Lake Tahoe

:Tahoe redirects here. For the SUV, see Chevrolet Tahoe.

History

The area around Lake Tahoe was originally inhabited by the Washoe tribe of Native Americans. Kit Carson and John C. Frémont were the first non-indigenous people to see Lake Tahoe, in 1844. Upon discovery of gold in the South Fork of the American River in 1848, thousands of west-bound gold seekers passed near the basin on their way to the gold fields. European civilization first made its mark in the Lake Tahoe basin with the 1858 discovery of the Comstock Lode, a silver deposit just 15 miles (24 km) to the east in Virginia City, Nevada. From 1858 until about 1890, logging in the basin supplied large timbers to shore up the underground workings of the Comstock mines. The logging was so extensive that almost all of the native forest was cut. In 1864, Tahoe City was founded as a resort community for Virginia City, the first recognition of the basin?s potential as a destination resort area.

Related Topics:
Washoe - Kit Carson - John C. Frémont - 1844 - Gold - American River - 1848 - 1858 - Comstock Lode - Virginia City, Nevada - 1890 - 1864

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Public appreciation of the Tahoe basin grew, and during the 1912, 1913, and 1918 Congressional sessions, unsuccessful efforts were made to designate the basin as a national park. During the first half of this century,development around the lake consisted of a few vacation homes. The post-World War II population and building boom, followed by construction of gambling casinos in the Nevada part of the basin during the mid-1950?s, and completion of the interstate highway links for the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics, resulted in a dramatic increase in development within the basin. From 1960 to 1980, the permanent resident population increased from about 10,000 to greater than 50,000, and the summer population grew from about 10,000 to about 90,000.

Related Topics:
1912, 1913 - 1918 Congressional session - National park - World War II - 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics

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By 1970, the lake had started to show signs of eutrophication, which would wreck the pristine beauty that attracts tourists. To combat this, the local cities installed a quite-exotic tertiary sewage treatment plant. Despite this, the lake is still losing an average of one and a half feet of clarity per year due to development and associated erosion problems, runoff from pavement, and fertilizer usage on the lake shore.

Related Topics:
Eutrophication - Sewage treatment

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