statue at the entry to the park honors all who made the difficult trek across the western plains and mountains to reach California during the 1840s. Compelling new exhibits tell the stories of the emigrant experience, the Donner Party, the land of the Washoe, Chinese construction of the railroad, and early motoring adventures over Donner Pass. Tours available in the summer months. parks.ca.gov; 530-582-7892; 12593 Donner Pass Rd, Donner State Memorial Park, Truckee
Timeline 1844 Stephens-TownsendMurphy Party: first emigrant wagon train that successfully crossed the Sierra and get to California with wagons.
1840
1910 Hollywood film companies began establishing Truckee as a center for the budding motion picture industry. (Charlie Chaplin’s the Gold Rush, the highest grossing comedy, 1927).
1863–1865 Gray’s Station Coburn’s Station (later re-named Truckee).
1846–1848 Thousands of emigrants passed westward through the Truckee Basin en route to California.
1850
1860
1866 First lumber mill. 1903 First motorized crossing of the U.S. went over Donner Pass (George Wyman)
1885 First trans-Sierra bicycle crossing. Thomas Stevens then continued across the country and around the world. 1870
1880
1900s 1890
1890s–1920s Truckee is established as a winter sports destination. 1846 The Donner Party, unable to cross the mountain summit, is forced to camp on the east end of Donner Lake.
1862–1866 Construction of the Dutch Flat & Donner Lake Wagon Road.
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1915 First transcontinental telephone line goes into service over Donner Summit with a four way phone call from Alexander Graham Bell, President Taft, and the president of ATT to Watson at the Panama Pacific Expo. The line was built in 1914.
1920
1910
About 1920 the first transcontinental air route goes over Donner Summit.
1868 Ice was first harvested in the Truckee Basin at Boca.
1866-1868 Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad 40 miles of snowsheds were built to protect the RR. This allowed the trains to keep running (barring avalanche and fires).
1875 The Boca Brewing Company brought more fame to Boca than any other industry.
1913-1915 Large winter carnivals were held in Truckee to pump up the local economy by bringing thousands of winter tourists to Truckee.
