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Title
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Donner Party, Statue
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Biographical Text
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Bronze memorial depicting three settlers looking to the West, sitting atop a 22 foot tall stone platform made of local granite. A bronze plaque is on the front and the back of the monument.
This is officially called “The Pioneer Monument.” It was dedicated in June of 1918 and erected on behalf of The Native Sons and The Native Daughters of the American West. The statue is in Donner Memorial State Park, near where the Donner Party attempted to pass through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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Text
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[Front of statue]
VIRILE TO RISK AND FIND; KINDLY WITHAL AND A READY HELP. FACING THE BRUNT OF FATE; INDOMITABLE,—UNAFRAID.
[Back of statue]
DONNER PARTY
NEAR THIS SPOT STOOD THE BREEN CABIN OF THE PARTY OF EMIGRANTS
WHO STARTED FOR CALIFORNIA FROM SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS,
IN APRIL 1846, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF CAPTAIN GEORGE DONNER.
DELAYS OCCURRED AND WHEN THE PARTY REACHED THIS LOCALITY, ON
OCTOBER 29, THE TRUCKEE PASS EMIGRANT ROAD WAS CONCEALED BY SNOW.
THE HEIGHT OF THE SHAFT OF THE MONUMENT INDICATES THE DEPTH OF THE
SNOW, WHICH WAS TWENTY-TWO FEET. AFTER FUTILE EFFORTS TO CROSS
THE SUMMIT THE PARTY WAS COMPELLED TO ENCAMP FOR THE WINTER.
THE GRAVES CABIN WAS SITUATED ABOUT THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILE TO
THE EASTWARD, THE MURPHY CABIN ABOUT TWO HUNDRED YARDS SOUTHWEST OF
THE MONUMENT, AND THE DONNER TENTS WERE AT THE HEAD OF ALDER CREEK.
NINETY PEOPLE WERE IN THE PARTY AND FORTY-TWO PERISHED, MOST OF T
HEM FROM STARVATION AND EXPOSURE.
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE PIONEERS WHO CROSSED THE PLAINS TO SETTLE IN CALIFORNIA. MONUMENT ERECTED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NATIVE SONS AND THE NATIVE DAUGHTERS OF THE GOLDEN WEST.
MONUMENT DEDICATED JUNE 6, 1918
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Date Created
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1918-06-06
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Type
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English
Statue
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Project Researcher
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Bysterbusch, Hailey
