Alder Creek (Nevada County, California)

Alder Creek Tributary to Prosser Creek
Alder Creek just below Fjord Road, Truckee
Location of Alder Creek mouth Show map of California Alder Creek (Nevada County, California) (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location
Country	United States
State	California
County	Nevada
Physical characteristics
Source	Negro Canyon divide
• location	Donner Ridge
• coordinates	39°22′59″N120°37′34″W / 39.38306°N 120.62611°W / 39.38306; -120.62611 [1]
• elevation	7,490 ft (2,280 m) [2]
Mouth	Prosser Creek
• location	Prosser Creek Reservoir, about 2 miles north-northwest of Polaris, California
• coordinates	39°22′39″N120°38′42″W / 39.37750°N 120.64500°W / 39.37750; -120.64500 [1]
• elevation	5,741 ft (1,750 m) [3]
Length	8.89 mi (14.31 km) [4]
Basin size	12.65 square miles (32.8 km2) [5]
Discharge
• location	Prosser Creek
• average	15.55 cu ft/s (0.440 m3/s) at mouth with Prosser Creek [5]
Basin features
Progression	Prosser Creek → Truckee River → Pyramid Lake
River system	Truckee River
Tributaries
• left	unnamed tributaries
• right	unnamed tributaries
Bridges	Skislope Way, Snowpeak Way, Fjord Road, Schussing Way, Alder Creek Road, CA 89

Alder Creek is a perennial stream in Nevada County, California, ^[6] mostly within the town of Truckee. Its source region near Donner Ridge is west of town, and its mouth at Prosser Creek Reservoir is north of town. It flows to the Truckee River via Prosser Creek.

Alder Creek panoramic view at Emigrant Trail footbridge

Alder Creek debouches into Prosser Creek Reservoir, at a location depending on the reservoir level, which is low here in October, 2020.

A beaver pond on Alder Creek

Donner Party Camp

As snowstorms stranded the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada during 1846, two camps were established where they would attempt to survive the winter. At Alder Creek Valley, a smaller group—including the Donner families—would settle in tents for the season. They had been stopped in the area to repair a broken wagon axle, after which George Donner injured himself making the repairs, and they were snowed in before they could move any further. The larger portion of the wagon party had traveled approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) further up the trail before the storm moved in, and established their camp near Truckee Lake (now known as Donner Lake), currently the site of Donner Memorial State Park ^{[7] [8]}

On October 16, 1960, a marker memorializing the Donner Camp at Alder Creek was embedded into a large stone boulder at what was believed to be their campsite. ^{[9] [10]} Shortly after, a picnic area was developed at the site by Tahoe National Forest, as part of the nearby Prosser Creek Reservoir project. ^{[9] [11]} This is located off California route 89, just north of the creek.

Preparatory to enhancements of the picnic area, a major archaeological excavation of the site took place in summer 1990. The excavation focused primarily on an area surrounding a 500-year-old ponderosa pine with a fire-scarred base, believed to be where George Donner hastily erected shelter for his family (this is also the location of the 1960 memorial plaque). ^{[12] [13]} The excavation failed to reveal any artifacts from the Donner period at the tree site. However, towards the end of the excavation, metal detectors were brought in and two other sites in the area, yielding artifacts from the appropriate period, were discovered. ^[14] Excavations in 1992 examined these sites more thoroughly. ^[15]

1996 memorial plaques

Plaque about the Donner women at the Alder Creek camp

Donner Party camp plaque, at the Alder Creek camp

New interpretive signs and memorial markers were added to the site as part of the sesquicentennial remembrance of the Donner Party during a gathering on September 28, 1996. ^[16] Additional archaeological excavations took place at the Donner Camp near Alder Creek during the early 2000s, and were noted for being unable to find any evidence of cannibalism at the site. ^{[17] [18]}

References

1. "GNIS Detail - Alder Creek". geonames.usgs.gov. US Geological Survey. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
2. "Get Maps". USGS Topoview. US Geological Survey. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
3. "Get Maps". USGS Topoview. US Geological Survey. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
4. "ArcGIS Web Application". epa.maps.arcgis.com. US EPA. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
5. "Alder Creek Watershed Report". US EPA Geoviewer. US EPA. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
6. "Alder Creek". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved November 4, 2020.
7. Dixon, Kelly J.; Novak, Shannon A.; Robbins, Gwen; Schablitsky, Julie M.; Scott, G. Richard; Tasa, Guy L. (2010). ""Men, Women, and Children Starving": Archaeology of the Donner Family Camp" (PDF). American Antiquity . 75 (3). Cambridge University Press: 628–630. doi:10.7183/0002-7316.75.3.627. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-11. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
8. Swords, Molly Elizabeth (2008). A Clean Slate: The Archaeology of the Donner Party's Writing Slate Fragments (PDF) (Master of Arts thesis). Missoula, Montana: University of Montana. pp. 9–11. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
9. "Donner Plaque Unveiled, Dedicated by Organizations from Two Counties". The Union . Grass Valley, California. October 17, 1960. p. 2. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
10. "Donners' Camp Site Is Marked At Dedication". The Sacramento Bee . Sacramento, California. October 17, 1960. p. C2. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
11. "Recreation at Prosser Backed by US Forestry". The Union . Grass Valley, California. May 31, 1962. p. 4. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
12. Sneed, David (June 15, 1990). "Archaeologists dig into area's past: Truckee excavation seeks answers about 1846 Donner wagon train tragedy". The Union . Grass Valley, California. pp. 1–2. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
13. Knudson, Tom (July 6, 1990). "Looking for the Donners". The Sacramento Bee . Sacramento, California. pp. A1, A18. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
14. Sneed, David (August 27, 1990). "History comes to life at Donner Camp". The Union . Grass Valley, California. p. 6. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
15. Sneed, David (August 18, 1992). "Archaeologists explore Donner Party sites". The Union . Grass Valley, California. p. 3. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
16. "Commemoration events planned at Donner Party Alder Creek site". The Union . Grass Valley, California. September 17, 1996. p. A3. Retrieved June 2, 2025.
17. "Donner Party cannibalism legends remain unproven" (Press release). Sacramento, California: EurekAlert!. January 12, 2006. Archived from the original on January 29, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2025.
18. Sonner, Scott (January 13, 2006). "Donner family cannibalism contested". The Sacramento Bee . Sacramento, California. Associated Press. pp. A1, A19. Retrieved June 2, 2025.

External links

• Donner Party Archaeology Project at Alder Creek, University of Montana
• Trail of Tragedy: The Excavation of the Donner Party Site (1992), US Forest Service produced short film about the 1990 Donner Party excavation at Alder Creek