Why It Is So Important To Digitize the Sierra Sun Newspapers
By Heidi Sproat March 26, 2025
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In the Truckee-Donner Historical Society’s (TDHS) Echoes From the Past March 16 printed newsletter, I wrote an article titled “On Wings of Terror – We Honor Them” about the C-47 that crashed very near Hobart Mills in March 1946. This is what I wrote:
“On March 20, 1946, there was a reported downed plane that crashed into the Sierra Nevada mountains about 7 miles north of Truckee near the abandoned town of Hobart Mills. Caretakers of the abandoned Pioneer Lumber camp at Hobart Mills provided an eyewitness account. It appeared that the plane disintegrated in midair and the pieces came down very hard in a heavily wooded 8-12' deep, snowy area near the swollen Prosser Creek at an elevation of about 6,500'. The C-47, sometimes affectionately nicknamed the "Gooney Bird," an Army Air Corps C-47B Skytrain # 45-1085, was carrying 26 Army and Navy men, including some high-ranking Army and Navy officers and many enlisted men who were en route to separation centers for discharge. One of the victims was the son of Missouri’s former governor, and another was a decorated sailor with three rows of campaign ribbons."
"Several things struck us as noteworthy. The young men killed were very young, and the crash was reported to be one of the worst plane disasters in peace time. This was a terrible loss in 1946 given that World War II had ended. Recovery of those killed in the crash was physically challenging due to the remote, snowy, nighttime location.”
So fast forward to March 2025 as I am “proofing” digitized Sierra Sun back issues, one of which included a March 21, 1946 issue. The front page of this Sierra Sun / Truckee Republican newspaper read “26 Service Men Perish in Crash of Army Plane”. This is the first time we have had digital access to this volume and others spanning many of the years from 1946 to 1964. This is a perfect example of WHY these volumes absolutely need to be digitized.
TDHS has been very fortunate to have California Revealed involved in digitizing these 80 year old Sierra Sun Truckee Republican newspapers. These records are the ONLY local account of activities around the greater Truckee area and it is a testament to the volunteers and historical researchers that have worked so diligently – and so long – to get these materials digitized so they aren’t lost in time forever or worse, dumped.
I reviewed fifty-four newspaper articles about this plane crash from 13 states, but not until THIS LOCAL Sierra Sun article did I learn the specifics. The crash happened in our backyard and we need to read the local papers to understand what happened.
Here is the full text of this Sierra Sun March 21, 1946 issue about this horrific crash:
“On March 20, 1946, there was a reported downed plane that crashed into the Sierra Nevada mountains about 7 miles north of Truckee near the abandoned town of Hobart Mills. Caretakers of the abandoned Pioneer Lumber camp at Hobart Mills provided an eyewitness account. It appeared that the plane disintegrated in midair and the pieces came down very hard in a heavily wooded 8-12' deep, snowy area near the swollen Prosser Creek at an elevation of about 6,500'. The C-47, sometimes affectionately nicknamed the "Gooney Bird," an Army Air Corps C-47B Skytrain # 45-1085, was carrying 26 Army and Navy men, including some high-ranking Army and Navy officers and many enlisted men who were en route to separation centers for discharge. One of the victims was the son of Missouri’s former governor, and another was a decorated sailor with three rows of campaign ribbons."
"Several things struck us as noteworthy. The young men killed were very young, and the crash was reported to be one of the worst plane disasters in peace time. This was a terrible loss in 1946 given that World War II had ended. Recovery of those killed in the crash was physically challenging due to the remote, snowy, nighttime location.”
So fast forward to March 2025 as I am “proofing” digitized Sierra Sun back issues, one of which included a March 21, 1946 issue. The front page of this Sierra Sun / Truckee Republican newspaper read “26 Service Men Perish in Crash of Army Plane”. This is the first time we have had digital access to this volume and others spanning many of the years from 1946 to 1964. This is a perfect example of WHY these volumes absolutely need to be digitized.
TDHS has been very fortunate to have California Revealed involved in digitizing these 80 year old Sierra Sun Truckee Republican newspapers. These records are the ONLY local account of activities around the greater Truckee area and it is a testament to the volunteers and historical researchers that have worked so diligently – and so long – to get these materials digitized so they aren’t lost in time forever or worse, dumped.
I reviewed fifty-four newspaper articles about this plane crash from 13 states, but not until THIS LOCAL Sierra Sun article did I learn the specifics. The crash happened in our backyard and we need to read the local papers to understand what happened.
Here is the full text of this Sierra Sun March 21, 1946 issue about this horrific crash:
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As other articles are discovered about past articles we have written, we will be sure to update our readers with the latest information. There are so many important events and activities that occurred in and around Truckee between those years 1946 – 1964 that it is vital that we get as many issues of the Sierra Sun and its predecessor Truckee Republican digitized. If you know of anyone or anyplace that has these still missing volumes, PLEASE return them to us so that we and you readers have a complete copy of events that transpired in and around Truckee. We are still missing the following volumes: 1934, 1947, 1948, 1963, 1967 Jan - June 1968, and July - Dec. 1969.
Thanks to the efforts and granting approval of the California Revealed digitization program, we are also very fortunate that to date, the 1933-1944 [still missing 1934] issues are currently available online at these links. At California Revealed site ; at archive.org; and at California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Thanks to the efforts and granting approval of the California Revealed digitization program, we are also very fortunate that to date, the 1933-1944 [still missing 1934] issues are currently available online at these links. At California Revealed site ; at archive.org; and at California Digital Newspaper Collection.
