What Made Her Do It?

What Made Her Do It? (HM2E71)

Location: Truckee, CA 96161 Nevada County
Buy California State flags at Flagstore.com!
Country: United States of America
Buy United States of America flags at Flagstore.com!

N 39° 19.295', W 120° 17.379'

  • 0 likes
  • 0 check ins
  • 0 favorites
  • 407 views
Inscription

First Woman to Swim Donner Lake

History

Today each August hundreds of swimmers take to the 65º water of Donner Lake and swim its 2.7 mile long length. Each swimmer has lots of company.
On August 19 (sic, 18), 1935 though, it was a different story. On that day 17 year old Barbara Gordon swam the lake accompanied only by two rowboats. She became the first woman to swim the lake and set a record beating the only other two previous swimmers.
Why Barbara did it is a mystery but she set her goal the summer before, when she was only 16. In the 1930's women were just beginning to enter swimming competitions. Just 9 years earlier the first women to cross the English Channel both beat the records previously set by men. It was also a time when women were becoming famous it other areas. Amelia Earhart was setting flying records and Babe Didrikson was setting records on the athletic field. Barbara set one on Donner Lake.
For the month prior to her Donner Lake swim Barbara trained by towing a wooden rowboat the 1/3 mile length of Palisade Lake on Donner Summit at 6500' elevation. She towed that boat back and forth the length of the lake nine times each day.
The science of swimming was fairly new in 1935. How to get the most efficiency out of different strokes was still being debated as was exactly how to do some strokes. So it must have been



difficult without modern training, technique, and swimwear, and without others to spur her on, but Barbara did it, emerging from the water with "a smile a mile wide" after her one hour fifty minute swim. In 2013 the Sierra Nevada Masters presented the first annual Barbara Gordon Award to the fastest female swimmer.

Things to do right here
You may not want to swim the length of Donner Lake but there is plenty more to do here both in and around the lake and elsewhere. Rent a boat, go fishing, hike to a local peak (the view from Donner Peak back down to this spot is magnificent), bike around the lake or up Donner Pass and then down to Cisco Grove and back ( a very popular road biking route), mountain bike into Cold stream Canyon, or just visit the museum and Emigrant Monument at Donner State Park at the other end of the Lake.
Details
HM NumberHM2E71
Tags
Placed ByDonner Summit Historical Society
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, February 9th, 2019 at 1:01pm PST -08:00
Pictures
Sorry, but we don't have a picture of this historical marker yet. If you have a picture, please share it with us. It's simple to do. 1) Become a member. 2) Adopt this historical marker listing. 3) Upload the picture.
Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)10S E 733645 N 4355967
Decimal Degrees39.32158333, -120.28965000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 19.295', W 120° 17.379'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 19' 17.7" N, 120° 17' 22.74" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)530, 775, 415
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 15888 S Shore Dr, Truckee CA 96161, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

Is this marker missing? Are the coordinates wrong? Do you have additional information that you would like to share with us? If so, check in.

Nearby Markersshow on map
Check Ins  check in   |    all

Have you seen this marker? If so, check in and tell us about it.

Comments 0 comments

Maintenance Issues
  1. Is this marker part of a series?
  2. What historical period does the marker represent?
  3. What historical place does the marker represent?
  4. What type of marker is it?
  5. What class is the marker?
  6. What style is the marker?
  7. Does the marker have a number?
  8. What year was the marker erected?
  9. This marker needs at least one picture.
  10. Can this marker be seen from the road?
  11. Is the marker in the median?