California State Parks will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the impressive emigrant monument at Donner Memorial State Park on June 9, complete with a rededication ceremony followed by family activities. Erected after 20 years of effort in the early 1900s, this thought-provoking tribute to America’s westward pioneer families has withstood a century of harsh Tahoe Sierra winters. Year after year, the cast-bronze parents protecting their small children on top of the pedestal resolutely face west, determined to cross Donner Pass.
Year after year, the cast-bronze parents protecting their small children on top of the pedestal resolutely face west, determined to cross Donner Pass.
America’s storied yet controversial westward expansion movement in the mid-19th Century is being re-written by scholars and historians focused on the cultural and environmental impacts of this historic migration. However, when it comes to the pioneer monument at Donner Memorial State Park, the focus on family is appropriate. A large portion of the overland emigrants traveling in wagon companies consisted of small or extended families. During the Donner Party entrapment in the winter of 1847, family units far surpassed single men in survival rates.
Schoolteacher Charles F. McGlashan first moved to Truckee in 1872, where natural curiosity led him to learn more about the Donner Party wagon train and what really happened that winter. He explored the encampment sites near Donner Lake and at Alder Creek Meadows north of Truckee. McGlashan interviewed many of the survivors and in 1879 published his book, “History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of the Sierra.” McGlashan’s research was unprecedented at the time and his book is still considered a classic.
June 9
Centennial Celebration | Donner Memorial State Park
11 a.m. | Rededication ceremony
Noon-4 p.m. | Free family activities
5:30-9 p.m. | Centennial Fundraising Gala | sierrastateparks.org
The compelling story convinced him that a significant monument was needed at the site of the Donner Lake encampment. McGlashan spoke to the California service organization Native Sons of the Golden West (NSGW) about raising money for the project. He told them that he would allow them to republish his Donner Party book with profits earmarked for a statue. Other financing could come from selling small glass vials containing wood from a log used to build one of the emigrant’s cabins. Further financial help would come from the Native Daughters of the Golden West, as well as the state legislature.
McGlashan’s dream took a first step toward reality in 1898 when the NSGW initiated an effort to fund a monument. The organization appointed Nevada City dentist Dr. Chester W. Chapman as chairman of their Donner Monument Committee in charge of fundraising. Dr. Chapman brought much-needed energy and organizational skills to the endeavor, but he also asserted that it should be dedicated as the Pioneer Monument to honor all overland emigrants, not just the Donner group. He also envisioned a bronze statue of a lone male figure gazing west with a hand shielding his brow, atop a 22.5-foot tall pedestal. Native Sons membership is restricted to people born in California and in the late 1800s; many in the order were the children of those intrepid argonauts. Chapman’s idea to recognize all who crossed the plains spoke to the pride of those who wished to honor the memory of their forefathers.
In contrast, McGlashan was adamantly opposed to Chapman’s proposal. He told the committee that the monument was going to be built on the exact site of one of the three cabins that sheltered the emigrants at the lake. McGlashan himself had excavated the location and found period artifacts like dishes and cooking utensils. It was McGlashan’s measurements of tall tree stumps cut during the winter of 1847 that dictated the 22.5-foot height of the pedestal for the monument, representing the depth of snow that winter. (An analysis by this writer of the peak snowpack at Donner Lake in 1847 suggests a maximum depth of about 17 feet but reducing the number by 5 feet or so would have made no difference to the starving emigrants.)
McGlashan also pointed out that the land at the east end of Donner Lake was owned by Joe Marzen, a Truckee butcher who grazed cattle there. Marzen had donated the one-acre site for the monument, but the deed stipulated that the parcel was granted expressly for a Donner Party memorial.
Beyond the Chapman-McGlashan schism, fundraising was slow going. Dr. Chapman wanted to raise $25,000 or more for an appropriately-sized structure, but many, including San Francisco’s mayor James Phelan, felt that a simple engraved slab of polished granite would suffice. Chapman resisted all efforts to economize the project and his committee scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony with the placement of a cornerstone to signal the forthcoming monument. Held on May 11, 1910, McGlashan was chosen to turn the first spade of soil. He solemnly removed his hat, gazed toward the sky and dedicated the patch of earth to the men, women and children of the Donner Party. There is no record of any comment by Dr. Chapman, who was present.
Completed in 1917, the base pedestal for the pioneer statue was constructed of rock and gravel from around Donner Lake. Chapman wanted a lone pioneer figure for the statue, but it was San Francisco sculptor John McQuarrie’s rendition of an emigrant family that was selected for casting. The male figure atop the pedestal today is 16 feet high; the total weight is 18 tons. The final blow to McGlashan’s support of the project came when Chapman insisted that the wording on the pedestal’s east-facing plaque be changed from “On this spot stood the Breen cabin…” Chapman reiterated that the monument was being dedicated to all pioneers and their character; mentioning the Donner Party placed other emigrants in the background. McGlashan testified to the committee that the monument was situated on the “exact site” of the Breen cabin, but today the wording reads “Near this spot …”
All eight remaining survivors of the Donner Party were invited to the dedication ceremony on June 6, 1918, but only three felt healthy enough to appear. Nearly 3,500 people attended the event, but instead of covered wagons there were 300 automobiles in the parking lot.
Angry and frustrated, McGlashan felt that his goal of a Donner Party memorial had been compromised — he never visited the site again. Dr. Chapman succeeded in his vital role as chairman of the monument committee, but due to procedural process, he was left off the Native Sons official list of committeemen. In the end, however, McGlashan’s dream prevailed since most park visitors today see the pedestal and statue as a monument to the Donner Party.
