Titled "Reflectives, Donner Lake," this albumen stereoview was photographed by Charles R. Savage of the Pioneer Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, and issued as part of his celebrated series documenting the Central Pacific Railroad corridor through the Sierra Nevada. Savage produced this series in conjunction with the transcontinental railroad's completion era, and the mint-green card mount printed with "Central Pacific Railroad / Illustrated by C. R. Savage" on both vertical margins places the view firmly within his documented railroad commission work.

Two wooden rowboats rest against a large fallen log in the foreground, one carrying a round metal pail and loose rope, while the mirror-still surface of Donner Lake reflects a dense stand of conifers and numerous bare, ghostly snags rising from the far shoreline. The treeline stretches across the full width of the frame, its vertical reflection nearly perfect in the calm water, and a rocky, reed-edged bank occupies the middle ground.

Savage operated the Pioneer Art Gallery at East Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, and this view belongs to his series titled "Photographic Scenes in Utah, Arizona, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming Territories," covering the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and Utah Central Railroads. The reverse bears the full series title imprint along with a handwritten notation reading "Col. 6."