Images of America: Donner Summit history and families homesteaded on the

and families homesteaded on the Great Plains

In a frantic effort to reach California before winter

and other businesses that were safe for Black travelers

only to be trapped by blinding snow and bitter storms

But while the Transcontinental has often been celebrated in national memory

Images of America: Donner Summit history and families homesteaded on theThe pass over Donner Peak in Northern California is known as Donner Summit and has been a critical route across the Sierra Nevada Mountains for centuries. First it was used by Native Americans, then early settlers, and then emigrant wagon trains such as those used by the ill fated Donner Party, in whose honor the region is named. The first transcontinental railroad in the United States and the first transcontinental highway in America both made use of