A Guided Tour of Lake Tahoe-What you could see
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| It doesn't matter where we start your tour from, I always do the tour clockwise around the lake, so we will not have to cross the road in front of on coming traffic. There are some places where the road is windy and there are blind spots. I am going to tell you a little bit about each stop on my trip so you can decide which ones are of interest to you. The drive is about Lake Tahoe and its rich and famous with many great photo ops. You should dress appropriately and wear comfy walking shoes. A Little HistoryTahoe's forests were clear cut from the 1860's until 1893 to make timber to shore up the mines of the Comstock and lumber to build Virginia City which had no trees. Truckee was the gateway to Lake Tahoe for the railroad which was built to get to Virginia City. Tahoe was just a stop along the way. They got off the train in Truckee and were transported by horse drawn wagons until 1895 when D.L. Bliss built a narrow-gauge railroad to Tahoe City. Once in Tahoe City, the rest of the journey was by luxury steamships. Almost all the wealthy people that built homes at Tahoe in the late 1800's and early 1900's had large piers built to accommodate the big steamers that transported most of the furnishings, and their families, guests plus the large staffs that it took to run the estates. These were second homes, they were summer homes that were opened and closed to avoid the harsh Sierra winters. The highways did not exist yet, and the Cave Rock tunnel was not completed until 1931. These people invested very heavily in Tahoe. Most of them owned thousands of acres. Land may have been cheap by todays standards but it was a lot of money back then and they only got to use these estates a few months out of the year. You will find out that the owners of these estates were often involved with the financing or the mining of the Comstock Lode in Virginia City. They bought large amounts of land because of the value of timber and their desire for privacy. Virginia City was the first industrialized city west of the Mississippi River and played a major part in the building of San Francisco.. Emerald Bay-Vikingsholm CastleBecause of the hike down to the lake many tourists do not tour this beautiful historic 48 room castle. It is located on the very westerly end of Emerald Bay and almost totally out of sight from the highway. The castle is considered one of the best examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere. Lora Josephine Knight, from Chicago, purchased the 239 acres in 1929 for $250,000.00 and it included Fannette Island which became the location of her 250 square foot rock tea house. It is believed that the previous owner of the property drown in the lake in 1873, his body was never found. She made a trip to Scandinavia, and decided to reproduce a Norse fortress from 800 A.D. in full detail. The materials and design of the construction are all from Scandinavia except for those items not allowed to leave the country. Towers with turrets and hand carved timbers were all used to recreate the fortress. The sod roof with its living grass is like those found in Scandinavia. Mrs. Knight spared no expense making this home as authentic as possible. She spent her summers in this castle until her death in 1945, at the age of 82. The estate was bought by Harvey West, a Placerville lumberman, who ended up selling the estate to the State of California in 1953. There is not doubt this lady owned one of the most beautiful piece of real estate in America. Can you imagine the number of trips across Lake Tahoe that were required to get all this material to the site of the home before roads existed? There are sunken barges still in Emerald Bay today that may have been used to transport the material used to build Vikingsholm. Henry J. Kaiser 1882 to 1967, Fleur du Lac EstateHenry J. is a great rag to riches story. He was a builder of roads, dams, 1500 ships and housing. He established giant businesses in cement, aluminum, chemicals, steel, tourism, and health. Forbes ranks Kaiser as the 11th most influential industrialist of all time. Having completed construction of the Hoover Dam in 1938, Kaiser decided to give himself the gift of Fleur du Lac. The original estate had 17 structures including a 1900 sq., foot structure to house his collection of hydroplanes. Kaiser was a founding member of the Tahoe Yacht Club. He and Stanley Dollar of the Dollar Steamship lines used to race each other. Unfortunately the Kaiser family didn't see fit to give/sell the estate to the state for a park. The property was sold to a real estate developer that created a high end P.U.D. The shoreline part of the estate did survive. This estate was the site of the filming of the "God Father II". The plot ties into the Mafia influence in gaming and Tahoe. Sugar Pine Point State ParkThis was originally the Pine Lodge owned and built for Isaias W. Hellman 1842-1920, banker and financier. In 1890 he moved from L.A. where he had vast holdings to San Francisco to become the President of Wells Fargo Bank. Beginning in 1897 he started acquiring the Tahoe property, eventually acquiring 2,000 acres by 1913. The home was completed in 1903 by architects Bliss and Fabel. The three story mansion has 11,703 square feet. The dining room was large enough accommodate 30 guests, the top floor has 8 bedrooms and 8 baths. In addition there were many out buildings. There was a water tower building with a state of the art and first wood burning steam generator for electricity, stables, an ice house, and housing for the help. Hellman's daughter Florence H. Erhman inherited the house, and used it until 1965 when it was sold to the State of California. The mansion is open during the summer months from 11:00 to 4:00 with guided tours for a small donation. Fanny Bridge&TruckeeRiverThis is the only known outlet from Lake Tahoe, I say that because there are rumors of leaks in Washoe Valley side of the Sierra Nevadas. Lake Tahoe at its deepest point goes 600 feet below the Eagle and Washoe Valley floors causing some concern for Valley residents. To the serious part, the size of the fish above the dam is what caused the Fanny Bridge's nick name well one of the things. People love to gawk the large trout, I'm talking big fish and fannys, sorry no fishing allowed.The dam controls the level of the Lake which is decided by the US Water Master now. Years ago it was the gatekeeper hense the gatekeeper house and park. The other biggest loss of lake water is caused by evaporation two feet per year. One of my favorite activities is river rafting down the Truckee River to River Ranch. This is a great trip for the whole family. The time on the patio of River Ranch is just as much fun with food and beverage service on the patio during the summer. Donner Party 1846Two prosperous Illinois farmers decided that they had to go west, George and Jacob Donner. The brothers were in their 60's. They took their families and possessions in six wagons and headed west. As the wagons headed west their numbers grew as others joined them. George Donner became the wagon master. The party lost time, animals, possessions trying a new trail crossing the 80 mile wide Great Salt Lake, in Utah. They returned to the main California Trail in Eastern Nevada. They lost a full three weeks. so the party didn't get to the Truckee Meadows or what was to become Reno until late October. They were tired, out of food, and the Paiute Indians were harassing them while they waited for provisions from Sutter's Fort. The news of the difficult crossing that lied ahead detered them even longer. The Donner Party got snow bound at Donner Lake when winter came early that year. Attempts were made to cross Donner Summit, all unsuccessful. Things were becoming desperate, supplies were running out. Fifteen of the Donner Party decide to make one more attempt to cross Donner Pass in December another mistake, as they started to die and the survivors had no food they ended up eating the dead to survive. One month later there were only two men and five women that survived of the fifteen. After one year on the trail the Donner Party is reduced to 47 members from 89 that get over the pass. If you have never driven over Donner Pass, you cannot appreciate the difficulty of getting wagons over the summit drawn by horses and oxen in July, let alone in the fall or winter. There is a museum, there are many interesting artifacts and statistics available to those that are interested. |
CalNevaCasinoThis was the grand lady of Lake Tahoe when it was built in 1926 by Robert P. Sherman who used it as a guest lodge for his friends and real estate clients. Sherman deeded the property to Norman Biltz for commissions earned from real estate sales in 1928. In 1930 Biltz married Esther Auchincloss Nash, granddaughter John D. Rockefeller and aunt to Jacqueline Kennedy. In 1932 the CalNeva received its first gaming license. It burnt to the ground in 1937, the owners rebuilt it with 500 men working 24 hours a day in just thirty days. It was Tahoe's largest casino and only one with accommodations making it a hot spot. The CalNeva became part of a border dispute between the states of California and Nevada. After years in court the CalNeva ended up being in two states with gambling only on the Nevada portion. The CalNeva was sold from mobster to mobster until it was acquired by Sam Giancana for $250,000.00 in 1960. Sam couldn't get a gaming license because of he was known to be part of the Mafia. Frank Sinatra was the front man for the purchase of the CalNeva Casino in 1960. Sinatra had the famous Celebrity showroom built. It became a Rat Pack hang out, and they were just singing for their dinners. It is true Dean Martin, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford who was married to Patricia Kennedy were regulars. Marilyn Monroe was also seen there on the weekend in July 1962, as well as John F. Kennedy. Sinatra had a huge attraction to John F. Kennedy. The story goes that Sinatra got the Teamsters Union through the Mafia to elect the first Catholic President. Sinatra wanted the Kennedy ties for the credibility and power it gave him . Because of Sam Giancana visiting the casino, known Mafia and in Nevada's infamous Black Book, the Gov. Grant Sawyer revoked Sinatra's gaming license in 1963. . Capt. George Whittell 1882-1969 Thunderbird LodgeBorn to one of San Francisco's wealthiest families Capt. Whittell was able to live in the fast lane. He loved speed and his women. In 1922 Whittells father died leaving him $30,000,000. with good investing during the roaring 20's he was able to turn it into $50,000,000. Whittell sold of his stocks just prior to the 1928 stock market crash making him California's richest. In 1936 Whittell purchased 40,000 acres on the Nevada portion of Lake Tahoe which included 24 miles of Nevada Shoreline for $1,000.00 per acre from one of D.L. Bliss's companies making him the owner of 1/3 of all of Tahoe's shoreline. He began building his home, the Thunderbird Lodge, on the remote east shore. In addition to the lodge there was a caretakers cottage, the cook/butlers house, the elephant garage for Mingo his 2 ton India Elephant, and a boat house that was connected to the lodge by a 600 foot tunnel blasted out of the granite. There was a card room that it is guessed saw some high stakes poker games with notables, like Howard Hughes, Jack Dempsey, and Ty Cobb who also had a home near Glenbrook, NV. I have forgotten Bill, his pet lion that went with him everywhere making George standout a little bit more when partying in the casinos.Capt. Whittell had a 55 ft long speed boat built with twin 550 horsepower engines that was capable of 60 knots on Tahoe. The boat also named Thunderbird was later acquired by Bill Harrah. This was just one of his many toys, it is stored much of the time in the lodge boat house. He also owned a 145 ft. yacht, a DC2 Airplane (a Hughes aircraft), and 6 Duesenbergs. Whittell died in 1969 having never really developed or sold much of the property he owned. Jack Dreyfus who acquired the Whittell Estate sold the 160 acre property for $50 Million to the US Forestry Service thru holding companies. Then Crystal Bay Development Co. bought the property that became known as Incline Village or Income Village. You can get an idea of what I am talking about from the homes on either side of the road on Lakeshore Dr. which comes back out on Hwy. 28. If you make a left turn, on the right is the location of the closed Ponderosa Ranch of "Bonanza" fame. An individual bought the 150 acres in 2004 to build his private home for $20,000,000. I do not believe that much of Bonanza actually got filmed at that location. Most of Bonanza was filmed on Hollywood sets. The entrance to Bonanza with all the Cartwrights galloping on horseback was filmed on the Roundhill Driving Range which no longer exists, it is about a mile from Zephyr Cove on the lake side of the highway. There also were several cameos of the original M.S. Dixie at Zephyr Cove Beach. "Lucky" Elias J. Baldwin 1828-1909In 1853 at the age of 25 he came west from Ohio. He started by making millions in precious metal stocks in 1875 (Virginia City) and became the first President of the Pacific Stock Exchange. He began buying real estate in 1875, he owned over 56,000 acres in Southern California and 8,000 acres in South Lake Tahoe. His property ran along Tahoe's shoreline from Taylor Creek North of Camp Richardson to where the upper Truckee River flows into Lake Tahoe. (Around Motel 6) Lucky, was the first to open a casino at Lake Tahoe, and it was not in Nevada. He bought Tallac Point House and turned it into the most magnificent resort catering to the rich from San Francisco, Sacramento, and Virginia City able to accommodate up to 250 guests. By 1899 Lucky had created the Tallac Hotel . This hotel was 3 stories high with running hot and cold water,heating, and 8 course meals with a string orchestra for dinner. In 1902 Lucky added a waterfront gambling establishment. The story goes that Lucky got pretty fast at making the games of chance disappear when the sheriff was headed to town. Lucky had his own steamer the Tallac to provide transportation for his guests. Lucky died 7 years after the resort was completed and by 1920 the casino was was torn down, nothing remains of the hotel/casino today. Lucky's estate was worth $20,000,000 at his death in 1909. Mt. TallacTallac is an Indian word for "big mountain". Mt. Tallac is the only mountain in the basin with an Indian name, and is 9735 feet high. On a clear day you can see Mt. Diablo almost 200 miles away. Fallen Leaf lake wraps around its base also has great fishing, boating, bicycle trails and camping. Bonanza & The Ponderosa RanchThe Ponderosa Ranch has gone away. The property became more valuable than the tourist attraction could support so Anderson sold it off to a private individual for $20,000,000. There is still a web site that features many nice photos of all the Bonanza Stars and their rented horses shot on the Bourne Driving Range which has been closed for decades. None on the fencing existed then as the Bounes owned all the property around the meadow and accross the highway that now belongs to Tommy Hilfinger. Isn't that disgusting the studios didn't even buy the horses, they were rented. The Ponderosa Ranch at Incline Village probably had little or none of the actual series shot there. Email Us Order Tour Online
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