1992. For many years a plaque has marked the spot where the Donner Party presumably spent their tragic winter of 1846-47 trapped by the heavy snows of the Sierra Nevada. The Tahoe National Forest, working with archeology students from the University of Nevada - Reno, recently excavated this famous site. The project revealed artifacts of these early wagon train travelers and conveys the exhilaration of discovering new insights into one of the most dramatic events in our nation's history.