The town and river of Truckee is named for a Northern Paiute leader.

His granddaughter, Sarah Winnemucca, reported that John C. Fremont had given him that name in the 1840s.  An account of how the name was given to the river is based on the recollections of Moses Schallenberger, a member of the Stevens-Murphy- Townsend party: "Finally [near Humboldt Sink], an old Indian was found, called Truckee, with whom Greenwood talked by means of signs diagrams [sic] drawn on the ground. From him it was learned that fifty or sixty miles to the west there was a river that flowed easterly from the mountains. [Early in Oct. 1844] they reached the river which they named the Truckee, in honor of the old Indian chief, who had piloted them to it. “The name seems to have been generally used after 1846 for the river. However, the historical record shows that it was spelled in a variety of fashions -- sometimes spelled Truckee, Truckey or Truchy.  Donner Lake was known as Truckee Lake until the Whitney Survey changed the name. The town came into existence when the Central Pacific surveyed the route across the pass in 1863-1864.  At first, it was called Coburn Station for the owner of the saloon.  After the fire of 1868, the station was renamed for the river.

Today, Truckee is the home of the some of the highest real estate prices in California, and hence the United States.  Truckee also has a campus of Sierra Community College. Ten miles south of Truckee is Squaw Valley Ski Resort, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.

Truckee has the distinction as of being one of the coldest spots in the lower 48 states.  See “Truckee’s Cold Spot Legacy” in the SNVM Natural History Gallery.

Easily seen from Interstate 80, Truckee has the familiar site of a unique Quonset hut with an adjoining tower that houses a “rocking stone.” This spot was once the home of Charles Fayette McGlashan. In 1879, he wrote the authoritative “History of the Donner Party,” still used today as a reference work, and became a renowned collector of butterflies, which were displayed at his no longer existing museum at this location. The museum also housed Donner Party artifacts.

The Rocking Stone is a natural formation, so named because the stone rocked back and forth with minimal hand pressure. Local legend holds that it had been used by Native Americans to dry meats in a place inaccessible to animals. Around it McGlashan built a two-story round wooden tower, next to his museum. The stone has been immobilized today, but tourists can still visit the rock by climbing a metal staircase to the site.

Truckee may also have developed the first ski resort in the Sierra Nevada.  It is located just above the river in downtown Truckee at the Cottonwood Lodge.  For many years Truckee hosted a winter festival that featured snow and ice sculptures.