South Lake Tahoe
California
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City of South Lake Tahoe
Mission
The City Council exists to represent the public interest, to oversee the City's operations, and to plan for the City's future.
History
Explorer John C. Fremont first saw Lake Tahoe in 1844 from the top of Red Lake Peak, which is located south of the basin and what is now Carson Pass. He named it Lake Bonpland after a botanist, but then changed it to Mountain Lake. Subsequently it was named Lake Bigler after a California Governor. The US Department of Interior didn't care for it either, and commissioned Dr. Henry Degroot, a journalist, to come up with a name. Degroot suggested "Tahoe" an Indian name meaning "big water". It took decades before the name finally stuck, thanks to action in 1945 by the California State Legislature.
In the 1860's, Tahoe was the center of a lively commerce that involved the silver mines in Virginia City, where the Comstock Lode was discovered in 1859, and the Central Pacific Railroad, which was pushing over the Sierra toward the town of Truckee. To supply wood to the mines, the new boomtown and the railroad created an extensive logging empire which was established on the east shore of the lake, from Incline Village to Glenbrook. The loggers' clear-cut the entire shore line and left scars for decades, until the early 1880's. By then, the only business that showed promise was tourism and thus began a new land rush to build resortsature.
The City Council exists to represent the public interest, to oversee the City's operations, and to plan for the City's future.
History
Explorer John C. Fremont first saw Lake Tahoe in 1844 from the top of Red Lake Peak, which is located south of the basin and what is now Carson Pass. He named it Lake Bonpland after a botanist, but then changed it to Mountain Lake. Subsequently it was named Lake Bigler after a California Governor. The US Department of Interior didn't care for it either, and commissioned Dr. Henry Degroot, a journalist, to come up with a name. Degroot suggested "Tahoe" an Indian name meaning "big water". It took decades before the name finally stuck, thanks to action in 1945 by the California State Legislature.
In the 1860's, Tahoe was the center of a lively commerce that involved the silver mines in Virginia City, where the Comstock Lode was discovered in 1859, and the Central Pacific Railroad, which was pushing over the Sierra toward the town of Truckee. To supply wood to the mines, the new boomtown and the railroad created an extensive logging empire which was established on the east shore of the lake, from Incline Village to Glenbrook. The loggers' clear-cut the entire shore line and left scars for decades, until the early 1880's. By then, the only business that showed promise was tourism and thus began a new land rush to build resortsature.