Editing Truckee, California (section)

==History==
===Name===
Truckee's existence began in 1863 as Gray's Station, named for Joseph Gray's Roadhouse on the trans-Sierra wagon road.<ref name=":0">Union Pacific Railroad Historical Society Archives</ref> A blacksmith named Samuel S. Coburn was there almost from the beginning, and by 1866 the area was known as Coburn's Station.<ref name=":0" /> The Central Pacific Railroad selected Truckee as the name of its railroad station by August 1867, even though the tracks would not reach the station until a year later in 1868.<ref name=CGN>{{California's Geographic Names|570}}</ref> It was renamed [[Truckee (chief)|Truckee]]  after a [[Northern Paiute|Paiute]] chief, whose assumed Paiute name was Tru-ki-zo. He was the father of [[Chief Winnemucca]] and grandfather of [[Sarah Winnemucca]]. The first Europeans who came to cross the Sierra Nevada encountered his tribe. The friendly chief rode toward them yelling, "Tro-kay!", which is Paiute for 'Everything is all right'. The unaware travelers assumed he was yelling his name. Chief Truckee later served as a guide for [[John C. Frémont]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://truckeehistory.org/historyArticles/history4.htm |title=Truckee History |website=TruckeeHistory.org |author=Truckee Donner Historical Society, Inc. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028191715/http://truckeehistory.org/historyArticles/history4.htm |archive-date=October 28, 2012 }}</ref>

===Donner Party===
[[File:The Donner Party Monument.jpg|thumb|Monument to the [[Donner Party]] in [[Donner Memorial State Park]]]]

The [[Donner Party]] ordeal is arguably Truckee's most famous historical event. In 1846, a group of settlers from Illinois, originally known as the Donner-Reed Party but now usually referred to as the Donner Party, became snowbound in early fall as a result of several trail mishaps, poor decision-making, and an early onset of winter that year. Choosing multiple times to take shortcuts to save distance compared to the traditional [[Oregon Trail]], coupled with infighting, a disastrous crossing of the [[Great Salt Lake Desert|Utah salt flat]]s, and the attempt to use the pass near the Truckee River (now [[Donner Pass]]) all caused delays in their journey.
[[File:Map of Truckee Lake and Alder Creek.svg|thumb|Map of Donner Party encampments on [[Donner Lake]]]]
Finally, a large, early blizzard brought the remaining settlers to a halt at the edge of what is now [[Donner Lake]], about {{convert|1200|ft}} below the steep granite summit of the [[Sierra Nevada (U.S.)|Sierra Nevada mountains]] and {{convert|90|mi}} east of their final destination, [[Sutter's Fort]] (near [[Sacramento]]). Several attempts at carting their few remaining wagons, oxen, and supplies over the summit—sometimes by pulling them up by rope—proved impossible due to freezing conditions and a lack of any preexisting trail. The party returned, broken in spirit and short of supplies, to the edge of Donner Lake. A portion of the camp members also returned to the Alder Creek campsite a few miles to the east.

During the hard winter the travelers endured starvation and were later found to have practiced [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]]. Fifteen members constructed makeshift [[snowshoe]]s and set out for Sutter's Fort in the late fall but were thwarted by freezing weather and disorientation. Only seven survived: two were lost, and six died. Those who died were used as food by those who remained. The Truckee camp survivors were saved by James F Reed  who had set out ahead after having been ejected from the party months earlier for killing John Snyder in a violent argument. Seeing that the group never arrived at Sutter's Fort, he initiated several relief parties.

Of the original 87 settlers in the Donner-Reed party, 48 survived the ordeal. The [[Donner Memorial State Park]] is dedicated to the settlers and is located at the East End of [[Donner Lake]].

===Historical events===
Truckee grew as a [[railroad]] town originally named Coburn Station, starting with the [[Transcontinental Railroad]]. The railroad goes into downtown Truckee, and the [[Amtrak]] passenger lines still stop there on the trip from [[Chicago]] to [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=DePuy |first=Judy |date=April 15, 2023 |title=Trains come through Truckee every day |url=https://www.sierrasun.com/news/trains-come-through-truckee-every-day/ |access-date=April 17, 2023 |work=Sierra Sun |language=en-US}}</ref>

Truckee's [[Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States|Sinophobic movement]] had begun during the [[Reconstruction Period]], marked by the [[Trout Creek Outrage]] of 1876:

<blockquote><p>By 1876, some 300 of the town’s residents, from workers to its most prominent citizens, had formed a local chapter of the Order of the Caucasians, also known as the [[White League|Caucasian League]], to drive out the Chinese. Truckee gained statewide notoriety that summer when late one night seven of the group's members, clad in black, surrounded and set fire to two cabins full of Chinese woodcutters who had refused to leave the area. The vigilantes shot at the Chinese men as they ran out of the cabin, killing forty-five-year-old Ah Ling.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodman |first1=Adam |title=The Deportation Machine: America's Long History of Expelling Immigrants |date=June 23, 2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691182155 |page=15 |edition=1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sju-DwAAQBAJ |access-date=14 October 2020}}</ref></p></blockquote>

[[Charles Fayette McGlashan]], local lawyer and owner/publisher of the ''Truckee Republican'', defended those accused in the Trout Creek Outrage and was a leader in the town's anti-Chinese movement. In 1886, the town's Chinese inhabitants, about 1,400 in number, were expelled from Truckee as part of a campaign that included a boycott of any business that did business with Chinese.<ref name="Osborn2004">{{cite news |last1=Osborn |first1=Barbara Barte |title=Old Chinese herb shop getting a face-lift |url=http://www.chssc.org/history/chinatowns/truckee/chinatowntruckee.html |access-date=August 28, 2021 |work=Sacramento Bee |date=March 11, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217064917/http://www.chssc.org/history/chinatowns/truckee/chinatowntruckee.html |archive-date=December 17, 2008}}</ref>

In 1891, lawman Jacob Teeter was killed in a violent gunfight with fellow lawman, James Reed (no relation to [[James Frazier Reed]] of the Donner Party). Constable Reed was among those accused of participating in the Trout Creek Outrage fifteen years prior.<ref>{{cite web| last= Coates|first=Guy H.|url=http://truckeehistory.org/historyArticles/history7.htm|website=TruckeeHistory.org|publisher=Donner Historical Society, Inc.| title=GUNFIGHT IN TRUCKEE: THE TEETER – REED DUEL |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203042233/http://truckeehistory.org/historyArticles/history7.htm|archive-date=December 3, 2010}}</ref>

Truckee reportedly had one of the nation's first mechanized ski lifts at the site of the Hilltop Lodge.<ref name="Truckee Historical Inventory">{{cite journal| title=State of California - The Resources Agency, Dept. of Parks and Recreation, Primary Record|date=November 11, 2003| issue=Cottonwood Restaurant/Hilltop Lodge|pages=THRI–210}}</ref> The historic Hilltop Lodge was converted to a restaurant in the 1940s by the Crandall Brothers, and eventually became Cottonwood Restaurant and Bar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cottonwoodrestaurant.com/story/surrounded-by-history/|website=Cottonwood Restaurant|title=Surrounded by History|access-date=April 9, 2016|archive-date=October 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025045529/https://cottonwoodrestaurant.com/story/surrounded-by-history/|url-status=dead}}</ref>  There were possibly two rope tows and a Poma lift, which was installed in 1954.<ref name="ReferenceA">Truckee Historical Inventory</ref> At the same location there was a ski jump constructed during the early 1900s that was designed by Lars Haugen, a seven-time Olympic ski jumping champion.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1993, Truckee [[Incorporation (municipal government)|incorporated]] as a city.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moran |first1=Margaret |title=Looking back: Truckee's incorporation, 20 years later |url=https://www.sierrasun.com/news/looking-back-truckees-incorporation-20-years-later/ |work=Sierra Sun |date=June 7, 2013}}</ref>