A Woman’s Work is Never Done
I just couldn’t figure out how to operate that dang Snowblower, so the Mrs. agreed to teach me… it took several weeks for me to get the hang of it 😉
(From the Feb 2000 archives)
________________________
Truckee:
About this time every year, I reminisce about the years I lived in one of the Snowiest Locations in the United States, Truckee, California.
Truckee is located on the Eastern Side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near Reno, Nevada. Didn’t have much of a camera in those days; made do with a point and shoot as it was easier to handle when cross country skiing or snow shoeing.
Truckee has an average of 204.3 inches (5.19 m) of snow annually, which makes it the fifth snowiest city in the United States.
Winters are extremely snowy and cold if not severe, while summers are cool-to-warm and dry, with occasional periods of intense thunderstorms.
Truckee’s location near the Sierra Nevada crest at 1,798 meters (5,899 ft.) provides conditions for winter storms to commonly deposit nearly a meter of snow in a 24-hour storm event and the occasional week-long storm event can deliver 2 to 3 meters (79 to 118 in) of snow.
The Donner Party Wagon Train: (1846)
The Donner Party ordeal is arguably Truckee's most famous historical event. In 1846, a group of settlers from Illinois, originally known as the Donner-Reed Party but now usually referred to as the Donner Party, became snowbound in early fall because of an early onset of winter that year. Choosing multiple times to take shortcuts to save distance compared to the traditional Oregon Trail, coupled with infighting, a disastrous crossing of the Utah salt flats, and the attempt to use the pass near the Truckee River (now Donner Pass) all caused delays in their journey.
Finally, a large, early blizzard brought the remaining settlers to a halt at the edge of what is now Donner Lake, about 1,200 feet (370 m) below the steep granite summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains and 90 miles (140 km) east of their final destination, Sutter's Fort (near Sacramento).
Several attempts at carting their few remaining wagons, oxen, and supplies over the summit—sometimes by pulling them up by rope—proved impossible due to freezing conditions and a lack of any preexisting trail. The party returned, broken in spirit and short of supplies, to the edge of Donner Lake. A portion of the camp members also returned to the Alder Creek campsite a few miles to the east.
During the hard winter the travelers endured starvation and were later found to have practiced cannibalism. Fifteen members constructed makeshift snowshoes and set out for Sutter's Fort in the late fall but were thwarted by freezing weather and disorientation.
Only seven survived: two were lost, and six died. Those who died were used as food by those who remained. The Truckee camp survivors were saved by a Reed Party member who had set out ahead after having been ejected from the party months earlier, for killing another man in a violent argument. Seeing that his group never arrived at Sutter's Fort, he initiated several relief parties.
Of the original 87 settlers in the Donner-Reed party, 48 survived the ordeal. The Donner Memorial State Park is dedicated to the settlers and is located at the East End of Donner Lake.
- Wikipedia
A Woman’s Work is Never Done
I just couldn’t figure out how to operate that dang Snowblower, so the Mrs. agreed to teach me… it took several weeks for me to get the hang of it 😉
(From the Feb 2000 archives)
________________________
Truckee:
About this time every year, I reminisce about the years I lived in one of the Snowiest Locations in the United States, Truckee, California.
Truckee is located on the Eastern Side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, near Reno, Nevada. Didn’t have much of a camera in those days; made do with a point and shoot as it was easier to handle when cross country skiing or snow shoeing.
Truckee has an average of 204.3 inches (5.19 m) of snow annually, which makes it the fifth snowiest city in the United States.
Winters are extremely snowy and cold if not severe, while summers are cool-to-warm and dry, with occasional periods of intense thunderstorms.
Truckee’s location near the Sierra Nevada crest at 1,798 meters (5,899 ft.) provides conditions for winter storms to commonly deposit nearly a meter of snow in a 24-hour storm event and the occasional week-long storm event can deliver 2 to 3 meters (79 to 118 in) of snow.
The Donner Party Wagon Train: (1846)
The Donner Party ordeal is arguably Truckee's most famous historical event. In 1846, a group of settlers from Illinois, originally known as the Donner-Reed Party but now usually referred to as the Donner Party, became snowbound in early fall because of an early onset of winter that year. Choosing multiple times to take shortcuts to save distance compared to the traditional Oregon Trail, coupled with infighting, a disastrous crossing of the Utah salt flats, and the attempt to use the pass near the Truckee River (now Donner Pass) all caused delays in their journey.
Finally, a large, early blizzard brought the remaining settlers to a halt at the edge of what is now Donner Lake, about 1,200 feet (370 m) below the steep granite summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains and 90 miles (140 km) east of their final destination, Sutter's Fort (near Sacramento).
Several attempts at carting their few remaining wagons, oxen, and supplies over the summit—sometimes by pulling them up by rope—proved impossible due to freezing conditions and a lack of any preexisting trail. The party returned, broken in spirit and short of supplies, to the edge of Donner Lake. A portion of the camp members also returned to the Alder Creek campsite a few miles to the east.
During the hard winter the travelers endured starvation and were later found to have practiced cannibalism. Fifteen members constructed makeshift snowshoes and set out for Sutter's Fort in the late fall but were thwarted by freezing weather and disorientation.
Only seven survived: two were lost, and six died. Those who died were used as food by those who remained. The Truckee camp survivors were saved by a Reed Party member who had set out ahead after having been ejected from the party months earlier, for killing another man in a violent argument. Seeing that his group never arrived at Sutter's Fort, he initiated several relief parties.
Of the original 87 settlers in the Donner-Reed party, 48 survived the ordeal. The Donner Memorial State Park is dedicated to the settlers and is located at the East End of Donner Lake.
- Wikipedia