Donner Memorial State Park - 6.26.2007

Donner Memorial State Park is a state park located near Truckee, California. The park is named after the ill-fated Donner Party and contains a museum and monument to them.
The Donner Camp site at Alder Creek, where the Donner families were trapped by weather during the winter of 1846-1847, has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Caught without shelter or adequate supplies, members of the group resorted to cannibalism to survive.
The park today has 2.5 miles of hiking trails and 3 miles of lake frontage adjacent to Donner Lake.
The Schallenberger plaque reads: SCHALLENBERGER CABIN SITE - Near this spot stood a small cabin built by 18-year-old Moses Schallenberger and two other men. They were members of the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy party of 1844, the first pioneers to take wagons over the Sierra Nevada, opening the Truckee Route of the California Trail. The three men had volunteered to remain behind and guard six of the wagons left here by the main party. Due to extreme winter weather conditions and lack of food, the three men agreed to separate. The two older men rejoined the wagon party, but due to his weakened physical condition, Moses Schallenberger chose to remain at the cabin. The young man survived for nearly three months alone in the small cabin during the winter of 1844-45 before being rescued. His cabin would later provide shelter for the Breen family, members of the ill-fated Donner Party, who were stranded here in 1846-47. The courage and resolution of Moses Schallenberger during his solitary winter ordeal in this cabin makes him one of the true heroes in the saga of the California Trail. Dedicated August 19, 1995 \ Nevada County Historical Landmarks Commission \ Calif. Dept. of Parks and Recreation \ Nev-01-95 \ This monument was made possible through the generosity of many groups and individuals committed to the preservation of the California Trail.