Tahoe Tales of Historic Times & Unforgettable People: Of Historic Times & Unforgettable People

By Don Lane

This manuscript is a collection of short stories that were originally prepared as part of a radio program that began in the early 1980s as a summer informational and educational program for Tahoe area residents and visitors. Between 1982 and 1985, the author presented over a hundred live radio features about Tahoes history and the environment over Tahoe radio station KTHO. Lane returned to the radio airways in 1995, this time with Tahoe radio station KOWL-AM-1490, and has since broadcast over 3000 radio tales: Don Lanes Tales of Tahoe. The book is a distinctive collection of short stories about the colorful people, the characters, the dreamers and schemers that lived and worked in and around Lake Tahoe and the Sierras during the pioneer days of the Gold Rush and during the Comstock Yearspeople like Mark Twain, Joaquin Murrieta, and Lola Montez. It is also a collection of true stories about the unheralded pioneer men and women that were in their own simple way, inspiring. There are also tales about historic events in our regions diverse history and off-beat tales about ghosts, bandits and even about true love. The collection of tales weaves serious history with light-hearted stories without editorializing or fictionalizing by the author, as the emphasis has been on historical integrity and authenticity. The stories have been gathered from historical journals, diaries, museum collections, archives and history records. The stories are both entertaining and educational, and hopefully will provide insight into a time long past, and provide a greater awareness and appreciation for the people that have been forgotten over the years as time has passed by.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 18, 2008
• ISBN: 9781462806553

Don Lane

Don Lane has spent over thirty years with the US Forest Service at Lake Tahoe. Responsible for the management of all National Forest campgrounds, wilderness and backcountry areas within the Tahoe Basin, he has instructed courses at the Lake Tahoe Community College on Tahoe natural history, recreation and forestry management, and also lectures at the college’s wilderness institute on regional history. Author of scores of articles on Tahoe area history, Lane frequently gives community presentations on Tahoe history, and also hosts a daily radio feature on KOWL-AM 1490. Called “Don Lane’s Tales of Tahoe,” it focuses on Tahoe’s colorful history.

Book preview

TAHOE TALES

OF HISTORIC TIMES

& UNFORGETTABLE PEOPLE

Don Lane

Copyright © 2008 by Don Lane.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2008904172

ISBN:        Hardcover          978-1-4363-4142-4

                  Softcover            978-1-4363-4141-7

                  eBook                 978-1-4628-0655-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 04/10/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

578501

CONTENTS

ROLLIN DAGGETT

TAMSEN DONNER

DOUBLE-CROSSING

BLOOMERS

CHARLES PREUSS

FEW WOMEN AND MARRIAGE

BOWERS AND THOCKMORTONS

MOVIES

EARTHQUAKE

ADAH MENKEN

AIMEE McPHERSON

TAHOE NATIONAL PARK

GRIZZLY TALE

BABY CONTEST

DREAMERS

OPIUM

EMMET McCAIN

SISTER CELESTE

HELPING THE NEEDY

EARLY DAY JUSTICE

EARLY DAY MERCHANTS

DIED WITH BOOTS ON

CARRYING THE MAIL

DOG TALES

LAKE NAME

EARLY LAW DAYS

CARDSHARKERS

GRIZZLY ADAMS

ALBERT RICHARDSON

BUCKING THE TIGER

RED-HANDED MIKE

WILLIAM MAYFIED

WARREN WASSON

GRAFFITI

HORACE GREELEY

TWENTY-NINERS?

EARLY POLITICIANS

FATHER MacNAMERA

CAVE-IN

CATS AND WILLIAM WRIGHT

MINING IN THE WINTER

GENTLEMEN BANDITS

LOLA MONTEZ

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

FISH STOCKING

KLUTZ BANDIT

CLEANING UP THE TOWN

GHOSTLY NEVADA TALES

BETTING

HORSE RACING

FINDING GOLD

CALAVERAS MAN

BOOMTOWNS

FREMONTS HOWITZER

DRINKING BODIE

MOVING HOMES

GO-BACKERS AND MAIL SERVICE

LEN HARRIS

LOG CHUTE

PATENT MEDICINES

JOHNSON and McCRAY

EARLY MERCHANTS

GHOSTS AND THIEVES

ALFRED DOTEN AND POLITICIANS

ELECTIONS

JIM DELANEY

JACK SLADE

HALLOWEEN TALES

HASTINGS

SIM BLOSSOM

HOAXES

HORSES

GHOSTLY TALES OF CALIFORNIA

ANDY AND THE GHOST

JEFF AND SHORTY

CALVARY AND PARKS

BLACK ROCK TOM

MINING RESCUES

BANANA TOWN

CARRIE SMITH

HENRY MILLER

INFANTRY

ISABELLA

JOAQUIN MURRIETA

JUDGE BARRY AND PURSE

MOSQUITOES

EARLY DAY NEWSPAPER

OLD TAHOE

OLLIE PETERS

PERK OF BUSINESS

PETRIFIED PEOPLE

OAKIE

LUCKY BALDWIN

COLD MORNING IN TRUCKEE

TARANTULAS AND JELLY JARS

WHISKEY DRUMMER

PONY BOB

EARLY DAY IMMIGRANTS

SUNDAY PICNIC

OLD TIME JAILS

RULES OF COURTSHIP

SAMMIE AND THE KEG

PHRENOLOGY

PIONEER MINISTERS

POKERVILLE

RACING STAGECOACHES

ROBERT FOWLER

TRAINS AND INDIANS

NAMES

POSTAL CUSTOMERS

TRIP OVER ECHO

SPECULATORS

SS TAHOE

STAGE ROBBERS

MATTHEWSON

PACKARD AND WINTON MOTORCAR

ARNE AND TOBY

WESTERN MYTH

WATER WAR

TAHOE SCANDALS

PROHIBITION

DONNER PARTY

ULYSSES GRANT

TRUCKEE ICE

SHANGHAIING

CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO

ARTEMUS WARD

TAHOE WINTER

TELEGRAPH

TEENAGERS IN THE COMSTOCK ERA

PIONEER SCHOOLTEACHERS

LOST ELECTION BET

STOLEN CHURCH BELL

WASHOE TALE-POND TO LAKE

PERFORMERS

OLD TIME NEWSMEN

SPEED TRAIN

CHARLES McGLASHAN

TESTIMONIALS

CODE OF CONDUCT

TRAIN PRANKS

TWELVE JURORS

UNUSUAL WAYS OF FINDING GOLD

TRAIN PASSENGERS

GOODMAN AND FITCH

NEANDERTHAL MAN

WOMAN SCORNED

CAMELS AND BEARS

LICK OBSERVATORY

CEMETARY FENCE

RABBITS

TAHOE 1940’S

HWY 50

FARMER PEEL AND SAM BROWN

BIG ANNIE AND CAD

V-FLUMES

CHINESE WORKERS

ADVERTISING

AIR MAIL PIONEERS

BATTLE THAT WASN’T

ARMY

MARK TWAIN

CHIEF ZAPATERO

ENTERTAINER TRAVAILS

MARTIN LOWE

CREDITORS AND SALOONS

EMERALD BAY

BIG EATER

MICKEY FREE

BOOMTOWN BRAWL

FREMONT AND LILY

BURIAL CUSTOMS

JAMES KINKEAD

MERCHANT WITH A SKETCHBOOK

GEOMANCY

EARLY DAY POSTMEN

CHARACTERS WITH WIT

EMPEROR NORTON

DANCING IN A MINE

CLEM THOMAS

DESERT CROSSING

DISTRICT ATTORNEY

BRAVE MAN

ENTERTAINERS

FRAGRANT GULCH

FENIANS

GREAT FIRE

GOLDOMETER

STUFFING A CHIMNEY

FRANK OSBORN

FROGS AND TRUCKEE STRIKE

LADY RUSTLER

LIFE OF A MINER

HAIRCUTS

GRIZZLY BEARS

HANK MONK

HEARTS AND SALOONS

LOVE AND MINNIE LEE

MAIL-ORDER LOVE

MOUNTAIN MEN

NANCY KELSEY

PAIUTES

SAZERAC LYING CLUB

JOHN MACKAY

OLD VIRGINIA

METALLIFEROUS MURPHY

JOHN ROSS BROWNE

PRANKS

SNOW TUNNELS

GOLD RUSH WOMEN

WATER WAGON COMPASSION

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my family for their support, to the US Forest Service and to those memorable people that have been lost inside the pages of history.

PREFACE

This book is a collection of historic tales about the Lake Tahoe region and the Sierras. Tales about the extraordinary characters, the inspiring and conniving people that once lived around the lake and around the Sierras. Tales about famous people and about the men and women who over the passing years have become largely unknown today, yet in their own way, were unforgettable. The tales represent a diverse history, of people, including their passions, struggles and triumphs along with those events; both well-known and long forgotten from the 1800’s to more recent years around Lake Tahoe and the Sierras.

All of the tales in the book are founded upon fact and upon legend. Each story has been thoroughly researched for authenticity. They have all been gathered from historical journals, diaries, museum collections, early day newspapers, old manuscripts, and from history archives. The stories are both educational and compelling, reflecting the world that was…and hopefully providing a greater awareness and appreciation for the people who, as the years have passed by, have disappeared inside the pages of history.

Each story in this collection has been prepared for and broadcast over Lake Tahoe radio station KOWL-AM-1490, as a public service by the author. And now these historic tales are being presented to you in this collection of Tahoe Tales of Historic Times & Unforgettable People.

Lake%20Tahoe.tif

Lake Tahoe 1875

ROLLIN DAGGETT

The author of this tale was once Ambassador to Hawaii, and a United States Congressman from Nevada in the 1880’s, and he was always regarded as a rather extraordinary individual. Rollin Mallory Daggett was described as both unique and original. He was also to become an accomplished and a talented writer in our part of the country. His appearance was described as rough, uncouth and at times, almost brutal. He had a scar over one eye as if he’d been in a series of fights and he had a piercing look in his other eye that could be withering. His coarse features though masked a personality that could be charming, and his quick wit and lively sense of humor was positively engaging. Daggett was also a man wrapped in mystery. A man whose reputation as a man of intrigue was assured by a tale about him that made the rounds throughout the region shortly after he first arrived in this area. A tale of the supernatural that most people in those days took as being fanciful sounding yet completely truthful… and various versions were widely re-told. One version of the tale started in Placerville where one day Daggett wandered into town with three small children, and herding a large black & white bull ox. The group was nearly dead with hunger and totally exhausted. Those who saw Daggett were shocked by his long hair and scraggly beard. His clothes were torn and barely better than rags. His boots worn thin and offering bare protection for his feet which were bruised and bleeding from untold miles of walking. Daggett was almost incoherent… and people at first thought him to be insane. The towns residents though reached out to help the strange man and his children, and to find pasture for the giant ox that accompanied them. They washed Daggett and fed him, and carefully tended to the children. After a time, Daggett regained his senses and his story unfolded but it only added to his mystery. For Daggett was to explain to his care givers that he had been with a train of emigrants crossing the plains. But on the backside of the great Nevada desert, cholera hit the wagon train… an epidemic that was to sweep through the small band of travelers… until only he and the three young children were left (their parents had perished). Daggett selected the sturdiest of the wagons, and gathered up what stock he could, and with the three children in tow, he set out, alone across the desert walking towards the nearest town hundreds of miles away… across the dry desert lands. Daggett thought that he had been walking for about a week, and was on the verge of giving up in despair… his strength giving out and he was hopelessly lost… when the giant ox showed up out of nowhere. Likely it was a cull, abandoned by an earlier wagon train to fend for itself when food and water supplies ran low… a common occurrence in those days. But to Daggett it was a magical gift from the Heavens… a magic ox sent from above to guide him through the desert to safety. And in fact that ox did seem to know where it was going. Perhaps it was just smelling water from along way off and was just following its instincts but Daggett followed it… and that ox did lead him and the children to water, and eventually to Placerville and safety. The tale concluded with one last mystery… for a few days after Daggett and the children arrived in Placerville… the ox suddenly disappeared, and was never seen again. A tale of the supernatural or a true story? Only Rollin Daggett would know.

TAMSEN DONNER

She was a slight, frail woman, who was forced to make a heart-wrenching decision. A decision to save herself… to stay with her young children, or to stay with her dying husband and most likely perish with him. Her name was Tamsen… Tamsen Donner, and her story was one of courage, of devotion of love and despair. And few tales told will ever be more affecting than the tale of Tamsen Donner. She had been a schoolteacher… merry-eyed and full of spirit when she married a farmer by the name of George Donner. Though he was much older than her… . 17-years older and widowed with two children of his own, she was wonderfully happy. They were to have three more children by the time they packed up everything they owned and headed out to what they had hoped was a better life, a life in a mythic land called California. The year was 1846, and along with a wagon train of a score of other families (George, Tamsen, Leana, Elitha, Frances, Georgia and Eliza) headed west across the plains. But they got a late start, there were delays and difficulties, and the group found themselves in a camp at the foot of the great Sierra Mountains near Truckee when the snows began to fall. The winds began to howl and soon the ground was buried under a thick blanket of white. Unable to go any further, or retreat, the members of the wagon train had to make a winter camp. Spread out, some found shelter at Alder Creek, others, too weakened to travel settled-in around what was then known as Truckee Lake… today’s Donner Lake. As the days turned into weeks, and the snow grew deeper… some of the members of the wagon train set out on a desperate journey to seek help. The weeks turned into months for most of the travelers. A rescue party arrived, and was able to reach a small cabin where a small group of starving children waited… including most of the Donner children. A few had managed to make it over the pass with a snow-shoe relief party. But Tamsen Donner had not left. Her husband had been injured shortly after reaching Alder Creek, and since then his health had been slowly failing. He collapsed and couldn’t get up… his head burning with fever… drifting into and out of consciousness… Tamsen at his side. She knew what she was going to do… she was staying with her husband no matter what. No matter what the cost to her. But she was to make one last difficult journey on her own. A journey to say good-by to her children who she knew would be soon leaving with a relief party. It was a heart-wrenching moment, for her and her young children. But despite the agony that she felt as she gave them one last hug and kiss, Tamsen had made her choice, and as she walked away… back across the snowdrifts, she did not look back. She couldn’t bear to. But her faith in their future welfare was sound in her absolute belief that the older Donner children, Elitha and Leanna would care for the younger children. They would be safe and they would be loved. Tamsen then went back to her dying husband George. And so it was that this small, frail woman in spite of her own suffering was to leave us a tale of devotion, a tale of courage and a tale of love.

DOUBLE-CROSSING

Sometimes a little creativity is needed to stir up a flagging economy. Sometimes though, creativity can lead to larceny. One small Nevada town called Palisade fared well with its creative approach to find a way to stir up more business from the local passengers of the transcontinental train that passed through every day. The year was the early 1870’s, when the townsfolk came up with a wonderful plan… a plan to draw an instant crowd of onlookers up and down the tracks, to view an impromptu gunfight in the streets, bandits and brigands blasting away from behind every comer… . bullets flying and people running for cover. It looked real enough, but it was all a sham… a put-on (the bullets were blank!). And the whole town of Palisade was in on it… residents taking turns being a gunman or a screaming merchant running for cover. The railroad crews were in on the hoax, and in fact helped set up the passengers by warning them that the town of Palisade was one wild, rough and tumble train-stop and to beware. Passengers loved the action (especially the Easterners who’d read about the Wild West and now could actually witness it). The ploy worked, as stories flew, and more and more journeyed by train to visit this raw, frightening yet exciting boomtown by the railroad, and for years, the community of Palisade thrived because of its notoriety, and its good acting. Over in California, about the same time, there was a small community south of the lake that was known as Double Crossing. The small settlement was located near a meandering river crossing, and it was also located near a train-line. The glory of the gold rush years was long past, and the place was rundown. Only a few saloons, a small bank and a dozen scattered mercantile stores remained to keep the train depot company. The train went through twice a day, but only a little freight was unloaded, and the town could see a dim future unless things soon changed. So it was that the handful of residents decided they needed to do something creative to stir up business, and do it quick. Similar to what happened in Palisade, the residents came up with a scheme to stir up the towns reputation by having one of the down-and-out locals (a former actor… a man named Hodie Wimmer) to dress up and take on the role of a gunslinger. So it was that Hodie put on a ten-gallon black hat, strapped on two six-guns and a cartridge belt, and stood out by the depot when the next train pulled in. Then he twirled his guns, and let loose a volley in the air and waved at the passengers to get off the train and follow him. They did, right into the nearest bar where they were also treated to another sideshow… a staged gunfight and a make-believe bank robbery (the robber escaping down the street riding a horse carrying a canvas money bag amidst a hail of bullets from the town sheriff… . all blanks of course). And just like in Palisade, it wasn’t long before word got around and passengers were clamoring to visit Double Crossing to see some Wild West drama. But then something else happened… something unexpected. Apparently Hodie Wimmer saw an opportunity, for some larceny. For he swapped roles one day, with another town resident to pretend that he was the bank robber. And Hodie as scripted came running out of the bank amidst a hail of bullets and jumped on a waiting horse and rode off—with the bag. But then Hodie kept on riding for he had not been acting. He had actually robbed the town’s bank, and escaped with their money while the residents were all laughing and watching. The town of Double-Crossing was double-crossed.

BLOOMERS

Mark Twain once quipped that modesty died when clothes were born. He was certainly right when it came to some of the garments that some women wore back during the heyday of the 19th century. Stylish ladies of the times encumbered themselves with long trailing dresses, dainty shoes, and broad-rimmed sun bonnets whenever they ventured outside. But though this fashionable apparel was reasonable enough to wear during dry summer days, it was positively impractical when streets and sidewalks were muddy or covered with snow. A new fashion article was created by a lady by the name of Amelia Bloomer… essentially billowing trousers, and while far more practical to wear outdoors than full-length dresses, they were immediately ridiculed by most men and many women. Immediately named after their inventor, (bloomers) these flowing trousers, as they were described were intended on being a practical alternative to big city fashion, but at first only the most daring women would wear them. The reason was that anyone spotted wearing them were guaranteed to attract a crowd of curious spectators. One 1884 article, printed in a San Francisco newspaper told of one woman who braved the sudden attention she’d received when strolling down a city street wearing a pair of bloomers. The article declared that people didn’t stop and look at her, or turn and stare at her as she passed by because she was very beautiful, famous for her genius, notorious for her misdeeds, or because she was doing anything unusual. There was nothing unique about this middle-aged woman yet she drew as much notice as if she had been a great actress or a great criminal, all because she wore trousers… bloomers. But the woman ignored the stares, the laughter the gasps, and continued on her way… because in spite of how ridiculous she may have appeared, those bloomers were practical. Other intrepid ladies also began to appear across the country in them but invariably other articles of the day repeated the ridicule of the new outfit… even calling the women that wore the garment, bloomers. One early-day explorer and writer, Albert Richardson was to note that he was appalled by a bloomer he saw walking and driving a team of oxen. In his words: her huge dimensions gave her the appearance of an ambulatory cotton bale, or a peripatetic (a wandering) hay stack. Another early-day notable Sir Richard Burton was even more shocked during his tour of the American West in 1860. When he spotted a lady in a bloomer he was to describe her appearance as uncouth, her trousers fitting her like a soldier’s tunic, with haunches that would only be admired in venison. But in spite of all of the mockery and derision, the fashion (women’s trousers) was to over time, endure. Thanks to those courageous women that bravely challenged the impractical but prevailing traditions of acceptable fashion, even if they did look silly.

CHARLES PREUSS

February 14th of 1844 was an interesting day for Charles… Charles Preuss. Before this day, he’d been battling his way through waist deep snow, exposed to howling winds and freezing temperatures. Along-side him was another man, that one-day would be known as a legendary explorer… John Charles Fremont. It was on this day that they would stand on a mountain peak and discover a large blue lake to their north… a lake that would one day be known as Lake Tahoe. Charles was a surveyor and a cartographer, and he was a critical part of Fremont’s expedition… perhaps the most important member of the exploring party… for he was the one that prepared all the maps of the journey. Providing, for the first time, details about the vast, previously unexplored lands of the American West. But unlike Fremont, his name was to be forgotten over time, and is largely unknown today. Born in Hohscheid in 1803, he was to study geodesy (the geologic science of the size and shape of the earth), and for a time become a surveyor for the Prussian government. But looking for a better life for his family, he immigrated to this country in 1834, finding work for a few years doing survey work for the US Coast Survey. But then, the funds for that government program were cut, and Charles suddenly found himself without a job, and with a family to feed. He took whatever jobs he could find, but it was a difficult time for him, as it was a constant struggle to find a position with a steady income. It was then that providence stepped into his life. It was around Christmas time of 1841, when Charles was introduced to a man who had been looking to hire an experienced surveyor and map-maker. The man was John Charles Fremont. Not only did Fremont treat Charles and his family to a Christmas dinner, he hired him. This was to be the beginning of an eventful relationship between the two men… a relationship that would take them thousands of miles across unexplored country into remote areas of this country. During their early expeditions together, neither man was prepared for the wondrous natural world waiting to be discovered. Encountering towering mountains, great prairies and deserts, pristine forests and undiscovered lakes. One time in 1842 in the Platte River Valley, the two men were to observe what to them looked like three large groves of trees, and Charles quickly grabbed his notebook to mark what he believed was a unique landmark, when the trees all suddenly moved. His grove of trees turned out to be three massive herds of buffalo. Neither man had seen that many before. But despite their years together exploring the wild country, Charles didn’t always get along with Fremont… grumbling that sometimes he felt that Fremont acted like a big kid sometimes, though he was to note once in his personal diary that To be sure, I should change my attitude and make myself more agreeable here in the distant prairie. He was an exceptional cartographer, and a very capable explorer, but Charles didn’t enjoy the wilds as much as Fremont, and in fact was known to get lost in the woods from time to time. So it was that after three years of adventuring, Charles decided to stay home with his wife and children. He’d had enough exploring. But he did leave a legacy of wonderfully detailed maps of his and Fremont’s travels, including a map, the first ever, of our own Lake Tahoe.

FEW WOMEN AND MARRIAGE

The shortages of women during the early days of gold-rush California naturally made them even more of an attraction to us simple males then, than even today, where they often are admired even though sometimes are a mystery. If a rumor spread that a woman had arrived in any mining camp, men would travel for miles just to take a look at a female form and hear a female voice. Such is the power of nature. When Louisa Clappe joined her doctor husband at a California gold camp in the mid-1800’s, she was mystified and then amused by the excitement she caused among the miners. A young prospector from Georgia dashed into Dr. Clappe’s office eager to speak to the first woman he had seen in two years. And according to Louisa’s diary, the young man was so excited about the opportunity to talk to a woman, that he rushed out and invested capital in some excellent champagne, which she happily sipped in honor of her own arrival in camp! Another early-day pioneer was Caroline Leighton, who wrote in her dairy about how delightful all the men she met were to her when she was trying to enjoy an evening meal around a campfire… mosquitoes buzzing about. The men in her small community made little fires in frying pans around her to generate smoke to keep the pesky insects away while she ate her meal. Caroline noted that she felt like a heathen goddess to whom incense was being offered. Sometimes the shortage of women made for unusual tales. Such was the case of one Marie Sauvain in 1851. A recent arrival from France, Marie happened to be one of the very few women that lived around a small mining community known as Hornitos. Normally being only one of several single females in a large community of lonely men would give her the controlling hand when it came to finding and selecting a husband. But romance was challenging for Marie, for nature had not been overly kind to her. A very large person, she jarred the floor with every dainty step, her large teeth competed with a nose that was exceedingly prominent, and she was dealt with a booming laugh that rattled windows when-ever she let loose. But in spite of the exterior, Marie had a warm heart, a loving heart for one of the miners in camp. A very formal fellow freshly arrived in the gold camp from England… Willie Johnston. Now Willie wasn’t particularly blessed by nature either, but Marie saw through that, and silently longed for a life with Willie. But how could she possibly manage to snare him? Her chance came during a Christmas Eve dance. A dance with a hundred men and only a few women… most of them already married. A highlight of the evening was a game, a game of Post Office. A game where the ladies would present the man of her choice with a written proposition in a letter… perhaps to a dance, or perhaps to join her for a picnic, perhaps to a buggy-ride. The rough-shirted miners all hooted in approval, while most of the shy maidens were at first reluctant, but they agreed to play. When it was Marie Sauvain’s turn to callout the name of the man of her choice and to hand him a hand-scribbled letter with an invitation on it, she was ready. She called out Willie Johnston’s name, and slowly he approached her, cautiously. Marie then handed him a letter, in which were words written in French. Willie didn’t understand a word of French, but Willie was a true gentleman of the British Empire, and though he did not know what it was that Marie would be asking him to do with her, he gamely said yes. And so it was that shortly afterwards, Willie Johnston was to marry Marie Sauvain, the lady without glamour, because the words on the letter were Voulez-vous m’epouse? And Willie, a man of honor kept his word when he learned the English translation was: Will you marry me?

BOWERS AND THOCKMORTONS

Anyone wanting to find a local example of a poor family that suddenly came into a lot of money, needs only to look at the tale of Sandy and Ellie Bowers. Ellie, a mule skinner and miner, had met Sandy when she was operating a boarding house east of Carson City. Neither had much at first, just their love, but that was about to change as before they’d met, each had acquired a mining claim, and those claims were to make them millionaires; six times over. Overnight they were wealthy, when gold and silver were discovered on their claims. They constructed a mansion in the middle of Washoe Valley and ordered expensive and ornate furniture, carpets and lavish decorations, chandeliers and even an ornate library of several thousand books… all of the finest leather and lettered in gold, even though neither Sandy nor Ellie knew how to read. They also acquired oil paintings from Europe, hand painted china, marble statues and a huge grand piano, with a keyboard made of mother-of-pearl. They paid top dollar for everything, often careless about their money, for after all, they thought they had an endless supply of it from their mines in the Comstock. That wasn’t to be, as eventually these mines would play out and Sandy and Ellie would be bankrupt. But before they did lose all of their fortune, they happily spent their millions with abandon. Pioneer chroniclers also tell of another poor family that had their life change nearly overnight as they too, came into great wealth. And like the Bowers, were to undergo a significant change. A family that sounded like they were fabricated from a historian’s imagination, but in fact were real life characters. They were the Throckmortons. And their money make-over was recounted by a man who worked at a Sierra railstation… at a place known as Mountain Top. It seems that this little Sierra community was a stop-over for the mail express and passenger trains that primarily served the larger mountain communities. The train actually stopped at Mountain Top once a week to drop off any mail or passengers that wanted to stop there, though there was little mail and rarely any passengers. No-one knows why, but on those days the train did stop, a half dozen local residents, the Throckmortons would all wander to the station and sit and wait for the train. A simple collection of seedy looking locals thought the railroad clerk. Every stitch they wore was handmade and they all had a backcountry simplicity about them. They were there to see if they had received any mail… though over a seven year period the clerk worked at the Mountain Top station, they never received a single letter or parcel. But rain or shine, they were always there. Years would pass and that railroad clerk had transferred back east to a big city and he had all but forgotten that eclectic family of characters, the Throckmortons. But on one day, while standing in a New York train depot he spotted some people that looked vaguely familiar. They were the Throckmortons, but instead of wearing homemade clothing, they were attired in the finest silk fabric, accompanied by valets and hand-servants. Quickly approaching them, the clerk identified himself to them and asked if they remembered him. They did, but grudgingly, for it was obvious to the clerk, they didn’t want to be reminded of from where they had come… how much they had changed from their early days. It seems that on one day, the train stopped at Mountain Top and off stepped a geologist, a businessman who had discovered that underneath their property was a rich mineral vein, and he wanted to buy it! It was worth a fortune, and so they sold it, and so the Throckmortons were now all fabulously wealthy and could afford the servants, world travel and anything else they wanted to purchase. Oh what a difference money can make!

MOVIES

Lake Tahoe is occasionally visited by Hollywood… filming another movie for the big screen. Not their first visit, nor likely their last visit, for the scenic beauty of our mountains, and the nearby Great Basin desert has long ago attracted the attention of Hollywood. Since 1915 over three hundred films have been produced in the central Sierras. Classics and bombs, including the Adventures of Lassie, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Call of the Wild and the Gold Rush, have brought such famous Hollywood greats and super-stars as Marlon Brando, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Margaret Sullivan, Jimmy Stewart, John Barrymore and Charlie Chaplin to the Sierras, and to our area. Robin Williams and the venerable Walter Matthau, filmed a fun thriller here in 1982 called the Survivors. They filmed around Camp Richardson, even adding a prop gas station and general store near the lodge. As soon as filming was complete, away they went with the gas station… pumps and all. The old lodge at Round Hill Pines Resort was used in the opening sequence for a Stephen King drama starring Kathy Bates. Released in 1990, the movie Misery, featured a psychotic Bates as the Number One Fan, of mythical character Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan). Several of the more recent movies filmed around the lake featured Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan, Kevin Cosner and Whitney Huston, Tommy Lee Jones and even the Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, starring in Kindergarten Cop. One of the most famous movies made up at the lake was the definitive mafia series classic… the Godfather. For Godfather Part II, the mythical crime family had the Whittell Thunderbird Lodge as a backdrop for cinematographer Gordon Willis. Just north a ways from Reno is the desert lake… Pyramid. It was the movie setting for another kind of classic… a 1963 epic called The Greatest Story Ever Told, starring Max.Von Sydow, Charlton Heston and John Wayne. Producer George Stevens needed a lake that looked like the Sea of Galilee and Pyramid fit the bill. They even built a prop city along the shoreline… and when they filled it with thousands of extras… on film, it looked real. Another John Wayne movie (Island in the Sky) filmed in 1953 was based on a script written by Ernest K, Gann, involving a story about an Army cargo plane that had crash-landed in the Arctic wastelands north of Labrador. Its location shots were actually filmed at the old Truckee airstrip, just off today’s Interstate 80. Two movies made east of the lake were significant… not so much at the box office, but because they were the last films of several Hollywood greats. Carson City was the backdrop for John Waynes’ final 1976 film, appropriately a western (called The Shootist). Over near Dayton and Pyramid and around Reno, the 1961 Arthur Miller script… the Misfits, starred Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift in a contemporary film about a divorcee and a group of mustang chasing cowboys. It was also both Monroe’s and Gable’s last film. Other Hollywood movies filmed in our area includes Cobb, Jack Frost, Lightnin, and that Tahoe classic Rose Marie. We also can’t forget that all-time favorite television western, Bonanza was also filmed here. So it is that our area is both a real-life scenic wonderland and a great location setting for the make believe world of Hollywood.

EARTHQUAKE

It was just before dawn, on the 18th day of April 1906, that the grandest city on the west coast, the City by the Bay, San Francisco was reduced to rubble. At 5:12 AM a massive earthquake first rocked then ravaged San Francisco. The main quake lasted less than a minute, but it was felt all the way up to Oregon and as far south as Los Angeles. It was even felt in Central Nevada. Seismographs in Germany actually recorded the event. Out of a population of 400,000 people, over half, 225,000 people were left homeless. Further away, the shock wasn’t nearly as devastating, but still the power of that quake was strong enough that windows rattled and the clocks above three of Truckee’s largest hotels suddenly stopped. Landslides broke loose in Blue Canyon, and thousands of residents around the region suddenly awoke with a start. Over in Gardnerville people reported feeling nausea while eating breakfast. Ground movement could be felt all around the central Sierra’s, and even here at Lake Tahoe, a faint shudder could be felt. Estimates over the number of people that perished in the catastrophe would exceed 3000 persons. The earthquake and the ensuing massive, overwhelming fire that followed was to destroy 80% of the city… 28,000 buildings. Damage was estimated at the time to be $400-million… but in today’s dollars, that’s around $9-billion. In spite of the enormous damage that was caused by the earthquake (estimated 8.25 on the Richter scale), fire damage was even greater. The shifting earth fractured water mains, which severely limited the ability of fire crews to battle the wall of flames that soon flared up around the broken city. Over 500 city blocks of the downtown (the heart of the city) was destroyed by fire alone. The homeless, the survivors, began to flood into emergency shelters and neighboring communities to seek help. Emergency relief stations were established all over the region. In neighboring areas like Oakland, residents opened their doors, and every city park was transformed into a refuge. The US Army quickly mobilized, and built nearly 6000 small wood shelters that were to accommodate 20,000 people. Food kitchens were established, and medical centers were created overnight, to serve the seemingly endless numbers of wounded. Around the Sierras, in small towns like Truckee and around Lake Tahoe, local residents reached out a helping hand to the flood of people that would flee the devastation around the Bay Area. Contributing whatever money they could to help out the displaced residents of the once grand city by the bay, Truckee’s residents joined together to help bake and ship out 1500 loaves of bread to be distributed to the refugees. Soon trains packed with people from San Francisco were flowing into the train station at Truckee; people who were starving, injured or homeless. From Truckee to Tahoe residents of our small mountain communities were helping to feed everyone who needed help. Before the exodus was over, it was estimated that nearly 10,000 people were fed. Two weeks went by before the flood finally began to ebb as relief and government agencies in the Bay Area eventually managed to help the victims of this catastrophic event that one witness described as bedlam, pandemonium and hell rolled into one. Resorts at Lake Tahoe, normally closed at this time of year were opened to provide housing for those who did not want to spend their days in the city. Most likely living in a small shelter while the rubble and charred timbers were being cleared away, and services restored. Occasional aftershocks would scare many, and the fear of disease was frightening even to those who had braved the ravaging fires and crumbling buildings. So it was that the railroad tracks between Tahoe City and Truckee were cleared of late season snow, so that supplies and people could be moved more easily, and Tahoe was abuzz with business. Most would leave after the city was rebuilt, but some would stay, far away from the memories of that April morning. During the weeks and months after the initial quake had destroyed a great city, its residents were to rebuild, and so it was that San Francisco, like a phoenix, was to be reborn from the ashes into the great city that it is today.

ADAH MENKEN

She was an individualist… independent and rebellious with the norms of her day, often shocking formal society with her actions. And for this she was admired by many, but condemned by others. Her name was Adah Isaacs Menken, and during the 1800’ s she was a widely known actress and trend-setter. She was born somewhere around New Orleans way back in 1835, and grew up in a fragmented family seeing her father passing away soon after she was born. While still a teenager, Adah turned