Donner Pass

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Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, close to Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada. Its maximum elevation is 7,085 feet (2160 m) above sea level. It is a narrow pass with a very steep approach from the east, and a gradual approach from the west.

History

To get to the Donner Pass, pioneers had to travel through several forts, including Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie. The trail to the pass also passes through the Ruby Mountains and the Great Basin.

It was the location where, in the winter of 1846–1847, the Donner Party became trapped and some of its members resorted to cannibalism in order to survive.

In the mid-1860s the Central Pacific Railroad built a portion of the first transcontinental railroad over the pass. Until the 1970s, Central Pacific's successor, the Southern Pacific Railroad, maintained a roundtable and service center on the pass. This railroad is still in heavy use, although the traffic now runs through a tunnel slightly to the south of the pass.

Geography

The Donner Pass Road runs through the Donner Pass. Interstate 80 crosses the Sierra crest through the Euer Saddle which is approximately two miles to the north. Euer Saddle is slightly higher than the Donner Pass, but it is also much wider.

Weather

The weather in Donner pass is brutal. Ski resorts in the Lake Tahoe area report an average of 300"-500" of snowfall per season.[1] Winds in the pass can also become extreme. These factors, along with others were what caused the famous Donner party incident.