The Lake of the Sky Part 7

One morning in the middle of August we left our camp at the eastern base of the double summit of the Sierra Nevadas and began our ascent. Mounted on my faithful steed, Old Pete, I pushed on in advance of the caravan, in order to get the first view of the already famous mountain lake, then known as Lake Bigler. The road wound through the defile and around the southern border of the Lake on the margin of which we camped for two days.

As I approached the summit I turned from the main road and followed a trail to the right which led to the top of a bare rock overlooking the valley beyond and furnishing an un.o.bstructed view.

Thus my first view of that beautiful sheet of water was from a projecting cliff 1000 feet above its surface, and it embraced not only the entire outline of the Lake with its charming bays and rocky headlands but also the magnificent forests of giant pines and firs in which it was embosomed, and the dozen or more lofty mountain peaks thrusting their white summits into the sky at alt.i.tudes varying from 8000 to 11,000 feet above sea level.

The view was, indeed, the most wonderful combination of towering mountains, widespreading valley, gleaming lakes, umbrageous forests, rugged b.u.t.tresses of granite, flashing streams, tumbling waterfalls, and overarching sky of deepest cerulean hue--all blended into one perfect mosaic of the beautiful, the picturesque, and the majestic, that mortal eye ever rested upon.

No imagination can conceive the beauty, sublimity and inspiration of that scene, especially to one who had for weary months been traversing dusty, treeless and barren plains. The contrast was overwhelming. Tears filled my eyes as I gazed upon the fairy scene. I recall the entrancing picture to-day, in all its splendid detail, so vividly was it photographed upon my brain.

Since that hour I have crossed the continent ten times, over various railway routes, visited most of the States of the Union, and seven foreign countries, heard the testimony of others whose travels have been world-wide, and I doubt if another scene of equal enchantment exists on the face of the globe.

In 1861, two years after my visit to Tahoe, I gathered the data for compiling the first general map of the Pacific States, which embraced the region from British Columbia to Mexico, and from the Rocky Mountains to the coast. It was ready for the engraver in February, 1862. I had instructed the draughtsman, V. Wackenreuder, afterward connected with the State Geological Survey, to omit the name of Lake Bigler, which was on contemporary maps.

I invited John S. Hittell, editor of the _Alta California_, a leading San Francisco daily, and Dr.

Henry DeGroot, writer on the _Evening Bulletin_ and correspondent of the able _Sacramento Union_, to come round to Bancroft's publishing house and inspect the map.

Dr. DeGroot had just returned from a visit to the Comstock silver mines in the Washoe district of Western Nevada. He suddenly turned to me and said: "Why, Knight, you have left off the name of Lake Bigler." I remarked that many people had expressed dissatisfaction with that name, bestowed in honor of a Governor of California who had not distinguished himself by any signal achievement, and I thought that now would be a good time to select an appropriate name and fix it forever on that beautiful sheet of water.

The suggestion met with favor, and several names were proposed--Washington, Lincoln, then war President, Fremont, an early explorer, and other historic names. I asked Dr. DeGroot if he knew what the native Indians called the Lake.

He drew a memorandum from his pocket and read over a list of Indian names local to that region, and exclaimed: "Here it is; they call it 'Tahoe,' meaning 'big water,' or 'high water,' or 'water in a high place.' The word rhymes with Washoe."

I did not quite like the name at first mention, but its significance was so striking that I asked if they--Hittell and DeGroot--would favor its adoption and back it up with the support of their newspapers, and they agreed to do so.

They advocated the adoption of the new name in their respective journals, the country papers almost unanimously fell into line, I inserted it on the map which bore my name--William Henry Knight--as compiler, and which was published by the Bancroft house in 1862.

I immediately wrote to the Land Office at Washington, reported what I had done, and the sentiment that prevailed in California, and requested the Federal official to subst.i.tute the name of Tahoe for Bigler on the next annual map to be issued by his office, and in all the printed matter of the Department of the Interior thereafter. This was done.

But a curious thing happened. Nevada was under a territorial government appointed by the Democratic administration of President Buchanan. The Territorial Legislature was in session when the subject was agitated by the California newspapers. A young statesman of that body, thirsting for fame, rose to his feet and in vociferous tones and with frenzied gestures, denounced this high-handed action of California in changing the name of that Lake without consulting the sister commonwealth of Nevada, as, according to the map, half of that n.o.ble sheet of water was in Nevada, and such action would require joint jurisdiction. But his impa.s.sioned words were wasted on the desert air of the Sagebrush State. He could not muster enough votes to enact his indignation into a law, and the calm surface of Lake Tahoe was unruffled by the tempestuous commotion raging in legislative halls at Carson City.

It was thus that the beautiful, euphonious, and significant name of "Tahoe" was first placed on my own map, and subsequently appeared on all other maps of the State, because it was universally accepted as a fitting subst.i.tute for the former name of "Bigler." A traveled writer refers to the Lake and the name selected in these terms:

"Thus it was that we went to Lake Tahoe, the beautiful 'Big Water' of the Washoe Indians--Tahoe with the indigo shade of its waters emphasized by its snow-capped setting. The very first glance lifts one's soul above the petty cares of the lower valleys, and one feels the significance of the Indian t.i.tle--'Big Water'--not referring to size alone, but to the greatness of influence, just as the all-pervading Power is the 'Big Spirit.'"

One would naturally think that there had been changes enough. But no! In spite of the fact that the Federal government had accepted the change to Tahoe, and that the popular usage had signified the general approval of the name, the Hon. W.A. King, of Nevada County, during the Governorship of Haight, in California, introduced into the a.s.sembly a bill declaring that Lake Bigler should be "the official name of the said lake and the only name to be regarded as legal in official doc.u.ments, deeds, conveyances, leases and other instruments of writing to be placed on state or county records, or used in reports made by state, county or munic.i.p.al officers."

Historian Hittell thus comments on this: "The bill, which appears to have been well modulated to the taste and feelings of the legislature, went through with great success. It pa.s.sed the a.s.sembly on February 1, the Senate on February 7; and on February 10 it was approved by the Governor. It remains a monument, if not to Bigler, at least to the legislature that pa.s.sed it; while the name of the Lake will doubtless continue to be _Tahoe_ and its sometime former designation of _Bigler_ be forgotten."

Now if Mark Twain really objected to the name Tahoe why did he not join the Biglerites and insist upon the preservation of that name?

On the Centennial Map of 1876 it was named "Lake Bigler or Lake Tahoe," showing that some one evidently was aware that, officially, it was still _Lake Bigler_.

And so, in fact, it is to this date, as far as _official_ action can make it so, and it is interesting to conjecture what the results might be were some malicious person, or some "legal-minded stickler for rigid adherence to the law," to bring suit against those whose deeds, t.i.tles, leases, or other doc.u.ments declare it to be Lake Tahoe.

CHAPTER VI

JOHN LE CONTE'S PHYSICAL STUDIES OF LAKE TAHOE

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, as well as the most celebrated, of these bodies of fresh water is Lake Tahoe.

This Lake, ... occupies an elevated valley at a point where the Sierra Nevada divides into two ranges. It is, as it were, ingulfed between two lofty and nearly parallel ridges, one lying to the east and the other to the west. As the crest of the princ.i.p.al range of the Sierra runs near the western margin of this Lake, this valley is thrown on the eastern slope of this great mountain system.

The boundary line between the States of California and Nevada makes an angle of about 131 degrees in this Lake, near its southern extremity, precisely at the intersection of the 39th parallel of north lat.i.tude with the 120th meridian west from Greenwich. Inasmuch as, north of this angle, this boundary line follows the 120th meridian, which traverses the Lake longitudinally from two to four miles from its eastern sh.o.r.e-line, it follows that more than two-thirds of its area falls within the jurisdiction of California, the remaining third being within the boundary of Nevada. It is only within a comparatively recent period that the geographical coordinates of this Lake have been accurately determined.

Its greatest dimension deviates but slightly from a medium line. Its maximum length is about 21.6 miles, and its greatest width is about 12 miles. In consequence of the irregularity of its outline, it is difficult to estimate its exact area; but it cannot deviate much from 192 to 195 square miles.

The railroad surveys indicate that the elevation of the surface of its waters above the level of the ocean is about 6247 feet.

Its drainage basin, including in this its own area, is estimated to be about five hundred square miles. Probably more than a hundred affluents of various capacities, deriving their waters from the amphitheater of snow-clad mountains which rise on all sides from 3000 to 4000 feet above its surface, contribute their quota to supply this Lake. The largest of these affluents is the Upper Truckee River, which falls into its southern extremity.

The only outlet to the Lake is the Truckee River, which carries the surplus waters from a point on its northwestern sh.o.r.e out through a magnificent mountain gorge, thence northeast, through the arid plains of Nevada, into Pyramid Lake. This river in its tortuous course runs a distance of over one hundred miles, and for about seventy miles (from Truckee to Wadsworth) the Central Pacific Railroad follows its windings. According to the railroad surveys, this river makes the following descent:

_Fall_ _Distance Fall per Mile_ Lake Tahoe to Truckee 15 Miles 401 Ft. 28.64 Ft Truckee to Boca 8 " 313 " 39.12 "

Boca to State Line 11 " 395 " 35.91 "

State Line to Verdi 5 " 211 " 42.21 "

Verdi to Reno 11 " 420 " 38.18 "

Reno to Vista 8 " 103 " 12.87 "

Vista to Clark's 12 " 141 " 11.75 "

Clark's to Wadsworth 15 " 186 " 12.40 "

Wadsworth to Pyramid Lake 18[1] " 187[1] " 10.39 "

______ _______ _______ Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake 103 " 2357 " 23.11 "

[Footnote 1: The elevation of Pyramid Lake above the sea-level has never, as far as we know, been accurately determined.

Henry Gannet, in his _Lists of Elevation_ (4th ed., Washington, 1877, p. 143), gives its alt.i.tude above the sea as 4890 feet; and credits this number to the _Pacific Railroad Reports_. But as this exact number appears in Fremont's _Report of Exploring Expedition to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-44_. (Doc. No. 166, p. 217), it is probable that the first rude and necessarily imperfect estimate has been copied by subsequent authorities. This number is evidently more than 800 feet too great; for the railroad station at Wadsworth (about eighteen or twenty miles from the lake), where the line of the railroad leaves the banks of the Truckee River, is only 4077 feet above the sea-level. So that these numbers would make Pyramid Lake 813 feet above the level of its affluent at Wadsworth; which, of course, is impossible. Under this state of facts, I have a.s.sumed the elevation of this lake to be 3890 feet.]

During the summer of 1873, the writer embraced the opportunity afforded by a six weeks' sojourn on the sh.o.r.es of the Lake to undertake some physical studies in relation to this largest of the "gems of the Sierra." Furnished with a good sounding-line and a self-registering thermometer, he was enabled to secure some interesting and trustworthy physical results.

(1.) _Depth_. It is well known that considerable diversity of opinion has prevailed in relation to the actual depth of Lake Tahoe. Sensational newsmongers have unhesitatingly a.s.serted that, in some portions, it is absolutely fathomless. It is needless to say that actual soundings served to dispel or to rectify this popular impression. The soundings indicated that there is a deep subaqueous channel traversing the whole Lake in its greatest dimension, or south and north. Beginning at the southern end, near the Lake House, and advancing along the long axis of the Lake directly north towards the Hot Springs at the northern end--a distance of about eighteen miles--we have the following depths:

_Station Depth in Feet Depth in Meters_

1 ............... 900 274.32

2 ............... 1385 422.14

3 ............... 1495 455.67

4 ............... 1500 457.19

5 ............... 1506 459.02

6 ............... 1540 469.38