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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
California is proving itself more and more the wonderland of the United States. Its hosts of annual visitors are increasing with marvelous rapidity; its population is growing by accretions from the other states faster than any other section in the civilized world. The reasons are not far to seek. They may be summarized in five words, viz., climate, topography, healthfulness, productiveness and all-around liveableness. Its climate is already a catch word to the nations; its healthfulness is attes
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
Lake Tahoe is the largest lake at its altitude—twenty-three miles long by thirteen broad, 6225 feet above the level of the sea—with but one exception in the world. Then, too, it closely resembles the sky in its pure and perfect color. One often experiences, on looking down upon it from one of its many surrounding mountains, a feeling of surprise, as if the sky and earth had somehow been reversed and he was looking down upon the sky instead of the earth. And, further, Lake Tahoe so exquisitely mi
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
Like so many other great discoveries that were to have an important effect upon the lives of countless numbers of people, the discovery of Lake Tahoe was accidental. Nor did its finder comprehend the vast influence it was to possess, not only upon the residents of California and Nevada, but upon the travel-loving and sight-seeing portion of the population of the whole world. John C. Frémont, popularly acclaimed "the pathfinder," was its discoverer, on the 14th day of February, 1844. In the journ
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
Since Lake Tahoe was the natural habitat of one of the most deliciously edible fishes found in the world, the Indians of the region were bound, very early in their history here, to settle upon its shores. These were the Paiutis and the Washoes. The former, however, ranging further east in Nevada, were always regarded as interlopers by the latter if they came too near to the Lake, and there are legends current of several great struggles in which many lives were lost, where the Washoes battled wit
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
As all students of the Indian are well aware these aboriginal and out-of-door dwellers in the forests, canyons, mountains, valleys, and on lake and seashores are great observers of Nature, and her many and varied phenomena. He who deems the Indian dull, stolid and unimpressionable, simply because in the presence of the White Race he is reserved and taciturn, little knows the observing and reflecting power hidden behind so self-restrained a demeanor. Wherever natural objects, therefore, are of a
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
We have already seen that Frémont, the discoverer of Lake Tahoe, first called it Lake Bonpland, after Humboldt's scientific co-traveler. That name, however, never came in general use. When the great westward emigration began it seemed naturally to be called by its Indian name, Tahoe. In Innocents Abroad Mark Twain thus petulantly and humorously expresses his dislike of the name, Tahoe, and sarcastically defines its meaning. "Sorrow and misfortune overtake the legislature that still from year to
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
In certain numbers (November and December 1883 and January 1884) of the Overland Monthly , Professor John Le Conte, of the State University, Berkeley, California, presented the results of his physical studies of Lake Tahoe in three elaborate chapters. From these the following quotations of general interest are taken: Hundreds of Alpine lakes of various sizes, with their clear, deep, cold, emerald or azure waters, are embosomed among the crags of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The most extensive, a
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
Lindgren, the geologist, affirms that after the Sierra Nevada range was thrust up, high into the heavens, vast and long continued erosion "planed down this range to a surface of comparatively gentle topography." He claims that it must originally have been of great height. Traces of this eroded range (Cretaceous) "still remain in a number of flat-topped hills and ridges that rise above the later tertiary surface. There is reason to believe that this planed-down mountain range had a symmetrical st
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
We have already seen in the preceding chapter how the great basin, in which Lake Tahoe rests, was turned out in the rough from Nature's workshop. It must now be smoothed down, its angularities removed, its sharpest features eliminated, and soft and fertile banks prepared upon which trees, shrubs, plants and flowers might spring forth to give beauty to an otherwise naked and barren scene. It is almost impossible for one to picture the Tahoe basin at this time. There may have been water in it, or
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
This is not to be a description of the scores of Glacial Lakes found in the Tahoe region, but an answer to the questions so often asked about practically all of these lakes, as to their origin and continuance. Rich as our Sierras are in treasures none are more precious than these. They give one pleasing surprises, often when least expected. For while the tree-clusters, the mountain-peaks, and the glowing snow-banks throw themselves into our view by their elevated positions, the retiring lakes, s
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
Closely allied to Lake Tahoe by its near proximity, its situation on the Emigrant Gap automobile road from Sacramento to Tahoe, and that it is seen from Mt. Rose, Mt. Watson, and many Tahoe peaks, is Dormer Lake,—lake of tragic memories in the early day pioneer history of this region. It was in 1846 that James T. Reed, of Springfield, Ill., determined to move to California. This land of promise was then a Mexican province, but Reed carefully and thoroughly had considered the question and had dec
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
As is well known, the Truckee River is the only outlet to Lake Tahoe. This outlet is on the northwest side of the Lake, between Tahoe City and Tahoe Tavern, and is now entirely controlled by the concrete dam and head-gates referred to in the chapter on "Public uses of the Water of Lake Tahoe." When Frémont came down from Oregon in 1844, he named the river Salmon Trout River , from the excellent fish found therein, but the same year, according to Angel, in his History of Nevada , a party of twent
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
Lake Tahoe is fifteen miles from Truckee, which is one of the mountain stations on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railway (Central Route), two hundred and eight miles from San Francisco, thirty-five miles from Reno, Nevada, and five hundred and seventy-four miles from Ogden, Utah. By the San Joaquin Valley route via Sacramento, the distance to Los Angeles is five hundred and eighty miles, or by San Francisco and the Coast Line six hundred and ninety-two miles. During the summer season tra
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
This is the name given to the 260-mile automobile route to and from Lake Tahoe, going in from Sacramento over the world-famed Emigrant Gap and Donner Lake road, around the western shore of Lake Tahoe, from Tahoe Tavern to Tallac, and thence back to Sacramento over the historic and picturesque Placerville road. While both of the two main arms of the "wishbone" carry the traveler over the Sierras, the roads are wonderfully different. On the Emigrant Gap arm the road seems to have been engineered s
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
Swinging around to the south from the course of the Truckee River on to the Lake, the railway deposits the traveler at Tahoe Tavern, preeminently the chief resort for those who demand luxurious comfort in all its varied manifestations. Yet at the outset let it be clearly understood that it is not a fashionable resort, in the sense that every one, men and women alike, must dress in fashionable garb to be welcomed and made at home. It is a place of common sense and rational freedom. If one comes i
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
To nature-lovers, more or less active, the trails all around and about Lake Tahoe are a source of perpetual surprise and delight. I know of no region in California that possesses such a wealth of trails—not even the Yosemite or Mt. Shasta regions. The Lake is an ever-present friend. From ridges, peaks, summits and passes, near at hand or scores of miles away, it never fails to satisfy the eye. Again and again, when one is least expecting it, a turn in the trail, or a few steps forward or backwar
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
There are many trips in the Tahoe Region which can be made, with greater or lesser ease, on foot or horseback, in one day, so that one can sleep in his hotel each night. On the other hand there are some highly desirable trips that can be taken only by camping-out, and to these I wish to commend those of my readers of both sexes who are strong enough to care for such intimate contact with God's great-out-of-doors. To me one of Life's greatest delights, appealing alike to body, mind and soul, is a
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
There have been only three towns on the immediate banks of Lake Tahoe, viz., Tahoe City, Glenbrook and Incline, though Knoxville was located on the Truckee River only six miles away. Tahoe City . Tahoe City was founded in 1864 at the collapse of the Squaw Valley mining excitement, the story of which is fully related in another chapter. Practically all its first inhabitants were from the deserted town of Knoxville. They saw that the lumbering industry was active and its permanence fully assured s
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
The ride around Lake Tahoe is one of varied delights, as the visitor sees not only the Lake itself from every possible angle, but gains an ever shifting panorama of country, and, more remarkable than all, he rides directly over that wonderful kaleidoscope of changing color that is a never-ceasing surprise and enchantment. Tahoe Tavern is the starting point of the ride, the train conveying the passenger directly to the wharf from which he takes the steamer. Capt. Pomin is in control. Not far from
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
While in one sense all the resorts of the Tahoe region are mountain resorts, a difference should be noted between those that are located directly on the shores of Lake Tahoe, or some lesser lake, and those that are away from immediate proximity to a lake. The latter type is more correctly designated mountain resorts, and of these are three in the Tahoe region, viz., Deer Park Springs, Rubicon Springs and Glen Alpine. All these resorts were discovered by following the trails of animals which were
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
One of the oldest and most famous resorts of the High Sierras is Rubicon Springs. It is nine miles from Lake Tahoe, at McKinney's, over a mountain road built many years ago, engineered so as to afford marvelously entrancing glimpses of the Lake and of the mountain scenery on either hand. Here are primeval forest, flower-strewn meadows of emerald, crystal streams and placid-faced glacial lakes in which snow-clad mountain summits are mirrored in quiet glory. The Rubicon River is one of the feeders
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
Situated near the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe is Emerald Bay, by many thousands regarded as the choicest portion of Lake Tahoe. Surrounded by so many wonderful scenes, as one is at Tahoe, it is difficult to decide which possesses surpassing power, but few there are who see Emerald Bay without at once succumbing to its allurement. Its geological history has already been given in Chapter VIII, in which it is clearly shown by Dr. Joseph Le Conte that it was once a glacial lake, and that the entr
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
Al-Tahoe, four miles east of Tallac, is one of the newer, better and more fashionable and pretentious resorts recently established at the south end of the Lake. Its projectors saw the increasing demand for summer residences on the Lake, and realizing to the full the superior advantages of this location, they divided their large holding into suitable villa and bungalow sites, and other lots, and readily disposed of a number of them to those who were ready to build. To further the colonizing plans
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
The earliest of all the resorts of the Tahoe region away from the shores of Tahoe itself, Glen Alpine Springs still retains its natural supremacy. Located seven miles away from Tallac, reached by excellent roads in automobile stages, sequestered and sheltered, yet absolutely in the very heart of the most interesting part of the Tahoe region, scenically and geologically, it continues to attract an increasing number of the better class of guests that annually visit these divinely-favored Californi
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CHAPTER XXIV
CHAPTER XXIV
Fallen Leaf Lake is a noble body of water, three and a half miles long and about one mile across. Why it is called Fallen Leaf is fully explained in the chapter on Indian Legends. Some people have thought it was named from its shape, but this cannot be, for, from the summit of Mt. Tallac, every one instantly notices its resemblance to the imprint of a human foot. It is shaped more like a cork-sole, as if cut out of the solid rock, filled up with a rich indigo-blue fluid, and then made extra beau
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CHAPTER XXV
CHAPTER XXV
Situated on the shore of Lake Tahoe and at the same time on the great Lincoln Highway stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific,—a division of the State Automobile Highway reaching from Sacramento, California, to Carson City, Nevada, via Placerville, Lakeside Park is readily reached by travelers from every direction, whether they come by steamer, buggy, or automobile. The Lakeside Park hotel was established in 1892 and has an enviable reputation. It consists of hotel, with adjacent cottages an
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CHAPTER XXVI
CHAPTER XXVI
In Chapter XVI the history of Glenbrook is given in some detail. It is now, however, converted into a pleasure resort especially popular with residents of Nevada, and largely used by automobiles crossing the Sierras and passing around Lake Tahoe. The Inn, and its veranda overlooking the Lake, is built with an eye to comfort and convenience. Every need for pleasure and recreation is arranged for. For those who enjoy privacy, cozy cottages are provided, around which beautiful wild flowers grow in
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CHAPTER XXVII
CHAPTER XXVII
On making the circuit of the Lake the last stopping-place on the trip starting south, or the first when starting north and east, is Carnelian Bay. This is a new settlement rapidly coming into prominence because of the number of cottages and bungalows erected by their owners on their own lots. From early until late in the seasons of 1913 and 1914 the sounds of the saw and hammer were seldom still. The result is the growth of quite a summer settlement. Easy of access, either by train and steamer f
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CHAPTER XXVIII
CHAPTER XXVIII
Fishing in Lake Tahoe, and the other lakes of the region is a pleasure and a recreation as well as an art and a science. There are laymen, tyros, neophytes, proficients and artists. The real fraternity has passes, catchwords, grips and signals to which outsiders seek to "catch on" in vain. The chief native trout of Lake Tahoe is locally known as the "cut-throat," because of a brilliant dash of red on either side of the throat. The name, however, gives no hint of the exquisite beauty of the marki
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CHAPTER XXIX
CHAPTER XXIX
In the chapter on the Birds and Animals of the Tahoe Region I have written of the game to be found. There are few places left in the Sierras where such good deer- and bear-hunting can be found as near Tahoe. During the dense snow-falls the deer descend the western slopes, approaching nearer and nearer to the settlements of the upper foothills, and there they do fairly well until the snow begins to recede in the spring. They keep as near to the snow line as possible, and are then as tame and gent
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CHAPTER XXX
CHAPTER XXX
It would be impossible in the space of a brief chapter to present even a list of all the flowers found and recorded in the Tahoe Region. Suffice it to say that 1300 different species already have been listed. This chapter will merely call attention to the most prominent, or, on the other hand, the rarer and special flowering plants that the visitor should eagerly search for. As fast as the snow retires from the sun-kissed slopes the flowers begin to come out. Indeed in April, were one at Tahoe,
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CHAPTER XXXI
CHAPTER XXXI
The word chaparral is a Spanish word, transferred bodily into our language, without, however, retaining its strict and original significance. In Spanish it means a plantation of evergreen oaks, or, thick bramble-bushes entangled with thorny shrubs in clumps. Hence, in the west, it has come to mean any low or scrub brush that thickly covers a hill or mountain-side. As there is a varied chaparral in the Tahoe region, it is well for the visitor to know of what it is mainly composed. Experience has
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CHAPTER XXXII
CHAPTER XXXII
By "trees" in this chapter I mean only the evergreen trees—the pines, firs, spruces, hemlocks, cedars, junipers and tamaracks. Many visitors like to know at least enough when they are looking at a tree, to tell which of the above species it belongs to. All I aim to do here is to seek to make clear the distinguishing features of the various trees, and to give some of the more readily discernible signs of the different varieties of the same species found in the region. It must not be forgotten tha
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CHAPTER XXXIII
CHAPTER XXXIII
Birds . The bird life of the Tahoe region does not seem particularly interesting or impressive to the casual observer. At first sight there are not many birds, and those that do appear have neither so vivid plumage nor sweet song as their feathered relatives of the east, south and west. Nevertheless there are several interesting species, and while this chapter makes no pretense to completeness it suggests what one untrained observer without birds particularly on his mind has witnessed in the cou
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CHAPTER XXXIV
CHAPTER XXXIV
The Tahoe region was once thrilled through and through by a real mining excitement that belonged to itself alone. It had felt the wonderful activity that resulted from the discovery of the Comstock lode in Virginia City. It had seen its southern border crowded with miners and prospectors hurrying to the new field, and later had heard the blasting and picking, the shoveling and dumping of rocks while the road from Placerville was being constructed. It had seen another road built up from Carson ov
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CHAPTER XXXV
CHAPTER XXXV
Hundreds of thousands of Americans doubtless have read "How a Woman's Wit Saved California to the Union," yet few indeed know how intimately that fascinating piece of history is linked with Lake Tahoe. Here is the story of the link: When Frémont started out on his Second Exploration (fairly well dealt with in another chapter), he stopped at the Kansas frontier to equip. When he finally started, the party (108) was armed generally with Hall's carbines, which, says Frémont: with a brass twelve-pou
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CHAPTER XXXVI
CHAPTER XXXVI
While Californians rightly and justly claim Tahoe as their own, it must not be forgotten that Nevadans have an equal claim. In the Nevada State University, situated at Reno, there is a magnificent band of young men, working and teaching as professors, who regard all opportunities as sacred trusts, and who are making for their university a wonderful record of scientific achievement for universal benefit. Located on the Nevada side of the Tahoe region line, at the northeast end of the Lake, is Mou
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CHAPTER XXXVII
CHAPTER XXXVII
Lake Tahoe is an ideal winter resort for the red-blooded. For the Viking and the near Viking; for the man and the woman who, for the very exhilaration of it, seek the bracing air and the snow-clad forests, Lake Tahoe is as charming in winter as in summer, and far grander. There is the same water—in morning placid, in afternoon foam-flecked, on days of storm tempestuous. The Lake never freezes; not even a film of ice fringes its edge. Sunny skies and warm noons and the Lake's own restlessness pre
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CHAPTER XXXVIII
CHAPTER XXXVIII
One of the most marked differences that the traveler observes between the noted lakes of Europe and Lake Tahoe is the comparative dearth of homes, summer villas, bungalows, residences, on the latter. This is natural. California and Nevada are new countries. They have scarcely had time to "find themselves" fully as yet. It took a thousand years to people the shores of the European lakes as we find them to-day, and in due time Tahoe will assuredly come to its own in this regard. Indeed as John LeC
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CHAPTER XXXIX
CHAPTER XXXIX
The Tahoe National Forest was first set apart by proclamation, September 17, 1906. Previous to this there had been the Tahoe and Yuba Forest Reserves which were established by proclamation under the acts of March 3, 1891, and June 4, 1897. The original Tahoe Forest Reserve consisted of six townships along the west side of Lake Tahoe. Part of this territory is now in the Tahoe and part in the El Dorado National Forest. Changes and additions were later made by proclamations of March 2, 1909, and J
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CHAPTER XL
CHAPTER XL
There has always been considerable discussion and dissension among conflicting interests as to the use of the waters of Lake Tahoe for private or semi-public uses, and, finally, in 1903 the U.S. Reclamation Service entered into the field. At my request Mr. D.W. Cole, engineer-in-charge of the Truckee-Carson project, kindly furnishes the following data: Along in the 60's of the last century the region around the Lake acquired great importance on account of the fine growth of timber on the surroun
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CHAPTER A
CHAPTER A
Early in the 'sixties the immortal Mark made his mark at Lake Tahoe. In his Roughing It , he devotes Chapters XXII and XXIII to the subject. With the kind consent of his publishers, Harper Bros, of New York, the following extracts are presented. Later, when in Italy, he described Lake Como and compared it with Tahoe in Innocents Abroad , and while his prejudices against the Indians led him to belittle the Indian name—Tahoe—and in so doing to make several errors of statement, the descriptions are
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CHAPTER B
CHAPTER B
In a quarterly magazine published solely for the Rangers of the Tahoe Reserve, one of the Rangers thus "newspaperizes" Mark's experiences in two different sketches, one as it was in 1861 "before" the establishment of the Reserve, and the other as it would be "now." Extract from January Harper's .—Mark Twain heard that the timber around Lake Bigler (Tahoe) promised vast wealth which could be had for the asking. He decided to locate a timber claim on its shores. He went to the Lake with a young Oh
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CHAPTER C
CHAPTER C
In 1863 Thomas Starr King, perhaps the most noted and broadly honored divine ever known on the Pacific Coast, visited Lake Tahoe, and on his return to San Francisco preached a sermon, entitled: "Living Water from Lake Tahoe." Its descriptions are so felicitous that I am gratified to be able to quote them from Dr. King's volume of Sermons Christianity and Humanity , with the kind permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass. LIVING WATER FROM LAKE TAHOE When one is climbi
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CHAPTER D
CHAPTER D
Joseph LeConte, from whom LeConte Lake is named, the best-beloved professor of the University of California, and its most noted geologist, in the year 1870 started out with a group of students of his geology classes, and made a series of Ramblings in the High Sierras . These were privately printed in 1875, and from a copy given to me many years ago by the distinguished author, I make the following extracts on Lake Tahoe: August 20, (1870). I am cook to-day. I therefore got up at daybreak and pre
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CHAPTER E
CHAPTER E
One of America's poets who long lived in California, and then, after an honorable and useful sojourn as Director of one of the important libraries of the East, returned to spend the remainder of his days—John Vance Cheney—in 1882, made the trip to Lake Tahoe by stage from Truckee, and, among other fine pieces of description, wrote the following which appeared in Lippincott's for August, 1883: One more ascent has been made, one more turn rounded, and behold, from an open elevation, close upon its
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CHAPTER F
CHAPTER F
In the body of this book I have given full account of some of the resorts of the Tahoe region, including Deer Park Springs, Tahoe Tavern, Fallen Leaf Lodge, Cathedral Park, Glen Alpine Springs, Al-Tahoe, Lakeside, Glenbrook and Carnelian Bay. But these are by no means all the resorts of the Bay, and each year sees additions and changes. Hence I have deemed it well briefly to describe those resorts that are in operation at the time this volume is issued. It should be remembered that each resort i
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