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Destination Nevada County

Premium visitors magazine for Nevada County produced by the Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce

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Photo credit: Donner Summit Historical Society<br />

Train Tunnels, Chinese<br />

History and Urban Art<br />

at Donner Summit<br />

Research for an upcoming book prompted a plan to hike<br />

to the China Wall at Donner Pass. Mom must be humored<br />

at least one day a year (Mother’s Day). Driving an hour to<br />

Donner was an opportunity to get the family out of the<br />

house and learn some local history. Other than me, the<br />

dogs were the only members of the family who were truly<br />

enthusiastic about the outing from the get-go. But as<br />

the day wore on, everyone found something interesting to<br />

capture their imagination.<br />

Taking in the expansive views overlooking Donner Lake<br />

and trekking over gargantuan, sun warmed slabs of granite,<br />

one can not help thinking about the ancient hands<br />

that pecked away at the rock faces some 1,500 to 4,000<br />

years ago. Nomadic bands of Great Basin Indians spent<br />

many pleasurable hours here. They quenched their thirst<br />

from the streams that burble their way down to the lake<br />

below as they labored to record their thoughts and ideas<br />

in stone. The exact meaning of the 200 rock art designs<br />

DESTINATION <strong>Nevada</strong> <strong>County</strong> 167

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