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California Trail Interpretive Center patio gives plenty of space to
the Donner-Reed Party tragedy in the Sierra snows. That event made
Lansford Hastings infamous in the history of the American West. Copies
of his guide are still available at many California Trail visitor
centers. I bought mine at Fort Sutter in Sacramento CA; the goal for
most California Trail emigrants. Ironically the guide allots only
one page to the notorious "shortcut." |
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| The
quotes, center, are part of a larger interpretive panel. James Reed,
leader of the same-named faction of the emigrant party including the
Donner family, kept a daily journal. Virginia survived that terrible
winter of 1846-7. This segment of a sentence, written in a letter,
often repeated in history books, simply sums up the journey. |
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