There was a video done by Ken Burns’s brother, Ric Burns, about the Donner Party and at the end they show a mounted cowboy reaching up to a stump from a tree cut down by the Donner party. Very impressive film. It used to be on YouTube, but just looking I can’t find it there. Used to show it to my 7th grade history class before Christmas break to get them into the mood for snow and to teach them how tough people had to be in the past just to survive. (And I don’t know how tough the people eaten were, the film didn’t get into that!)
At one point a rescue mission arrived but it was too deep for the children to be able to leave, so one mother had to leave her two-year old son in the charge of her eight-year old daughter. The girl and boy both survived to be evacuated by the next rescue party. Kids had to grow up fast back in the day.
#12 Go to google and type: Donner Party tree stumps
Click on Images
The Donner party found a vacation spot but just did not know it.....
Also: Donner Memorial State Park and Pioneer Monument
Located in the beautiful Sierra Nevada, Donner Memorial State Park offers summer vacationers ample opportunities for camping, picnicking, boating, fishing, water-skiing and hiking. In winter, visitors can cross-country ski and snowshoe on the park’s trails.
Visitors are welcome year-round at the Donner Memorial State Park Visitor Center and at the Pioneer Monument, built to commemorate those who emigrated to California in the mid-1800s. The Visitor Center features exhibits that tell the stories of the Donner Party, the Land of the Washoe, Chinese construction of the railroad and more.