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Posts Tagged ‘Donner Pass’

Two snowy views of Lincoln Highway, Donner Pass

January 21, 2009

Grant Gassman, a member of the Lincoln Highway California Chapter, took these photos on January 10, 2009, of the Lincoln Highway at Donner Pass and Paul Gilger kindly sent them on. The first photo is a wonderful vista of Donner Lake and the road, taken with a zoom lens from the lookout at the end of the Rainbow Bridge atop Donner Pass.

The second photo is the original Lincoln Highway alignment underpass under the Transcontinental Railroad, and part of the adjacent China Wall. You can see how the snow drifts completely over the old road, even from just a modest snowfall.

Tags:CA, Donner Pass, highway history, Lincoln Highway
Posted in highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, transportation, travel | 1 Comment »

Newsreel: 1952 Donner Pass blizzard strands train

December 5, 2008

With Wintry weather hitting much of the country, here’s a newsreel from more than a half-century ago reminding us of the dangers atop infamous Donner Pass. The Lincoln Highway crossed the Sierra Nevadas here starting in 1913. The 222 passengers aboard the “City of San Francisco” were stranded for days in up to 20 feet of snow. This newsreel, with dramatic music and narration, details their rescue. The pass is of course named for a party of overland emigrants who were trapped by early snows.

Tags:California, Donner Pass, Lincoln Highway, rescue of snowbound train, Sierra Nevadas, snowbound, train stuck in snow
Posted in film/video, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, transportation | 1 Comment »

Snow closes I-80 in CA, but pretty along old LH

January 28, 2008

An AP story this morning reports that snow has forced the closure of I-80 between Sacramento and Reno, Nevada, where it is parallel to (and often intertwined with) the Lincoln Highway in eastern California. Eastbound I-80 was closed at Colfax (50 miles NE of Sacramento) and westbound traffic was being held at the Nevada state line. Meanwhile, floods, mudslides, and winds are battering southern California.

For a calmer take on winter weather, Paul Gilger, Chair of the Lincoln Highway Association National Mapping Committee, sent along these images from brothers Greg and Grant Gassman, members of the California chapter of the LHA. A few weeks ago, they took these photos of the original 1913 alignment through Kingvale up near Donner Pass. The first one is looking east on the 1913 alignment just before it rejoins the 1926 alignment on Donner Pass Road (which does get plowed):

CA_DonSnow1