Lake Tahoe in Nevada history

¶ … History of Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe has contributed much in terms of Nevada history. It has been the epicenter for both political, social, and environmental debate for a century and a half. It's first settlers preempted a massive migration spurred on by the promise of gold and other natural resources. These settlements grew and became part of the landscape and history of the area, continuing to inspire and influence the current development of the Lake Tahoe basin. Before white explorers discovered it, Lake Tahoe has been a gathering place for the Washoe Indians for hundreds of years. According to Lyndall Baker Landauer and her book, The Mountain Sea: a History of Lake Tahoe (Flying Cloud Press, 1996), the Indians conducted regular spiritual ceremonies on its southern shores, specifically around the Emerald Bay area. Landauer explores the aspects of Lake Tahoe's Native American history quite thoroughly in her book, and provides the reader with quite a large breadth of information on the subject. The lake was first discovered in 1844 by explorers Kitt Carson and John Fremont. These explorers described the lake as having crystal clear water and as possessing special meaning to the local Native American tribes. The book entitled, Destination Lake Tahoe: the Story behind the Scenery (Stanley W. Paher, KC Publications, 1994) is a book that describes many of the exploits of these and other early explorers. It's strength is that it is a very easy read and caters to the casual tourist. It does not however go into much detail about the explorers and tries to accomplish too much in too few pages. It is an interesting read however as comprehensive books about the history of Lake Tahoe are tough to find.

The Tahoe basin was settled extensively during the gold rush of 1849, as a byproduct of the settlers and prospectors looking to discover gold in the hills and streams of the Sierra Nevada's. The discovery of gold in the Sierra's not only increased human traffic around the lake but also stretched to natural resources in the area quite thin. The forests around the lake were nearly stripped bare, and if not for the waning interest in the Sierra gold, they would have certainly become completely depleted by the early 1900's. Once interest died down in prospecting activities around this time, Tahoe became a resort area and vacation mecca. Starting in the 1920's and 1930's, the lake's resorts were host to many Hollywood elite and prominent political figures. Author Peter Goin's book, Lake Tahoe (Arcadia Publishing, 2005) details this part of the Lake's history and talks about the steamers that frequently ran from point to point on the lake, whose whistles added to the trademark ethereal experience of the lake during that time period. Goin's book is heavy with historical details but in terms of academic merit, there is very little except for the few pages devoted to the Washoe Indians and their legacy.