Both quotations miss the mark in my opinion. The 1918 monument in back is to emigrants in general. Most got across--medical problems and accidents caused nearly all deaths. But the pass, lake and park are all named after the group that failed to make it.

The Donner Party was a distinct outlier. This scene is at Donner State Park built over (or near) the site of a cabin used the winter of starvation in 1846-47.

On the monument in back, a better choice would have been from a gaunt woman who greeted rescuers with: "Are you men from California or do you come from heaven?"

And in front the recently engraved stone should read: "Never take no cutofs" from 13-year-old survivor Virginia Reed in a letter to her cousin. Just my opinion.