tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586104591124883214.post5905247435252201912..comments2024-03-20T17:21:09.119-07:00Comments on Tattered and Lost EPHEMERA: BRIDGES: Donner Lake BridgeTattered and Losthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00208918251232477186noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586104591124883214.post-57864686079400896882012-10-30T11:06:18.486-07:002012-10-30T11:06:18.486-07:00I was on that Oatman pass a few years ago. Not muc...I was on that Oatman pass a few years ago. Not much of a road anymore, but very interesting. <br /><br />Love the story about your great aunt. Wonderful to hear stories of women who just went full bore ahead with their lives.<br /><br />That same trip of my grandparents had them switching sides of the car as we drove them up along the Klamath river. Back then a lot of two lane roads did not have guardrails and my grandmother especially couldn't handle the straight down the cliff view she had.Tattered and Losthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00208918251232477186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586104591124883214.post-60897356427068151152012-10-22T19:37:22.042-07:002012-10-22T19:37:22.042-07:00Oh, such interesting phobias. People used to be f...Oh, such interesting phobias. People used to be frightened by Oatman Pass on 66 near Needles and to drive it now is so ho hum. Perhaps it was all the rocks on both Donner and Oatman. On the latter, men would sit on the Kingman side and offer to drive cars down the grade for a fee. My grandmother had an aunt that ran a boarding house in Taft CA and would drive to LA over the Ridge Route all by herself in the 1920s---the family thought she was exceedingly brave. If you didn't boil over or loose your brakes it was considered a lucky crossing. There were even some carjackings in that period. Today you have to go far off the beaten path to have any sort of adventure. DN Cherokee CAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586104591124883214.post-37966568553508078722012-10-14T21:16:54.879-07:002012-10-14T21:16:54.879-07:00You're right about I-80. And I'm trying to...You're right about I-80. And I'm trying to remember exactly how the power lines went through on that side of the lake. I made that journey to Truckee from the Soda Springs area hundreds and hundreds of times, even during heavy snow storms.<br /><br />I recall in the summer of I believe '62 my grandparents came west to visit. My grandfather would not drive Donner Pass and so they waited in Reno for my dad. He took a bus to Reno and then drove them to our home. When they made the return trip to PA we drove them back to Reno. My grandfather had no trouble driving over the Rocky's, but the Sierra's scared him. I remember riding down the summit to the lake and they were blasting the hillside where I-80 was to be built. <br /><br />Yes, Donner Pass Road closes every winter. And amazingly there is one cabin that was built many decades ago that I've always wondered about. In the winter I don't know if the owners ever visit it. If they do it must be incredible with the silence and the view, especially at dawn when the mountain is laden with snow.Tattered and Losthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00208918251232477186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586104591124883214.post-44125800955042202942012-10-14T19:59:40.601-07:002012-10-14T19:59:40.601-07:00Love old California highways and you're person...Love old California highways and you're personal story here. I believe what appears to be a new road cut in the background of this image is a clear cut for power lines, not construction for what would become I-80. The angle is wrong (it would be descending left to right from the viewer's perspective), for one, and the writing on the negative suggests circa 1940 to 50 at the latest, long before there was a need for four lanes. Didion wrote about what a big deal it was for Donner Pass to open after long winter closures.... Daniel Nauman Cherokee CAAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com