Modern poetry

A good friend and Donner Party buff was inspired by the last blog entry to compose a poem of his own:

There once was a boy name of Donner
Who feared he would soon be a goner.
So he munched on his Pa
And made lunch of his Ma
But kept mum as a grim point of honor.

Needless to say, he wants to remain anonymous.

New museum delayed

Dedicated in September 1962, the Emigrant Trail Museum at Donner Memorial State Park is now aging and inadequate, and is scheduled for replacement. However, the construction of the new High Sierra Crossing Museum, slated to begin last month, has been pushed back a year due to a delay in matching federal transportation grants. The new museum is now expected to open in 2010.

In the meantime, the old museum will continue to operate. It presents the history of the Donner Pass area, including natural history, Native Americans, overland emigration, the Donner Party, the transcontinental railroad, and more.

Goings on

Lots going on on the Donner Party front, mostly writing: two articles in the last issue of Overland Journal, a review of Ethan Rarick's Desperate Passage for the next issue of OJ, co-authoring a chapter for the upcoming Donner Party archaeology book with Will Bagley, an article about the remains of a man found in 1847 and 1849 above Donner Lake for Crossroads, reviewing two manuscripts of Donner Party books, correspondence with Donner buffs, and oh, yeah, trying to finish my own chapter for the archaeology book. None of this would be particularly onerous in itself, but with the concomittant research, and coming all at once, it eats up an astonishing amount of time.

Other people have been busy, too. For instance somebody just posted these photos of the historical marker commemorating Johnson Crossing, near the site of Johnson's Ranch. The ranch was a landmark on the old emigrant trail, being the first American settlement on the western side of the Sierra Nevada; it was the staging area for the Donner relief parties. Johnson's Ranch is also commemorated by another marker in a Wheatland park, but this monument is some distance away from the actual ranch site.

By the way...

Those who're interested can purchase Overland Journal 26:1 (Spring 2008), which contains three Donner Party articles, from the Oregon-California Trails Association. Phone (888) 811-6282, toll-free, to make a credit card purchase. $5.00 per copy, plus postage. (Disclaimer: I have no financial interest in sales of the issue.)