{"nrhp_refnum":"66000218","name":"Donner Camp","other_names":["Donner Camp Sites","Donner Memorial State Park"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"2.6 mi. W of Truckee on U.S. 40","address_restricted":false,"city":"Truckee","county":"Nevada County","state":"CA","lat":39.37944071100006,"lon":-120.16028554774996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-10-15","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1961-01-20","areas_of_significance":["Exploration/Settlement","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Three non-contiguous sites near Truckee, Nevada County, California, where the Donner Party made its snow-bound winter camps in 1846-47: the Murphy and Breen-Keseberg cabin sites and the Reed-Graves cabin site, plus the Alder Creek camp of George and Jacob Donner.","why_significant":"The sites mark the winter camps of the Donner Party, 87 California-bound emigrants who suffered what the nomination calls the worst disaster in the record of western migration. Starvation, death and cannibalism turned the journey into an epic story of heroism and despair. The sites memorialize the survivors' will to survive.","narrative":"Near Truckee, California, three groups of sites preserve the places where the Donner Party spent the winter of 1846-47. The Murphy and Breen-Keseberg cabin sites lie within Donner Memorial State Park, the Reed-Graves cabin site is across the highway to the east, and the Alder Creek camp of George and Jacob Donner sits about five miles north in Tahoe National Forest. Little physical evidence survives: a large rock beside the Murphy site, a 1918 pioneer family statue, a wooden cross, and interpretive signs. Snow trapped the emigrants in early November 1846 after a delayed journey that included Hastings' cutoff. Of the 87 people, about 42 died, and some survivors resorted to eating the dead. Four relief expeditions brought out the rest. The sites are recognized as the scene of the worst disaster in western overland migration and as a memorial to survival. A museum operates at the state park.","period_of_significance":"1846-47","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Both the state park and the Alder Creek site are open during daylight hours; the state park has a museum. The original cabins no longer exist.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:32.011553-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/66000218_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000218/b8ba6f0736-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000218/b8ba6f0736-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Joe Parks from Berkeley, CA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donner_Memorial_State_Park_-_Flickr_-_Joe_Parks.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Joe Parks from Berkeley, CA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donner_Memorial_State_Park_-_Flickr_-_Joe_Parks.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857984","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Memorial_State_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3363979"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/nevada-county/donner-camp-66000218/"}