History 1950 to 2008

CHANGES COME TO THE GAP

During the 1950s there were many changes in the Emigrant Gap area. Saw mills were closing, people were moving to more populated areas and passenger train travel was slowing.  Here is a excerpt from an article that details some of these changes:

With the transition to diesel, major changes took place in the infrastructure as well. The need of fire trains was lessened due to the transition. The Fire train at Emigrant Gap saw its demise by 1950. The fire hazard was reduced further as the sheds were converted to concrete, or torn down completely. There were other changes as well. When a new ice house was built in Roseville, the ice house in Truckee was shut down. Also during the early 50’s, lumber production dropped off and  very few lumber mills were left.   

Steam’s final hours saw the cab-forwards utilized for helper service out of Roseville. Their days now numbered, the steam engines were gradually dismantled as the purchase of diesels took place. Without the steam helpers to support them, the cookhouses at Norden and Emigrant Gap were forced to close. 

The passenger station at Emigrant Gap was small at best.  In earlier days, it also housed the telegraph office.  In Summer 1954 the Gold Coast [passenger train] would stop at Emigrant Gap for passengers to/from east of Ogden; it was discontinued January 1955.  There was no passenger stop at Emigrant Gap in the September 1955 employee timetable, not even for employees.  

Many of the railroad employees were relocated to other towns.  In Emigrant Gap, the employees were paid to tear down their cabins.  Sadly a lot of Emigrant Gap physical railroad history was lost due to this practice.  Today there is only a non manned maintenance building up at the tracks.  There are two railroad cabins that are private owned and one derelict railroad cabin that is boarded up and in sad shape.   

Here is a picture of the Nyack Lodge in 1950:

And a photo of Emigrant Gap in 1950. Note the double tracking:

THE STRANDED STEAMER

During the winter of 1952, the City Of San Francisco train got stuck in a record snow blizzard that raged for 3 days 4 miles up above Emigrant Gap.  When the passengers were finally rescued, they were taken to Nyack Lodge.  Emigrant Gap made national headlines once more for it's weather and the passenger train was featured in a Life Magazine article.  Below is a photo of the map that indicated where the train was caught.  The second picture is of the passengers as they left the train and walked to the Nyack Lodge and the third picture is of people huddled together on the train trying to keep warm. 

DONNER TRAIL MEMORIAL SKI MARTATHON 

During the late 40s and 1950s, an annual ski race was held between Donner Summit and Emigrant Gap.  The race was typically held in March and was 26 miles long.  The termination was the Rancho Sierra Hotel (up the road from our lodge).  Here are a few newspaper articles about the race:

MARCH 1951 Defending Champion Hans Holaas, a Norwegian exchange student and national cross country champion, will attempt to better the lime of 3:31.29, in which he won last year’s race. Tire chains were compulsory for travel in all snow areas, according to a State Chamber of Commerce report. Condltions; Yosemite (Valley)—No snow. Badger Pass—s 9 in. Spring skiing. good. Sequoia National Park (Giant Forest) —35 in. Wolverton—44 in. Corn surface, good. Kern County (Shirley Meadow area—lB in.

MARCH 1952

Skiing in Area Reported Good SAN FRANCISCO —(U.R) —Skiing conditions in the High Sierras were listed as excellent today, with the third annual Donner Trail Memorial cross country race topping the weekend schedule. The grueling 26-mile marathon will be held Sunday from the 7,-136-foot level of Donner Summit to the meadows of surrounding Rancho Sierra Inn at Emigrant Gap.

 Here is a photo of a car trapped in the snow during the 1952 season. 

MARCH 1953

Entries are now being received by Fran Couillard, Soda Springs, or Gratz Powers, at the Emporium, San Francisco, for the popular Donner Trail Memorial Cross Country Race on March 21.

The Grueling marathon is approximately 26 miles in length and follows a portion of the old Emigrant Trial from Donner Summit on U. S. 40 to Emigrant Gap. It is the longest "langlauf” race in the L T . S. Twenty six trophies are awarded to the winners with each completing racer receiving a completion pin, a bronze replica of the Donner Monument.

Donner Summit on U. S. 40 to Emigrant Gap. It is the longest "langlauf” race in the L T . S. Twenty six trophies are awarded to the winners with each completing racer receiving a completion pin, a bronze replica of the Donner Monument

Vet Wins Ski Race

EMIGRANT GAP. Calif. (UP)—A 22-ycar-old Army veteran pushed Ids nay through wet, sloppy snow to win the 25-mile, Donncr Trail ski Marathon in 4:17.15 yesterday. Olaf Brunsvick, bearing the col--11 a of the Tri-Pass Ski Club of Eugene. Ore., was discharged from the Army three weeks ago.

Clarence Servold of the University of Seattle, was only seconds behind Brunsvick with a clocked time of 4:18.11. Jack Meissner, also of Tri-Pass, was third in 1:19.05. In the 11-mile women’s race, Carol Welst, Tri-Pass Ski Club, crossed the finish line, first in 3:03.48. Other men’s finishers were: Lief Somerset, Sugar Bowl, Calif., Ski Club, 4:19.30; Jan Onsrud, University of Washington, 4:20.09; Irvin Servold, University of Seattle, 4:21.55; Gustav Bergwall, San Francisco, 4:24.50; Ron Miskamin. Tri-Pass, 4:25.33; Carl Soderberg, San Francisco 4:26.54; Augustin Maiasen, Dodge Ridge, Calif., 4:33.13. Women’s event: 2nd Prudence Smith, Danner Summit. 8:12.17; 3rd. Ruth Lamming San Francisco, 3:16.14.

Most of the cross country skiers who entered in this race would USAA champions and some were Olympic Team Members for both the US and other countries.  Here is a photo of Clarence Servold who was an Olympic Skier for Canada:

WINTER OLYMPICS AND I-80

We know that the entire summit became quite busy for the 1960's Squaw Valley Olympics - but we do not know if the Emigrant Gap Hotel/Lodge was rented out for that event.  We do know that Highway 80 came in around that time and much of Emigrant Gap's surviving structures were eliminated as a result of the Highway and reroute of the railroad line in the area. 

I received an email from someone who used to travel highway 40 in the 50s and how the turns and subway at Emigrant  Gap were quite frightful:

In the 1950's, my family went up to a cabin on Donner Lake twice a year on pre-I80 US 40! It was a 12-hour trip from Stockton to Donner Lake! I really don't remember the traffic being especially heavy on US 40, but every town and wide-spot enroute had a 25-mph speed limit! 

Getting through pre-freeway Sacramento and Roseville was a real time consuming experience! I remember US 40 going under the SP on the east end of Emigrant Gap through a very narrow subway, with hairpin curves on both sides; definitely not a place where you wanted to meet a truck! US 40 from Donner Summit down to Donner Lake was ALWAYS littered with three or four wrecked trucks and cars over the side! 

My first memories of the trains have cab forwards front and rear; a couple of years later, it was F-units on the front and cab forwards pushing; and yet another year later, steam was gone. The passenger trains were enormous; four or five Alco PA's and trains up to 25 or 30 cars long with five to eight paint schemes on the cars! Those WERE the "good old days"!

The motivation to finish I-80 started with the Winter Olympics in 1960. They finished most of I-80 in the area except the portion from west of the Gap eastward to Truckee, which wasn't completed until 1965-66. 

The biggest delay to this was, naturally, the snow which didn't melt until May or June and began falling by October. A four month construction season doesn't get much done. The 35 MPH was a pain, especially following trucks up the windy loops above the lake. 

As Brain said, that was why people took the train or flew. Road trips were an adventure in those days, but gas was 20 cents a gallon and motels $5 a night at the new chain called Best Western. I-80 would have been built, traffic or not. I believe the last piece of the Interstate Highway system to be completed was Glenwood Canyon in 1993, almost 40 years after the system got started. Not a railroad topic, but history.

Here is a photo from the building of I-80 in 1959 near Nyack Lodge.

SPACESHIP SIGHTING - 1964

Emigrant Gap is also known for one of the 6 major Northern California Spaceship sightings. Here is the article from the newspaper about the sighting:  

On Sept. 5, 1964, a 27-year-old Orangevale man, armed with a bow and arrow, set out on a deer hunt with friends near Emigrant Gap, a wooded area in the Sierra Nevada on the route to Lake Tahoe.

He got lost during the hunt and decided to sleep in a tree overnight, fastening himself to a branch with his belt.

He described what happened next to Victor Killick, then the operator of Sacramento City College’s observatory, who forwarded the story to the Air Force. Military officials recorded an interview with the married painter, who worked at a missile production plant.


While in the tree, the man noticed a glowing light hovering near a ridge. A vehicle appeared to land on the ridge and he heard the crackling sound of someone approaching in nearby shrubbery. Two “aliens” appeared below him, according to the documents.

“They were garbed in a silver-like suit but visually had the complete absence of a neck. These strange (individuals) has unusual facial features especially in the region of the eyes that protruded extensively,” the Air Force investigator wrote, summarizing his recorded interview with the hunter. They did not speak, only cooed like a dove, the hunter said.

A third “robot” appeared and the hunter fired arrows at it. He set fire to pieces of his camouflage gear, everything but his T-shirt, to try to signal help, but the beings had “violent reactions,” he told investigators.

Finally, the beings emitted a vapor and the hunter said he blacked out. When he awoke, it was dawn. He found his fellow hunters, returned home and family members told him to report the incident.

“He stated he knew the story was hard to believe and that he did not want to let it get out in the newspapers,” Killick wrote to the Mather base commanding officer. “He said he thought it was his duty to notify someone in authority to have the matter investigated, (as a public security matter).”

Asked by investigators why he got a physical shortly after the experience, the hunter said: “I didn’t know if I had contacted radioactivity.”

In the end, the Air Force attributed his encounter to “psychological causes,” saying it could have been an owl, “coupled with an overactive imagination.”  

OLD SPANISH TRAIL - NEVADA TO CALIFORNIA 1964

In 1964, the Governor of Nevada asked Sherwin "Scoop" Garside to design and implement a Centennial Project to help mark Nevada's 100 birthday.  Mr. Garside, friends and supporters created white concrete posts that were used to mark the trace of the Old Spanish Trail across the state.  The Boy Scouts of America helped to erect 33 of these markers across the Mojave Desert in Nevada  For some reason, Mr. Garside and a friend Mr. John Lytle also placed a marker at Emigrant Gap (probably due to the connection with the Spanish Trail and John C Fremont).  I have no idea where this marker is today but a photo of the marker with Mr. Garside and Mr. Lytle is available through the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Library website.  It is shown below.  If anyone knows the whereabouts of this marker and if any additional markers were placed on Donner Summit - please let us know and we will share with the Donner Summit Historical Society. 

Title:  Emigrant (Fremont) Gap on the Old Spanish Trail, California, circa 1960s

Description:

John Lytle (left) and Sherman "Scoop" Garside (right) at Emigrant (Fremont) Gap on the Old Spanish Trail.

Emigrant Gap is a gap in a ridge on the California Trail as it crosses the Sierra Nevada, to the west of what is now known as Donner Pass. Here the cliffs are so steep that, back in the 1840s, the pioneers on their way to California had to lower their wagons on ropes in order to continue.

The markers are inscribed with the legend "The Old Spanish Trail, 1829-1855."

There are still four Old Spanish Trail Historical Markers located in Nevada. One is located on U. S. 91 in Mesquite, the second is located in Fantasy Park, 1/4 mile east of Las Vegas Boulevard, North and Washington Avenue in Las Vegas, the third is located at Town Center in Blue Diamond, and the fourth is located on State 16 at Mountain Springs Summit.

Original Collection   

Elbert Edwards Photo Collection

TRAIN CRASH 1965 

In January of 1965 a westbound train stopped on the hill near Emigrant Gap (past the tunnel and on the bear valley side of I-80). Apparently, the train behind it got a green light to move forward due to a problem with the track, circuitry and automatic signaling and plowed into the rear end of the stopped train. 8 Railroad workers were hospitalized as a result of this crash and parts of both trains were strew on either side of the track requiring a "wrecker" to come in and clean up the mess. Photo below is of the wrecker cleaning up. It is followed by two photos of the Emigrant Gap train station taken in 1967, well after the train station had closed. One of the train station signs is currently on display at the Donner Summit Museum in Norden.

WOODMEN LODGE, THEN BRIGHTS LODGE 

The information I have on the Woodmen Lodge and Bright Lodge is very slim (Mrs. Bright passed away March 2012 and I have not been able to get information from her children). Property records during this period are only online from about 1979 forward.  


This is what I have found through the property records during the Bright era.  The lodge may have been purchased by Lloyd from William and Jeannette Calhoun on August 13, 1979.  The Calhouns show as owners from May 27, 1977 until that date (still to be confirmed).  From 1980 until 1983, the building was known as the Bright Family Lodge.  Then it moved into the name of Leona Bright, then the Bright Family Trust until it was sold on March 2 1994.    

I do know that Mr. Bright (Lloyd Vernon) was the manager of the Woodmen Accident and Life Insurance Company and Leona was president of the Sacramento Women's Council and the Juvenile Service Council and that they had 6 children (2 adopted).  The Woodmen connection explains why the Emigrant Gap Hotel was known as the Woodmen Lodge during this time.  I tried to contact some of the Bright children, but they have not gotten back in contact with me.   So for this period of our lodge, I will probably just have to use public records.  My wish is to add the personal history of the area during this period, but that is going to be a challenge. 

Additionally, the Brights or Woodmen leased out the Annex to a Christian Camp during the 70s and to a family that ran a bed and breakfast in the 80s.  The bed and breakfast rented rooms to skiers for $35 per room per person per night and space on the floor for $15 per night. We have been told it was a very rowdy and fun place. The B&B proprietors also added the deck on the side of the lodge.  

One of the children of the proprietors send us a recent email.  Here is an excerpt of the information he provided:

I used to live here at this place as a kid back in the early 80's (I think it was 1984 to 86). it was a wonderful place to live. I remember racing down the fire escape as a kid.  I also remember one time we built a sled run from the railroad trestle up top down to come across the old outdoor freezer.  My brothers were sitting down talking to a highway patrolman. I was about 6 years old.   I came down barreling through the snow sled ramp that we had built and landed across the top of a highway patrol cruiser.if I remember correctly I was close to getting that gentleman a complete heart attack.  

My brother Joe and two other girls were the graduating class of 1984 or 1985 from the Emigrant Gap Elementary School.   I remember we used to go up to Boreal once a week if we got all of our school work done.  In good rapport, we would go up to Boreal and go skiing for free. 

I also remember as a kid when they were logging (when logging was in a boom then) we would get moms big salad sandwiches, donuts and coffee and sell them to the loggers on their way out to the mill.  There was an old man and if I remember correctly we called him logger Dick.  He had one arm and it was such an amazing feat for a man with one arm to shift a four by four browning which is two sticks in one truck hauling logs at a Blue Canyon going to the mill.  He was my buddy and he gave me an old red Miller logging flag that came off of the back of his truck. 

I have heard from some people that called us the rowdy bunch that we would rent rooms out for $35 a night to some of the local workers and provide them breakfast and coffee and even a good conversation.  I also remember a payphone was our only way of communication going down the hallway on the left side towards my mom and dads bedroom.

The 70s were an interesting time for our nation and for California in general.  People started to explore alternative lifestyles and accept holistic forms of medicine.  I recently found out that we had an Alive Polarity Inn and Restaurant in the Emigrant Gap area that practiced holistic treatments.  

And here is an interesting story from the Emigrant Gap area - circa 1984.  It appears that Bigfoot (AKA Sasquash) has visited our area:

THE NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE - 1966

In 1966, PG&E offered a tree from Grouse Ridge area to President Johnson to be the National Christmas Tree.  The tree was Red Fir, 61 feet tall.  The tree was known as the George Washington tree, and although there are photos of it on Ebay and a video of it being delivered on u-Tube, both seem to be copyrighted.  Therefore, I will have to wait to add a photo of it when I find one that is not protected.  

The tree was placed by the George Washington Monument on the Capitol Mall.  It was a very narrow tree - but photographs show that it was quite lovely next to the monument.  

Here is a copy of the news article from the Colfax Register about the tree and a photo of the tree on the rail car:

Tree put Colfax on national stage in 1966 By: Nancy Hagman, Special to the Colfax Record

 “Much Ado in Colfax Over Nation’s Christmas Tree” – That was the headline in the Colfax Record issue of Thursday, Nov. 17, 1966. It was California’s year to provide the White House with the traditional national tree, and the Colfax area got the honor.
The tree selected to stand in front of the executive mansion was a perfectly proportioned red fir. It had been known at the George Washington tree and grew on Pacific Gas & Electric Company land on Grouse Ridge – at an elevation of 7,000 feet near Spaulding Lake in Nevada County – for over 80 years.

PG&E crews, assisted by professional tree lumberjacks from the Pacific Tree Company, cut the tree two days prior. It was carefully situated on a rack on a flatbed truck and brought to trackside in Colfax for transfer to a railcar. The intricately planned transaction was observed by Congressman and Mrs. Harold T. “Bizz” Johnson, as well as Placer County and PG&E dignitaries and the news media.
The “mechanical hands” of two company trucks were used to hold the tree upright for the cutting then slowly lowered it into the cradle prepared for it on the bed of the hauling truck.

On that rainy Tuesday the area behind what was then Sierra Fuel became a bustle of trucks, men in hard hats and a crowd on onlookers as the tree was readied for transfer from the truck to the railroad car. A special affair was arranged by the Colfax Area Chamber of Commerce under the direction of its president John Boehme. The Colfax High School band played for the send off.

The City of Colfax was represented by Councilman Jim Henry, who introduced Congressman Johnson. Johnson gave an overview of what was in store for the fallen giant from Grouse Ridge. Also on hand were Assemblyman Gene Chappie and Will Jones, chairman of the Placer County Board of Supervisors.

During the interval between the transfer and the Wednesday departure, the tree was wrapped for protection during its cross country journey.

PG&E was responsible for the cutting and delivery to the railroad. Four railroad lines took the reins for the safe transport to the east. Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Norfolk and Western and the Baltimore and Ohio relayed the majestic tree to Washington, D.C.

A core from the tree stump was presented to Congressman Johnson. He hand-finished it and placed it in his D.C. office.

Assisting Boehme with the trackside ceremony were chamber members Betty Velican, Melba James, Dick Wayland, Ken Quinn and Henry.

In Washington, D.C., the Christmas Pageant of Peace at the White House was carried on throughout the holiday season. The red fir was decorated with 6,000 white and yellow lights and metal stars. President Johnson lit the tree on Dec. 16 and the lights stayed on until midnight Jan. 2. Nightly programs were presented by choral groups, concert bands and other musical organizations.

The National Community Christmas Tree has been an annual event since 1923. That year a giant fir was cut from the Green Mountains and presented to President Calvin Coolidge. In 1925 the programs were broadcast for the first time.

Interestingly, Biz Johnson's wife Albra Irene was born at the Emigrant Gap Hotel in 1908.  She was the only daughter of Lillian Allen (Manuel).

EMIGRANT GAP INN

According to public records the lodge was next owned by Joseph and Shirley Jimerson. They purchased the building on March 2, 1994 and owned it as the Emigrant Gap Inn possibly until 2003 though the records are very vague.  We believe it was the Jimersons who added the fire escape on the back of the building and the deck.  

We have a record that the lodge was sold in October, 2003 for $258,000 possibly to Andrei and Irina Ivaschenko. Here is the only picture that we have of the lodge from 2003.  It was taken when a bicycle rider decided to retrace the route of George Wyman across the US on the 100th anniversary of the ride:

Here is the URL to the 100th anniversary bike ride (URL sent to us by a friend):

http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/rif_addams/index3.html 

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/retracing-the-first-forgotten-motorcycle-ride-across-america

EMIGRANT GAP HALFWAY HOUSE

We are not sure who had plans to make the lodge a halfway house - but we believe it was owned by Andrei and Irina Ivaschenko from 10/31/2003 until 2005.  In February 2005, the lodge was sold again for $450,000. It was owned by a group of Russians that wished to open a halfway house.  Due to the proximity of the lodge to the Emigrant Gap School, this did not ever occur.  However, we believe these owners remodeled the lower floor with new drywall, carpet, tile, light fixtures and bathroom fixtures. Unfortunately, the work they did on plumbing and wiring was not up to standard and we had to redo all of that.  

The Russians also removed the old bar and all the vintage photos from the walls of the lodge (and possibly/sadly just threw them away).  

The Lodge was sold again on November 13, 2008 for $379,111. It was listed for sale several times starting in February 2009.  The posted sale was during the economic downturn and started at $299,000 (a loss of about $150,000 for the owners).  The building was finally repossessed by the bank (Wells Fargo) and later sold to us.