Scott, although this may be a bit "off-the-wall," your email and the date of Twain's trip over Donner Summit caught my attention. I have been collecting biographical info about the Webb Sisters, actresses who toured California in 1868. I remembered the following info about their trip over the Sierras a few days before Twain made the same journey. For what it is worth!

"Emma and Ada Webb made their way over the Sierra Nevada range in early April for a reunion with Johnny Skae and an engagement at Piper's Opera House in Virginia City. It was an arduous trip. The previous winter had been one of the worst on record. Heavy snowfall had blanketed the mountains, and nearly thirty-nine inches of rain had fallen on San Francisco.  Although the Central Pacific Railroad's new tracks had reached Cisco near the crest of the Sierra Nevada range, the rail line over the rugged Donner Pass was still two months from being complete. At Cisco, the sisters left the relative comfort of their passenger car and transferred to a sleigh pulled by six horses. The horse team pulled their passengers the last 1,300 feet in elevation to Donner Summit before beginning the steep descent down the rugged eastern slope of the pass. Mark Twain, who completed the same journey ten days later, noted - without exaggerating - that "the snow lay thirty feet deep on level ground and one hundred feet deep in drifts."  At Donner Lake, the sisters switched to a mail coach for the ride to Coburn's Station (present-day Truckee), where they rejoined the rail line for the remaining trip down Truckee River canyon to Lake's Crossing (present-day Reno). They arrived in Virginia City by stagecoach on Monday, April 13, 1868."

William R. Brown, P.E.

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-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Scott Holmes
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2023 11:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: California Climate

I just had a thought, while looking over Twain's railroad experiences, that his remarks in Roughing It regarding California climate are actually derived from his Pilgrim's Life Tour rather than his life in San Francisco during the Roughing It days.  He took the Central Pacific Railroad from Sacramento to Donner Pass April 23, 1868.

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/Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/