By the late 1880′s, Gardner had logged over most of the areas and sold it to E.J. “Lucky” Baldwin who developed the lakefront portion.  He built a summer home and sold parcels to other families such as the Pope, Tevis, Comstock and Lawrence families who built the homes which are now on the adjoining properties.

In 1921, Captain Alonzo Richardson leased a large parcel from the Comstock and Lawrence families and set up a stage service from Placerville to South Lake Tahoe.  In 1924, he bought the property and built cabins and a lakefront pavilion.  By 1926 he added the hotel, dining room, gas station and other buildings of the present day resort.  He also built the “long wharf” which is now the Resort pier.

The late 1960′s was a period of building and development in the Tahoe Basin and there was pressure on the family to sell the property for condominium or commercial development.  The son-in-law of Captian Richardson, Ray Knisley, approached the USFS to take over the area from Baldwin Beach and Taylor Creek through Camp Richardson to Pope Beach.  This conversion was accomplished without a single dollar of government money and has created one of the largest and most valuable areas of recreation ever converted to public use.

References:  http://www.camprichardson.com/the-resort/history

Samuel ended up in Carson City working in timber, mining and finally found success as a featured writer for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.  It was this paper that Samuel began to sign his work as “Mark Twain”, which refers to shallow, yet safe, navigable waters.  (Samuel spent 3 years navigating the Mississippi River waters as a riverboat pilot where he learned the term “mark twain”.)

Clemens had a way with his story telling, that would be half truths about his experiences and the ways of life in the West.  He left the West by 1870 and made Hartford, Connecticut his permanent home.  Although his time out West was brief, his writing was influenced and sharpened by it, which broadened his abilities as a writer.  One of Clemens’ famous quotes of Lake Tahoe: “As it lay there with the shadows of the mountains brilliantly photographed upon its still surface, I thought it must surely be the fairest picture the whole earth affords.”  Nicely put, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, nicely put.

In 1871, Bliss moved his family to Carson after he founded the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company.  He eventually controlled every aspect of the business from the land to the timber, ships and barges to move the timber, flumes and the railroad system he built.  Bliss became one of Nevada’s most successful businessmen because of his thriving lumber business.

After the end of the logging era in 1893, Bliss recognized the tourism potential of Lake Tahoe.  He successfully formed the Lake Tahoe Transportation Company to build a rail line to carry tourists to Tahoe from the Southern Pacific line in Truckee, CA.  He also commissioned the construction of a luxury steamboat called “The Tahoe”.  This vessel carried tourists across the lake to a first class resort called the Tahoe Tavern located in Glenbrook; which Bliss also built.

The 60 room Tahoe Tavern was built in 1901.  By the 1930s the tavern had added many luxurious amenities.  Today the pool and the rock stairway are the remaining structures of the Tahoe Tavern after it burned downed in 1960 and shortly after torn down.

References: 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duane_Leroy_Bliss
http://www.visitcarsoncity.com/history/people/duane_bliss.php

Let’s start at the front of the property for this first post:  The Carson buidling.  John C. Frémont and Christopher “Kit” Carson, were the first European Americans to arrive in Eagle Valley during an 1843 exploration.  Frémont had named the river that flowed through this valley after Kit Carson.  Kit Carson was hired only after Frémont could not locate another well-known guide by the name of Andrew S. Drips.  (Who knows, this first building could have been named Drips instead of Carson!)

Christopher Kit Carson was not only known for his guide and trapping expertise.  After several years of guiding on 3 more expeditions with Frémont, he served in the Mexican War where he carried messages through enemy territory to and from the Southwest and Washington.

In 1854 he became the agent for several Southwestern tribes, trying to keep the peace and fair treatment of Native Americans.  Come 1861, Carson was appointed as lieutenant colonel during the Civil War.  He continued to hold assignments in the West until he quit the army in 1867.  He died in 1868.

Thanks to the fascination of  the West with the American public, Frémont’s reports on Christopher Kit Carson’s adventures became wildly exaggerated and made him a famous household name!

Reference:  www.notablebiographies.com/Ca-Ch/Carson-Kit

Thank you to all of you who have been perfecting your snow dance!  We received up to a foot of snow yesterday and there is another 2-4 feet on the way starting in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  Once Mother Nature blankets us with this next snow fall she’s clearing the weather to make it easier to get up to Tahoe this weekend.

Check out our video on facebook and like us too!

Tahoe Beach & Ski Club is just up the street from both venues.  We have limited space available for the week preceding the concert and the night of the concert.  So book now to secure your room!

Looking to spend some time on the water?  The Tahoe Queen, right next door to Tahoe Beach & Ski Club, invites you aboard for an Apres Ski Cocktail Cruise every Wednesday now through April 4th.  If you desire to be on the lake and ski, what better way than the Tahoe Queen’s Ski Shuttle to Northstar!  Board on the south shore and ski on the north shore.  Available Tuesday and Thursday now through April 5.

Snow at the Resort

Phew, the snow is still falling here at Tahoe Beach & Ski Club.   After today, the roads will be clear of snow with temperatures  heading into the 50′s this week.  Plan on driving up, the roads will be clear of snow.  See you at the lake!