Categories
Tahoe Snowstorms

#254 BIG WINTER ON A ROLL!

TAHOE NUGGET #254: BIG WINTER ON A ROLL!

Winter 2013 has come out of the gate fast and furious and snow sports enthusiasts are loving the abundant fresh powder during this holiday period. Tahoe-Truckee resorts and businesses are reaping the economic benefits derived from a solid early season snowpack that draws visitors. It’s a great start to a new year.

Heavy snowfall during the Christmas holidays made road travel challenging, but the high quality powder made for epic skiing and riding at Tahoe resorts.

Remember two years ago when the Northern Sierra was hammered by the epic winter of 2011, the ninth snowiest since 1879 on Donner Pass?  (2011 was also the 7th wettest winter in a century at Tahoe City.) Seasons like that don’t come around very often. Or do they? Don’t look now, but this winter is already giving 2011 a run for its money.

As of New Year’s Day 2013, total aggregate precipitation across the Northern Sierra is running neck and neck with a near identical booster-rocket graph trajectory exhibited in the final months of 2010.

Remarkably, by January 1 both 2011 and 2013 winters had streaked ahead of 1983 in precipitation, the wettest year of record in the 8 Station Northern Sierra Index, established in 1922.

It seems logical to think that one significant difference between winter 2011 and this year, however, would be 2012’s early December deluge of higher elevation rainfall that nearly caused a major flood event on the Truckee River near Truckee and Reno.

The lack of snow and heavy rain demoralized skiers and some resort operators, but when you compare snowfall tallies for 2011 and 2013 up to New Year’s Day, you might be surprised.

Early December rainstorms left the base of KT22 chairlift in poor condition. Today the snowpack there is a solid 4 feet deep. 

So far this season, at the 8,200-foot-level of Squaw Valley, they have received nearly 21 feet of snow. By the same date in 2011, they had picked up a bit more than 24 feet.

How about at the bottom of the mountain where conditions were so bleak after that post Thanksgiving rain event? This year so far—12.4 feet of snow measured at Squaw Valley’s 6,200 foot level. By the same date in 2011?  — 13.6 feet. Let’s face it. We’re on a roll.

Last December the Tahoe Basin got skunked. This December we got hammered! Special thanks to the crew at the NWS office in Reno for the great graphics they produce.

Currently Northern California is under the protection of a strong high pressure system that should be around for a while. Sunny skies, calm winds and crisp temperatures are the rule in this weather pattern. Last winter persistent high pressure circulation remained locked over the eastern Pacific Ocean keeping Tahoe dry for a record 56 consecutive mid-winter days.

The 2012 prolonged dry spell was a rare event, but a normal Tahoe winter does experience extended periods of storm free days. These storm breaks usually come in December or January and average about 19 days in duration.

Wind-free high pressure regimes generate atmospheric inversions where cold, dense air settles into basins and valley bottoms for days on end. Not only do they suppress daytime temperatures, but they also trap particulate pollution in the lower levels of the atmosphere that creates bad air quality.

Atmospheric inversion envelopes Reno, Nevada, in cold, poor quality air. Residents there will have to wait for the next storm or a wind event to scour out the valley.

During these inversion conditions the ski slopes around Lake Tahoe are significantly warmer than the lower elevations. Skiing and riding at Tahoe doesn’t get much better than this —a healthy snowpack from 5 to 12.5 feet deep topped by packed powder surface conditions.

Did I mention the glorious sunshine showing off the groomed corduroy and chalky steep pitches? Tahoe is Game On!

Squaw Valley parking lot packed on New Year’s Eve. The resort is so big, however, that after looking up at the slopes my wife asked me “where are all the skiers?” Due to more than 30 hi-speed lifts and expansive terrain, the mountain can handle thousands of guests and not feel crowded.

Seen in Squaw Valley parking lot. No doubt where they ski!

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Tahoe Ski History

#253 TAHOE'S OLYMPIC BID REJECTED

TAHOE NUGGET #253: TAHOE’S OLYMPIC BID REJECTED

The weather has been quite cold and unsettled this week with frequent, but generally modest snowstorms dropping powder on Tahoe resorts. Snow quality has been excellent since that big rain event a couple of weeks ago and ski conditions are outstanding with fluffy skier-packed powder and corduroy groomers. Two potent storms expected next week may add several more feet to the substantial early season snowpack.

Skiing and snowboarding have been great this week with cold powder conditions and plenty of snow on the upper slopes — Alpine Meadows on Dec. 13, 2012, looking north towards sister resort Squaw Valley.

This past summer the United States Olympic Committee decided against an American bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics and instead will focus on either the 2024 Summer Games or 2026 Winter Games.

Entities associated with a Reno-Lake Tahoe bid for a future Winter Olympics were disappointed, especially since they were feeling bullish about their position against other western contenders such as Bozeman, Montana; Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah. (Utah again? Already?) 

Our Olympic legacy lives on at Squaw Valley, but there are many people who want another shot at hosting the Winter Games in the Tahoe-Reno region.

By 2026 it will have been 24 years since this country hosted an Olympic Games and the wheel of fortune is likely spinning back to an American venue. Most communities lunge at the opportunity to bid for the Olympics; they bring world recognition and a lucrative tsunami of capital improvements and enhanced infrastructure.

Many people remember that Squaw Valley successfully hosted the 1960 Winter Games, an event that showcased the area’s sheer natural beauty and boosted the image of the Tahoe-Truckee region as a year-round playground.

Front cover of 1960 Winter Games program captures the soaring spirit of Olympic sport.

Fewer folks, however, are aware that Tahoe’s failed bid to host the 1932 Winter Games changed how California promoted winter sports. That missed opportunity helped launch an alpine skiing revolution in the Sierra that benefitted from better skis and equipment, and conveyances like rope tows that eliminated the long uphill climb and made downhill skiing much easier and more fun.

By 1928, Northern California businessmen were keenly interested in expanding the state’s nascent winter sports industry. Truckee had its downhill ski area and towering wooden scaffold jump at Hilltop across the river from downtown, where imported spruce skis could be rented and a “pull-back” lift was ready for whenever customers showed up.

This pull-back lift, an uphill conveyance designed for paying tobogganists near Truckee so they didn’t have to climb back up after every run, became North America’s first mechanical ski lift when skiers hoppped on board, years before the development of rope tows. The idea was to hook your toboggan on one of the posts, sit down, and ride it backwards up to the top. 

Not to be outdone by Truckee, Tahoe City established a Winter Sports Grounds just west of town and built a trajectory jump that marketing agents dubbed “Olympic Hill.” Soon after the United States was picked to host the 1932 Olympics (both summer and winter).

Competition to host the first Winter Olympics in the United States grew into an intense contest between three established winter snow play areas; Yosemite National Park, North Lake Tahoe, and Lake Placid near Whiteface Mountain, New York. Yosemite had opulent lodging at the Ahwahnee Hotel, Lake Placid promised to construct modern facilities, and Lake Tahoe promoters boasted of a $3 million bankroll that could build anything that the Olympic Committee wanted.

The jump at Olympic Hill outside Tahoe City was epic. During this international jumping competition held in 1932, foreign competitors arrived from Europe and Scandinavia. The deep snow, sunny skies, and views of Lake Tahoe over the forest canopy converted many skeptics that the region really is a world class winter playground.

In California the odds were stacked against Tahoe. Yosemite enjoyed a well-deserved reputation for scenery and unparalleled political clout — support that ran all the way to the White House and the director of the National Park Service. So it wasn’t a surprise that the California selection committee chose Yosemite as its bid site over Big Blue.

California had managed to secure the 1932 Summer Games for Los Angeles, but the state’s Winter Olympics movement ran into stiff opposition. State and private enterprises were heavily invested in marketing the Golden State’s famed mild climate. They feared the emphasis on snow and mountains would harm their efforts.

The European-dominated International Olympic Committee chose Lake Placid over Yosemite partly because of their perception that California basks in a year-round Mediterranean climate. Ultimately, Lake Placid was picked because of its location in upstate New York’s snow country where winter sports were common. The rejection was disappointing, but it served as a catalyst for the emergence of California as a winter sports powerhouse.

The Lake Tahoe Ski Club boasts more National Champions and Olympians than any other ski club in America. L to R James Worden, Charles Henrikson, Carl Bechdolt, Jr., Oliver Henrikson, and Al Henry, Jr., circa 1936. 

After the State failed to secure the 1932 Winter Games, the Chamber of Commerce switched gears and began to embrace winter sports as a viable, economic and popular commodity. It hired Jerry Carpenter, an enthusiastic skier and writer from San Francisco, to promote the development of the Golden State’s winter sports industry.

During winter months the focus of the chamber’s publication switched from sunshine and citrus to snowflakes and sliding. Carpenter wrote, “California offers her residents and tourists a complete program of winter sports that promises to equal, and in some respects exceed, the winter sports of the most famed European, Canadian and Eastern [U.S.] Resorts.”

Psyched-up boosters for a Reno-Tahoe Olympiad better hope that the U.S. Olympic Committee takes that Olympic Heritage to heart for 2026.

  

After the 1932 Olympic rejection, the Golden State began aggressively marketing winter sports — California Style.

 

This week there was enough snow for expert riders to hit the chutes of Idiot’s Delight at Alpine Meadows. Not bad for mid-December!

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Tahoe Snowstorms Weather History

#252 TAHOE SURVIVES PACIFIC STORMS—BARELY!

TAHOE NUGGET #252: TAHOE SURVIVES PACIFIC STORMS—BARELY!

SYNOPTIC SET UP: A “mother ship” of low pressure that originated in the Gulf of Alaska remained stationary off the Pacific Northwest coast as it shunted slugs of deep tropical moisture into northern California over the course of five days, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, 2012.

The official warnings were certainly ominous—an extended period of torrential rain, high elevation snow levels, and potentially major flooding on the Truckee River. Classic ingredients for what meteorologists call a “wet mantle” flood event when heavy rain washes out an existing snowpack and overwhelms the watershed, and streams and rivers breach their banks.

Yes it seemed that the components that can cause damaging floods were there (except for an established low elevation snowpack), but as it turned out the final surge of moisture turned to snow over much of the higher elevations which slowed snowmelt considerably.

Knife-like back edge to final cold front that swept through Northern California on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. Dry air behind the front ended heavy precipitation earlier than projected and cooler air dropped snow levels quicker than expected. The scenario eliminated threat of major flooding on Truckee River.

Residents living within the Truckee River flood plain between Squaw Creek and Donner Creek dodged a bullet this time, but that’s not to say their homes aren’t at risk. Those five days of rain and snow definitely had the potential to fulfill all the National Weather Service warnings for the Tahoe-Truckee watershed, but luckily the region was spared serious damage. In fact, we picked up a boatload of moisture and ski resorts are loving the two to four feet of fresh snow that blasted the upper elevations.

The 1997 New Years Flood damaged many homes located in the Truckee River floodplain between Squaw Valley and Truckee. They are still at risk from major winter floods.

In a reversal of the normal situation where Sierra Crest-based resorts usually receive the most snowfall, Northstar California reported the greatest storm total with 47 inches on the upper mountain.

Accumulations near lake level were measly—consider that Squaw Valley picked up 42 inches of snow at 8,200 feet, but only two inches at the base.

Virtually all the major resorts are in fairly good shape for the economically vital holiday season that’s only weeks away. If the Storm King doesn’t deliver more snow in the interim, when cold air arrives snowmaking will beef up the thin snowpack at resort bases.

When snow started falling at lake level in the Tahoe Basin on Sunday morning, flood warnings on the Truckee River were cancelled.

The recent stormy period definitely put the region on course for an above average 2013 water year. Although no records were broken, rainfall totals were impressive: Tahoe City saw 6.72 inches; Donner Lake picked up about 11 inches; Blue Canyon more than 14 inches; and La Porte, north of Truckee, was doused with nearly 18 inches. Brandy Creek, elevation 1,300 feet on the Upper Sacramento River drainage was the wettest spot in California with nearly two feet of rain.  

 

Lake Tahoe’s water level rose about 3.5 inches during the storm. According to the USGS, just 1/8th of an inch of water in Tahoe is equal to 397,538,220 gallons!

The NWS dubbed the persistent flow of Pacific moisture an “atmospheric river,” an apt term to describe the amount of water that poured down on the north state.  Seasonal precipitation totals in the Sierra were boosted significantly, with the Northern Sierra 8 Station Index currently averaging 220 percent of normal. (The index represents the aggregate of eight sites ranging from Highway 50 to Mt. Shasta.)

As of Dec. 5, 2012, water year 2013 is off to a roaring start, better precipitation-wise than the snowbound winter of 2011, and even ahead of the pace of 1983, the wettest winter since the index was established in 1922.

The Truckee River flood warning was issued when the NWS expected freezing levels near 9,000 feet, accompanied by heavy rain that would come rushing out of watersheds west of Highway 89, including Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. Forecasters predicted conditions akin to what occurred in late December 1955 during a similar hydrological event. It was called the “Storm of the Century.”

For 10 days during Christmas season 1955, a series of storms from Hawaii poured wet snow and rain on the Sierra and Northern Nevada. Officials said there was no cause for alarm, but Reno business people remembered the 1950 Thanksgiving flood that heavily damaged the city and they swung into action. Volunteers and National Guardsmen stacked walls of sandbags along the riverbank and in store entrances. Contractors supplied cranes to clear logjams and debris in the Truckee River. Parking meters were removed from downtown bridges.
 
Sure enough, two days before Christmas more than two inches of rain pounded
Reno in 24 hours. (Reno picked up only 1.34 inches of rain in the recent five day event.) Upstream nearly every power plant and bridge on the Truckee River was destroyed.

Downtown Reno underwater during the 1955 wet mantle flood event on the Truckee River.

Wet snow pulled down power lines, severing communication between Western Nevada and California. Logs jammed against bridge supports, and four feet of water flowed into Reno¹s downtown district. Many residents fled, although not before hanging their gifts high in their Christmas trees.

At Stead Air Force Base, holiday furloughs were cancelled, and hundreds of airmen with radios, jeeps, and trucks joined National Guard troops in sand-bagging and policing the streets. Finally, on Christmas Eve, cold air from the Gulf of Alaska turned the rain to snow, and the river began to recede. Overnight the swirling flakes descended on Reno¹s flood-ravaged streets, covering the debris with a mantle of snow. Reno residents awoke to their first white Christmas in years.

Ever since it was built in the Truckee River floodplain, Reno has had to deal with the volatile stream. Courtesy Reno Gazette Journal. 

This time we escaped unscathed, but whenever the Truckee threatens to spill over its banks, it helps to recall the Weather Bureau statement before the 1955 flood that “no menacing storms appear likely.”

 

Between storms in Carnelian Bay on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012.

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Categories
Tahoe Snowstorms

#251 CALIFORNIA 2012 SUPERSTORM

TAHOE NUGGET #251: CALIFORNIA’S 2012 SUPERSTORM

California’s version of a Pacific-bred “superstorm” is currently pounding the central and northern portions of the State with damaging wind gusts and torrential rain that’s generating urban and small stream flooding. Thousands are already without power in the San Francisco Bay Area and the strongest, most potent of three storm surges is still more than 24 hours away.

This graphic depicts jet stream position with core wind speeds exceeding 140 mph. Note wind gusts up to 80 mph in western Nevada. Driving back from Reno on Thursday, Nov. 29, I observed a brush fire ripping through dry sagebrush and scrub just south of Interstate 80. 

Relatively mild temperatures are keeping snow levels generally above 7,000 feet meaning mostly rain at Lake Tahoe beaches with heavy wet snow slowly piling up on the upper slopes. Even with its higher base elevation, Kirkwood Ski Resort has picked up less than two feet on the upper mountain so far due to the slushy, condensed nature of the snow.

With the arrival of the final moisture surge late Saturday through Sunday, freezing levels are projected to rise well above 8,000 feet limiting snowfall accumulations at Lake Tahoe resorts.

Projected storm total precipitation amounts approach 15 inches near Lake Tahoe.

As the first wave of moisture moved into Northern California two days ago I decided to check out the forecast for the upper elevations of Mt. Shasta where the precipitation will be all snow. According to the National Weather Service, anticipated total snowfall accumulation at 12,366 feet is at least 18 feet, with more possible. If measureable snow falls every 24 hours (which seems likely), it can be considered a single storm event that may set a new Sierra record.

California’s current single snowstorm record is 189 inches (15.75 feet) measured over 7 days at the Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl in February 1959. Only wrinkle in this formula is that the Mt. Shasta Ski Bowl (where they’ll measure the snow) is much lower than 12,000 feet and the snow will lose a lot of its loft which means lesser totals. Despite the rain in Tahoe, with any luck we’ll set a new state snowfall record at Mt. Shasta this week!

Daily measured totals during Mt. Shasta’s 1959 record single snowstorm event.

This storm series will continue to make headlines over the next 48 hours, but one thing is clear. The timing of this rough weather couldn’t be better. A wet and warm system like this one is the principle culprit that causes virtually all the wintertime floods that strike California and western Nevada.

In 2009, scientists spent time and money to see what would happen if California picked up 8 feet of rain in 3 weeks. The media dubbed the resulting catastrophic flood event “Frankenstorm.” You have to wonder if this is an example of over-the-top newspaper hyperbole or climate change fear mongering?

Known as a wet mantle event, heavy precipitation coupled with high freezing levels pumps a huge amount of water into regional streams and rivers, sometimes even overwhelming reservoir capacity.

Deeper into the winter season the lower elevation snowpack is usually well-established and susceptible  to rapid melting, which adds water from previous cold storms to a drainage system already challenged by the typical 10 to 20 inches of rain that accompany these “atmospheric river” events on the West Coast. Several locations in the North State have reported more than 7 inches of rain in the past 24 hours alone.

Infrared satellite image from 4 kilometers above surface shows deep moisture plume surging into northern California on November 30.

These semi-tropical surges of heavy precipitation are California’s version of a hurricane with similar impacts over a large swath of territory. This time around, however, there is no low elevation snowpack to melt and regional reservoirs (including Tahoe) are all boasting hefty storage capacity. And with much of Western Nevada and Eastern California suffering serious drought conditions any spillover will help alleviate dry soil conditions there.

Even with the good news about available storage capacity, the Truckee River watershed is getting hammered and portions of the Truckee are under a flood warning, particularly between Squaw Creek and Truckee, as well as the lower stretches at Farad, Reno and Vista. The highest flows will be on Sunday (Dec. 2) due to saturated soil and continuing heavy rain.

Downstream of Squaw Valley, the Truckee River is projected to exceed flood stage by nearly 4 feet with a flow of 7,800 cubic feet per second. At Farad, near the California-Nevada border, the Truckee River is expected to hit 12,600 cfs, which is about one foot above flood stage. Moderate damage is possible to low-lying trailer and public parks, as well as some roads and bridges.

A wet mantle flood around New Year’s Day 1997 caused major damage to bridges on the upper portions of the Truckee River. Generally most damage occurs on the lower reaches of the river near Reno. Flood warnings are currently posted for this stretch of river on Sunday.

This weekend the NWS is anticipating hydrological impacts similar to Truckee River floods that occurred in 1955, 1963 and 1964. Check out my overview of historic Nevada floods.

To read about the February 1963 flood event, check out Tahoe Nugget #227:

I’m currently developing a profile about how authorities handled the Truckee River Christmas flood of December 1964 to be published in an upcoming Nugget. Stay tuned and stay dry.

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Categories
Tahoe Characters

#250 HERMIT OF EMERALD BAY

TAHOE NUGGET #250: HERMIT OF EMERALD BAY

Near South Lake Tahoe is a spectacular, glacially-carved basin known as Desolation Wilderness. Towering above the shattered cliffs and glacial debris looms Dick’s Peak, elevation 9,974 feet, standing stoic and solitary in this region of rugged extremes. The obdurate mountain is a fitting monument to Captain Richard Barter, a man whose remarkable feats of survival have withstood the test of time.

Desolation Wilderness features scenic hiking, camping, rock climbing, and swimming in the summer, and stellar snowshoeing and backcountry skiing during the winter. 

Dick Barter was a retired British sea captain who shipped into Tahoe when he was hired by the son of commercial stager Ben Holladay. In 1862, Holladay had pre-empted the unoccupied land surrounding picturesque Emerald Bay and built a two-story, five-room villa. The following year Holladay hired Captain Barter to take care of the estate during the harsh winter months.

The decision to employ an old sea captain to protect a remote mountain hideaway made good sense. When deep snow blanketed the Sierra, the only way in or out of the bay was by boat. To survive the winter there a caretaker had to be seaworthy. Captain Barter was definitely the right man for the job.

Mountain glaciers carved out Emerald Bay (right) and the smaller Cascade Lake basin just to the south. The Emerald Bay glacier managed to push through its terminal moraine to reach the Tahoe Basin. Current water levels allow for boat access. The road on the ridgeline of the lateral moraine between the two is not for the faint of heart!

Barter’s solitary life at Emerald Bay was full of hardship and danger, but for 10 years the captain lived the life of a recluse at Holladay’s isolated cottage.

Despite his eccentric lifestyle, the venerable sailor gained a reputation as an easy going old salt that enjoyed the taste of bourbon whiskey. If Barter craved a drink and conversation during the snowbound winter, he sailed for it. It was 16 miles from Emerald Bay to the saloon in Tahoe City, and a risky voyage in a small boat. But neither distance nor danger deterred Barter’s efforts to reach his favorite watering hole.

Captain Barter was a fatalist who expected death to come by drowning, avalanche, or grizzly bear attack.

In January 1870, the old captain almost met his maker when a sudden gust upset his boat two miles off Sugar Pine point. He struggled frantically in the cold water, but finally succeeded in getting back into the boat. The weather was intensely cold and deadly hypothermia was setting in, but Barter refused to give up. After what seemed like an eternity in the numbing water, the 63-year-old skipper climbed back into the little dinghy and furiously rowed against the biting wind shouting, “Richard Barter never surrenders! Richard Barter never surrenders!” The old captain’s grim determination saved his life.

The half-frozen sailor rowed into Emerald Bay at daybreak, but his ordeal was far from over: Months later he recounted his story to a visiting journalist from a San Francisco newspaper: “And so, after many hours’ labor, I reached my landing, crawled into the house, and for 11 weeks I never left; ‘cause you see, my feet and one hand was froze and I couldn’t get out.”

Ben Holladay’s cottage would have been located on the shoreline in the foreground.

Since Barter couldn’t walk on his feet he tied a small cushion to each knee in order to get around. Despite his serious injuries, the old captain wasn’t idle. During his three month solitary confinement Barter meticulously crafted a seven-foot miniature model of a man-o’-war steam frigate. He showed it to the reporter who noted that it was a marvel of workmanship.

Captain Barter and his dog next to the model ship. “Every rope, block, and sail was in its proper place; a wind-up clock hidden in the hold drove the running gear and propeller. On the deck of the wooden vessel stood 225 crew members, officers, marines, boatswains, and sailors, all hand-carved from small pieces of wood.”

It was an amazing feat, but the self-reliant recluse had also built and rigged a full-sized boat. No small replica, the ship weighed four tons, which he launched by himself. Not a single person had visited him throughout the whole winter and spring.

After examining the skipper’s work and appreciating the physical challenge their construction required, the journalist was a bit skeptical that the old sailor had really experienced that near-fatal ordeal the previous winter.

To prove his case, Barter limped over to a dressing table in Holladay’s cottage and removed a small jewelry box. He lifted the lid and handed it to the newspaperman exclaiming proudly: “Them’s my toes!” Inside the little box were several of the captain’s frostbitten toes that he had amputated and then salted to preserve as a memento of his fearful night on Lake Tahoe. 

Beginning of the newspaper article where the journalist describes meeting Captain Barter and listening to his amazing tale of survival. — San Francisco Daily Alta California, August 22, 1870. 

Barter knew that his luck on Tahoe wouldn’t last forever. On Fannette Island he chipped out a burial crypt in the granite, installed a coffin, and erected a small wooden chapel over it as his final resting place. But he would never get the opportunity to use it.

Reluctant to die inside his employer’s cottage, Captain Barter built this small chapel so that when he was ready to die he could “just crawl inside the coffin and shut the lid.” 

Fate finally caught up with Barter in October 1873 while he was sailing back from South Lake Tahoe where he had spent the evening drinking. A sudden wind came and overturned his boat, sending him to the depths of Tahoe. Portions of the wrecked boat were salvaged off the rocks near Emerald Bay, but Captain Barter’s body was never recovered.

 

Fannette Island is the only island in Lake Tahoe. The tiny structure on top is not Barter’s chapel. It is a granite teahouse constructed for Laura Knight, a later owner of the Emerald Bay property. 

***This story is an excerpt from “Sierra Stories: True Tales of Tahoe, Vol. 2”

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Categories
Weather History

#249 OCTOBER STORMS & 1993 DROUGHT BUSTER!

TAHOE NUGGET #249: OCTOBER STORMS & 1993 DROUGHT BUSTER!

As I sit here writing this the snow continues to fall outside my office window in Carnelian Bay. This week’s impressive 3-day snowstorm isn’t a record breaker for the month of October, but frigid temperatures brought enough of the white stuff to Truckee and the Tahoe Basin that schools closed and traffic got snarled over Donner Pass. The Gulf of Alaska storm marked a dramatic change from the Indian summer weather that locals and visitors had been enjoying since Labor Day weekend.

Chain controls were in force for the first time this season on major mountain passes in the Northern Sierra. At one point, there were 17 tractor trailers and a half dozen cars stuck near Donner Pass when the storm first hit on October 22, 2012.

The storm’s origin in the northern latitudes tapped very cold air for this early in the season, but when compared to the minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit recorded at Squaw Valley on October 30, 1971, we got off easy this time. Low freezing levels during this recent cold front drove storm totals near the Sierra Crest to three feet. Alpine Meadows Ski Resort reported the most with a 46-inch storm total. 

This infrared satellite image indicates cloud tops and precipitation surging into the Pacific Northwest from the Gulf of Alaska. The speckled nature of the clouds over the ocean indicate cold air instability that can generate significant snowfall accumulations in the mountains well after the actual frontal passage.

October snowstorms are not necessarily harbingers of a heavy winter. Recall last October when about two feet fell at Squaw Valley early in the month and everyone got their hopes up that another bomber winter like 2011 was on the way? After that early shot, the region went into a tailspin, at one point setting records for record high temperatures and the longest string of consecutive dry days since 1961. (See Tahoe Nugget #217)

In fact, sometimes early snow leads to a dry season like Water Year 2001 when Squaw Valley picked up 44 inches in October. Boreal Mountain Resort fired up their lifts on Oct. 12, the earliest opening day on record for the ski area, but the winter of 2001 ended up as Reno’s driest ever.

Cold Pacific storms often generate strong thunderstorms in the lower elevations of California that can produce tornadoes (generally weak), heavy rain, damaging wind gusts and hail. At least one tornado touchdown was associated with this October storm which caused damage to buildings and infrastructure. This funnel cloud was seen in the Sacramento Valley on October 23. Courtesy www.sacbee.com.

Other notable October snowfalls include 1899 when 56 inches buried Tahoe City and 7.4 feet were measured on Donner Pass. More recently, 50 inches of snow fell at the Central Sierra Snow Laboratory in October 2004, with nearly six feet in the highest elevations. The 2004 total was the greatest amount for the tenth month since the lab was established in 1946.

Squaw Valley’s upper elevations picked up about 3 feet of snow in this recent storm series. Note colorful foliage still on the trees.  

Twenty years ago in 1992, the season’s first snowfall occurred on October 29, with a total of 17.1 inches recorded at the Snow Lab near Donner Pass. That year, the region was in the grip of a six year drought and Tahoe-Truckee residents were praying fervently for snow. Lake Tahoe was on its way down to 6,220.2 feet in elevation, the lowest level in recorded history.

For three years the Truckee River had limped along at one tenth of its normal flow. Pyramid Lake, terminus of the Truckee, had fallen 11 feet since 1987. Nevada was turning to dust, waiting for a Washoe Zephyr to blow it away.

During the severe drought from 1987 to 1992 the Truckee River dried up, which severely impacted fish and animal habitat let alone tourism associated with Tahoe water sports. The wet winter of 1993 would start to change that scenario.

With all the dismal news about the lack of water, most people were hoping for a big winter. On December 1, 1992, the National Weather Service issued its forecast predicting drier than normal weather for the upcoming winter. Ironically, just 48 hours after the prediction was released, the first in a series of powerful cold fronts began assaulting the region.

The barrage of snowstorms buried the Sierra. At South Lake Tahoe, rangers on Echo Summit recorded nearly 17 feet of snow that month. It was the wettest start to a winter in 10 years.

Despite a National Weather Service forecast for drier than average conditions during the winter of 1993 issued on Dec. 1, 1992, by New Years Day 1993 the Storm King had Tahoe-Truckee residents under siege.

By the end of December 1992, residents and tourists were wishing the drought was back. Persistent rain, wind and heavy snow caused havoc with air, rail and road travel for holiday travelers. Hotels in Truckee and Tahoe City were overwhelmed. Blinding snow forced officials at (then) Reno Cannon Airport to shut down 80 percent of its flights, stranding 3,000 passengers. Trains were delayed and most major highways were closed. Avalanches had cut electric power to 15,000 people.

Southern Pacific Railroad was about the only transportation available in the Northern Sierra during the December 1992 barrage of snowstorms. I took this photo near downtown Truckee. Crews are working to keep track switches clear.

At Donner Pass, 8.5 feet of snow fell in a four day pounding. Countless holiday travelers tried to escape the mountains at that point, but Interstate 80 remained closed for three days. The deep snow set off deadly propane tank explosions throughout the Tahoe Basin.

On New Year’s Eve, the NWS issued a forecast for more snow. An invigorated jet stream drove storm after storm into the Tahoe region, and by the third week of January the upper mountain snowpack at Squaw Valley was approaching 20 feet. During the first 10 days of February another 11.5 feet of snow smothered Donner Pass, and for the first time since the epic winter of 1983, Southern Pacific Railroad deployed rotary snowplows to the Summit.

Path to my Carnelian Bay cabin in early February 1993. All hand-shoveled.

Ultimately, nearly 42 feet of snow fell at the Snow Lab that winter, ranking it the 13th snowiest since 1946. That season’s 83 inches of water went a long way toward mitigating the six year dry spell.

When my neighbor in Carnelian Bay lost his satellite TV reception it was time to shovel the roof, circa March 1993.

Despite the NWS winter forecast for drier than normal conditions in 1993, the season ended up being a “Drought Buster” and the ninth wettest on record in the Sierra, right after 2011.

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a mild and drier than normal winter for much of the western United States in 2013. Well, you know how those seasonal forecasts can go.

 

Fresh snow cloaks Truckee River Canyon outside Tahoe City on October 23, 2012.

Although no one can say with certainty whether NOAA’s forecast will verify, tomorrow Squaw Valley USA opens for a one day skiing-boarding fundraiser and the following day Boreal Mountain Resort opens for the season. Let the winter games begin!

 

Maple leafs offer colorful contrast to early Tahoe snow.

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bRYAN

Categories
Tahoe Characters

MICKEY DANIELS: TAHOE FISH HUNTER

TAHOE NUGGET #248: MICKEY DANIELS: TAHOE FISH HUNTER
Mickey Daniels is a funny guy who loves practical jokes, but when it comes to catching fish in Lake Tahoe, he’s all business. As skipper of Big Mack II, a 43-foot-long fishing boat designed and equipped specifically for Tahoe, Mickey spends most mornings trolling the depths searching for trophy-size trout and the beefy Mackinaws that make his clients smile and come back for more.

Mickey Daniels is a master guide, a passionate, knowledgeable fisherman who after 50 years experience, knows the moods and seasons of Tahoe better than anyone.

Featured in many sportsmen magazines, Mickey loves to teach his customers about the secrets of fishing one of the world’s deepest mountain lakes, mixing both fact and fiction in an entertaining style that keeps people chuckling during those rare lulls when the fish aren’t biting.

Mickey Daniels is best known as the owner of Mickey’s Big Mack charters in Carnelian Bay, but his personal history is as colorful and adventurous as his daily forays out into Big Blue. In June 2009 I interviewed the Skipper and we discussed his life.

Happy anglers on Big Mack II after a fruitful summer morning catching “fish, fotos, and fun.”

Born on October 3, 1937, in Canoga Park in Los Angeles, Mickey’s family moved to Rio Linda (Sacramento County) where they operated a gas station store. Later, when his dad got a job as a welder in a Richmond shipyard, they pulled up stakes again. His father also worked as the captain of a ferry boat on the Columbia River in Washington State, which may explain how Mickey acquired his aquatic genes. The family next settled in Sacramento where Mickey’s dad ran a small business until his death in 1949. Mickey was only 12-years-old at the time and his father’s death hit him hard.

While attending Sacramento High School, Mickey played football (in the era when players wore leather helmets) and chased girls until his graduation in 1955. His love of sports inspired him to pursue a career as a high school coach so he attended junior college where he participated in football, basketball, water polo and swimming. His ability at swimming led him to a job giving lessons to aspiring California Highway Patrol recruits.

 

Mickey’s sportfishing charters are a year-round adventure at Lake Tahoe.

His experience with the CHP recruits got him thinking about a career in law enforcement, so Mickey joined the Marine Corps in 1957. He served two years including a stint with the Military Police at a San Diego brig. After his honorable discharge, Mickey returned to Northern California and went back to teaching swimming for the Sacramento Unified School District.

While working in Sacramento, Mickey spent a lot of time at Lake Tahoe water skiing with friends. He tried snow skiing at Granlibakken, but never became very proficient at it. During the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, Mickey attended the Games both weekends.

Mickey Daniels (right)  with his friend and neighbor John “The Shark” Baker at the weekly “Tahoe Old Timers Liars Club” gathering held at CB’s Pizza most Friday nights.

At that time, Mickey’s girlfriend and future wife, Sharon Bechdolt, lived in Tahoe City and every weekend Mickey drove up from Sacramento to see her. The Bechdolt family has a long history in Tahoe City—owners of the old Tahoe Inn and the Tahoe City Golf Course—so when Mickey married Sharon in 1960, he joined one of the oldest and most influential clans on the North Shore.

His father-in-law, Carl Bechdolt, Jr., welcomed Mickey with open arms. When Mickey mentioned that he would like to become a Tahoe City deputy, Carl called the Sheriff at 2 a.m. one weekend to secure a job for his new son-in-law. Mickey was interviewed that Monday and without any training, was issued a gun, badge and patrol car the next day.

Before Mickey Daniels became a fishing captain, he served the community as a Peace Officer and California’s last constable.

The newlyweds lived behind a gas station in Tahoe City and soon had three children. Mickey served with the sheriff’s department for three-and-a-half years, rising to the rank of sergeant. During the December 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr., at South Lake Tahoe, Mickey manned the Tahoe City roadblock as law enforcement tried to catch the kidnappers. Despite the cordon that encircled the lake, the abductors managed to escape the dragnet in a snowstorm.

Another satisfied customer on Big Mack II.

In 1964, Mickey left Tahoe City for Sacramento where he trained at the California Highway Patrol Academy before joining the force. He was first assigned to Indio in Southern California, and later transferred to South Lake Tahoe. In early 1967, Mickey was sent to Truckee and assigned to patrol both the Truckee and Tahoe City areas. Sharon and Mickey divorced that year and to make ends meet, he got a job working nights as a stock clerk at the Safeway store in Kings Beach.

In typical Tahoe fashion, Mickey often worked two jobs to survive, a schedule that sometimes kept him out of trouble. As a local cop in the early 1960s, he even shined shoes at the Tahoe City Golf Course, much to his boss’s chagrin.

Not everyone will catch fish this size, but if you get “skunked,” Mickey will buy you breakfast.

In 1969 Mickey offered his assistance to Tahoe City’s legendary Swedish-born constable, Harry Johanson, who had recently retired and then broken his hip. (See Tahoe Nugget #244.) To help Harry rehabilitate, Mickey moved into a room in Johanson’s house where he spent two years helping Harry get back on his feet again. To this day Mickey says it was an honor to have spent time with the iconic Tahoe lawman.

The Big Mack II pulling into its berth at the Sierra Boat Company in Carnelian Bay. Note Garwood’s Restaurant in the background. If you call ahead, the chef will prepare your catch for dinner that night.

Also in 1969, Mickey and two other Truckee CHP officers were suspended for “excessive facial hair.” Top CHP brass ordered the men to trim their mustaches and sideburns, or lose their jobs. And even though Mickey still says the whole incident was blown out of proportion, he proudly laminated the original newspaper article for posterity.

In the late 1960s, Mickey had to comply with the California Highway Patrol’s strict regulations on facial hair. “Bad Boy, Bad Boy, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”

In 1985, Mickey married Nora in a West Shore wedding where a rare, early September snowstorm chased everyone into a nearby boat storage facility. The couple is still happily married and live on North Shore Lake Tahoe.

At Mickey’s surprise 70th birthday party held in Tahoe City in 2007, Dr. Charles Goldman, a noted environmental scientist at the University of California – Davis, and an expert on the Lake Tahoe ecosystem, gave tribute to Mickey and acknowledged his contributions to our understanding of the Tahoe fishery. Mickey has been tagging and releasing caught fish for years, keeping records that track and document the movement and lifespan of the big Macks that prowl Tahoe’s depths.

Every Fourth of July, Mickey takes friends and family out on Big Mack II for food, laughs, and fireworks.

For 27 years Mickey helped supply fresh fish for the annual Tahoe City Big Mack Feed, a charity event the he co-started as a fund raiser during his run for Constable in 1978. He’s also an active member of the Tahoe City Rotary Club. Mickey Daniel’s ongoing contributions to community and Tahoe science are second nature to him, whose favorite comment is: “It’s all part of the system.”

Big Mack II at its Carnelian Bay berth, waiting for another day’s adventure.

Visit Mickey’s Big Mack Charters website for information on how to book your perfect day in paradise.

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Categories
Tahoe Characters

#247 SALACIOUS LUCKY BALDWIN

TAHOE NUGGET #247: SALACIOUS LUCKY BALDWIN

Following the warmest August on record in Reno, Nevada, September 2012 also went down as the toastiest in the Biggest Little City since 1888, with an average temperature more than 5 degrees above normal. Sacramento set a new Sept. record with 26 days at or exceeding 90 degrees.

Ironically and testament to California’s diverse range of microclimates, San Francisco was extraordinarily chilly at more than 6 degrees below normal in September, setting a new record for the lowest monthly mean temperature at 58.1 degrees. The average daily maximum temperature in the City by the Bay was only 64 degrees, definitely not beach weather in what is normally a mild month on the coast.

 

Near record high temperatures will ebb as approaching low pressure brings cooler weather and a slight chance of showers at Lake Tahoe for the start of next week. If any rain does wet the bucket, it will be the first measureable precipitation for the 2013 water year.

The summerlike conditions in the lower elevations translated into one of the most pleasant Septembers at Lake Tahoe in memory, with high temperatures around 80 degrees and lows in the 40s. The warm spell extended summer fun in the mountains all the way into October.

The balmy weather and clear blue skies have made outdoor activities a real treat, especially since the crowds of summer are gone. Autumn is the perfect time to visit one of Lake Tahoe’s hidden treasures, a spot that is often bypassed by today’s fast-paced visitor. Nestled in the Tallac Historic Site located just a few miles north of South Lake Tahoe are the remains of the Baldwin Estate.

The Baldwin Estate leads to a series of Old Tahoe mansions that harken back to Tahoe’s Golden Era.

You can spend a relaxing day at the Tallac Historic Site touring early 20th century lakefront estates, visiting the museum, and playing Frisbee with your dog on nearby sandy beaches. In high season beautiful Baldwin Beach prohibits pets, but the crescent strand affords spectacular views.

Baldwin Beach on October 1, 2012.

This charming and beautiful location was once a lavish resort built by a character named Elias “Lucky” Baldwin in the late 19th century. In the summer of 1879, Baldwin visited a Tahoe hostelry owned by Ephraim “Yank” Clements. He walked beneath the unspoiled stands of old growth timber and strolled along the sandy beach.

This gremlin-like tree burl was an unusual attraction for the merchant and miner clientele that patronized Yank Clement’s Tallac Point House, as was the spring-mounted dance floor that made guests dance “whether they knew how or not.”

The demand for tunnel supports for Comstock silver mines had already taken a terrible toll on the majestic pine forest that once cloaked the mountains around Lake Tahoe. The next year Baldwin bought Yank’s 2,000 acres, small hotel and one mile of lakefront, which was lost to foreclosure. Baldwin re-named the property the “Tallac House” for a nearby mountain. 

Baldwin named his resort after 9,785 foot Mt. Tallac, the highest mountain along Lake Tahoe, and one of the best hikes in the region. The snowfield at the upper right portion of the peak is a popular backcountry spring skiing challenge.

 

Baldwin’s new resort soon became the pride of Lake Tahoe and one of the classiest resorts in the country. The bold move helped usher in Tahoe’s golden age of deluxe vacation accommodations for the High Society of California and Nevada.

During the 1880s, high country tourism was still in its infancy; Tahoe City’s permanent population was 25 people. Baldwin’s upscale hotel and casino would boost Tahoe’s reputation as a “destination resort” for travelers looking to be pampered in luxury rather than experience the rustic backwoods fare common at that time.

One female correspondent for the San Francisco Bulletin who visited Lake Tahoe in August 1886 reported that the folks she met were “a queer class of people—old hunters, miners, and inn keepers of [primitive hostels]. Their knowledge of the inclinations and desires of tourists is exceedingly limited.”

Ironically, Baldwin’s moniker “Lucky” came from a windfall of $2 to $5 million dollars realized from his investments in those very Comstock mining operations that had decimated the Tahoe Basin.

Back in 1866, Baldwin possessed a security safe containing bundles of Hale & Norcross mining shares. At the time, the stocks were worth less than he had paid for them, but he didn’t want to sell at a loss. Before he left on a big game hunting expedition in India, he told his broker to sell his stock at a specific price. But later, when the broker tried to sell the shares, he realized that Baldwin had taken the key to the safe. Meanwhile miners at the Hale & Norcross discovered a rich vein of silver. The stock soared in value, and when he returned to San Francisco, Baldwin’s mining shares were worth a fortune and the nickname “Lucky” was his for life.

Tallac Hotel guests out on a 19th century boating excursion. The Tallac Hotel (background) served 8 course dinners to the music of a string-and-organ quartet and housed a gambing casino. The resort was expensive and offered activities and sports of all kinds.   

E. J. Baldwin was known more for his fondness for fast horses and young women than protecting the environment, but he saved the towering trees along the beach by building a sawmill on his property at Fallen Leaf Lake. The mill provided lumber for new construction, thus preserving the original forest in the area.

 

As the winter snowpack melts each spring on Mt. Tallac, a “cross-of-snow” emerges on its southeast face. The name “Tallac” is derived from a Washoe Indian term that means “large mountain.” 

Lucky Baldwin’s womanizing escapades are legend. He married five times (including his fourth wife who was only 16), had countless affairs and illegitimate children, and fought numerous breach-of-promise and seduction suits. To facilitate summer flings, Baldwin had a private two-story “love nest” built on the sprawling grounds of his Tahoe estate.

On January 5, 1883, Lucky’s cousin Veronica Baldwin shot him in the arm after he allegedly assaulted her and then fired her from his employ. The headline in the San Francisco Call read: “Yesterday at 10:00 o’clock a young woman shot E.J. Baldwin through the left arm at the level of the heart as he was leaving his private dining room on the second floor of the Baldwin Hotel [in San Francisco].  She fired at him from a distance of six feet, without warning. She was immediately disarmed and arrested.”

Veronica admitted that she tried to kill Baldwin because he had allegedly fathered her baby, but he declined to testify against her at trial and she left the state. Once described as “the most beautiful girl on the Pacific Coast,” she moved to Denver and opened a parlor in the city’s Red Light District.

Louise Perkins was 19-years-old when she sued E.J. Baldwin for an alleged sexual encounter.

Baldwin’s national reputation as a philanderer was well-deserved, but the libertine always claimed, “My public reputation is such that every woman who comes near me must have been warned in advance.” J.B. Marvin, first chief clerk of the famous Baldwin Hotel, agreed “Baldwin didn’t run after the women; they ran after him.”

Baldwin was 57 years old when sued by Ms. Perkins.

Lucky Baldwin died in 1909 at the age of 81 leaving a fortune of $25 million. After his funeral, San Francisco Examiner reporter Al Joy wrote “His was the only funeral of a famous man I ever covered where not a sob was heard nor a tear seen.” As one observer remarked, “Baldwin had friends, but they were outnumbered by his enemies.”

Baldwin’s 19th century land purchase protected old growth forest as well as these important wetlands. Tahoe’s diminishing water clarity is partially caused by the loss of these riparian zones which filter nutrient-loaded runoff sediment before it enters Big Blue.

Despite Baldwin’s somewhat unsavory personal character, locals and visitors owe him a dept of gratitude for saving a piece of old Tahoe and giving us beautiful Baldwin Beach.

My brother Tom checking out the water temperature at Baldwin Beach during his Sept. 2012 visit.

The Washoe Indian Tribe lost their traditional Tahoe lands during the cultural invasion of the 19th century. Recently there have been efforts to return some land and access to these First Nation people.

 

Baldwin Beach. Locals and savvy tourists know that September is one of the best months to be at Lake Tahoe. 

UPDATE: THIS JUST IN! Last week a school-age girl named Laney Brint found a silver quarter dated 1892 while she was wading in the water just 50 yards off the beach from where Lucky Baldwin’s Tallac Hotel & Casino was located. A guest may have dropped it during a 19th century boating excursion or maybe someone threw it in the lake for good luck at midnight New Year’s Eve. Either way, Lucky’s luck is now Laney’s!

 Laney Brint’s treasure from Lake Tahoe led her to the story of Lucky Baldwin!

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Categories
Tahoe Historical Tour

#246 TAHOE'S PONDEROSA RANCH

TAHOE NUGGET #246: TAHOE’S PONDEROSA RANCH

It’s been nearly eight years now since visitors to Lake Tahoe could treat their imagination with a visit to the legendary Ponderosa Ranch in Incline Village, Nevada. The popular western theme park, where some scenes from the television series Bonanza were filmed, closed in September 2004 after it was purchased by David Duffield, the wealthy founder of the software company PeopleSoft.

The loss of the Ponderosa Ranch, among northern Nevada’s most popular tourist destinations, disappointed fans from around the world, testament to the long-running program’s universal appeal among many cultures. The show’s re-runs are still watched by millions of people who love America’s 19th century western cowboy lifestyle and landscape.

Bonanza premiered on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in September 1959 and was so successful that the Lake Tahoe-based story ran for 14 seasons until 1973, with 430 weekly episodes produced. It was America’s first western television series filmed in color and during the mid-1960s ranked as the number one rated program in the United States.

The TV show’s opening credits depicted a hand-drawn map that indicated the location of the fictional Cartwright family’s vast Ponderosa Ranch at north Lake Tahoe, and the Nevada communities of Virginia City, Reno and Carson City. The map, drawn by artist Robert Temple, boasted bold hues of blue for the Lake, with vibrant tones of red and orange depicting the virtual 600,000 acre (1,000 square miles) ranch. Considering that all previous TV series were produced in black and white, the dramatic colors at the beginning of each Bonanza episode really caught the viewer’s eye.

Temple had his geography wrong with Reno placed west of Carson City instead of north, so to correct the orientation he added a compass rose that pointed northwest. (In 2010, this iconic map was donated to the Autry National Center of the American West in Los Angeles, joining other Bonanza memorabilia.)

It wasn’t just color film that made Bonanza stand out among other weekly television programs. The creators behind the show were unique in how they addressed controversial cultural issues that previous TV series had ignored. Bonanza’s screenwriters pushed the accepted boundaries of America’s contemporary family values with provocative storylines that included racism, interracial romance, ageism, and many other sexual and racial taboos of the day.

Although most scenes in Bonanza were filmed at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, for six seasons in the 1960s, portions of the weekly production were shot at Lake Tahoe and Truckee. 

The Ponderosa Ranch theme park itself was established in the early 1960s by William Anderson who moved to Incline Village in 1962 from the Bay Area. Anderson was an ardent horseman and outdoorsman, so when Incline Village developer Art Wood told him that he would sell him some land cheap if he would establish a riding stable for visitors he agreed. At one point, the Bonanza film crew arrived and asked Anderson if they could corral their horses and buggies at his stables.

As the Bonanza TV show’s popularity grew, more people traveled to Incline Village asking where the fictional “Cartwright Ranch” was so Anderson and actor Lorne Greene came up with a plan to build a real Ponderosa Ranch and open it to the public. Anderson went into debt to establish his 570-acre theme park, including having to sell his last shotgun and an antique car to make payroll, but it all paid off. Not only was the park popular with families and cowboy aficionados for four decades, but the ranch buildings were used for conventions and business meetings.

In 1963, actor Lorne Greene received the Reno Rodeo’s annual Silver Spurs Award, considered the “Oscar” for the most popular western TV stars at the time. The Reno Chamber of Commerce promotion ran from 1950 to 1965, with the inaugural presentation made to actor John Wayne and movie director John Ford.   

Even after the discontinuation of the Bonanza series in 1973, more than 300,000 people visited the park every year. The operation provided jobs for Tahoe locals, pumped money into the economy, and helped spread the word about Lake Tahoe’s spectacular beauty worldwide. Two television movies were filmed on location at the site, “Bonanza, the Return (1992) and “Bonanza Under Attack” (1994).

Of the four main characters in the long-running Bonanza series, Dan Blocker (Hoss), Michael Landon (Little Joe), Lorne Green (Ben Cartwright), and Pernell Roberts (Adam Cartwright), none survive today.

Shortly before filming began for the final season of the show, actor Dan Blocker died from complications after a surgical procedure, so the producers cut him out of the storyline by killing his character “Hoss” in an accident. This was the first time a TV series had incorporated an actor’s death into the story line by having his character die.

 

Dan Blocker as the “Hoss” character died before the final season of Bonanza.

For those wanting to learn more, William Anderson, who died in June 2008 at his ranch home in Dayton, Nevada, wrote a book titled, “Bill’s Big Bonanza: The autobiography of a third grade dropout who came to build, own and operate the world’s most famous ranch.” The book provides historical insight into the creation and back story of the Ponderosa Ranch.

 

Bill Anderson with his wife Sharon during an interview on his 80th birthday at their Dayton, Nevada, home in 2003. Anderson died in 2008.

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Categories
Tahoe Sierra Nature

#245 TAHOE'S BEAR FACTS

TAHOE NUGGET #245: TAHOE’S BEAR FACTS
On July 29, 2012, an angry lakefront property owner allegedly shot and killed a well-known bear named “Sunny” on Lake Tahoe’s West Shore. Sunny, the unofficial mascot of the Tahoe BEAR League, a bear advocacy group, was shot in the back after wandering onto a property to get food from a cooler left outside on a porch.

“Sunny” was a friendly, mellow bear that enjoyed daytime strolls (hence her name).

The shooting death of Sunny enraged many residents in the Homewood neighborhood where she was remembered fondly. Anne Bryant, Executive Director of the BEAR League said, “This was a bear that was very much loved. She was a gentle, sweet bear. She was a neighbor.”

Part of a new bear awareness exhibit at the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society’s Gatekeepers Cabin Museum located near the Tahoe Dam in Tahoe City. Note that it is “Sunny’s” face in the center panel. People and bears must learn to cohabitate with each other in the Tahoe Basin.

Unlike the grizzly bear which was hunted and poisoned to extinction in California by the 1920s, the California Black Bear is a common mammal found throughout the Sierra Nevada.

Grizzly bears were the most dangerous animal in early California. These ferocious predators terrorized Indians, vaqueros, Forty-Niners and ranchers. They were hunted to extinction by the 1920s in the Golden State.

In the Tahoe Basin, bears have become a nuisance problem for some homeowners. In certain areas around the Lake, bears are often breaking into houses in search of food. Once a bear locates an easily accessible food source, destructive behavior can become a persistent problem, especially for second homeowners who are often away for weeks at a time with food left in cupboards and refrigerators.

Tahoe homeowners that have been victimized by intruding bears are less sympathetic to the plight of these beautiful animals just trying to survive in an increasingly urbanized region. Tahoe residents are urged to be “bear aware.”

Black bears are naturally afraid of people and easily scared away, but they are also intelligent and learn quickly.

Several companies have sprung up recently that will electrify a home’s perimeter and windows to discourage bear intrusions using electrical shocks. These new technologies are much more efficient and humane than older tactics such as hammering scores of nails through lumber and placing the boards with the metal nail tips up below exterior windows or doors.

The fur of California black bears can be black, brown, blonde, or copper red in color. This display is also at the new North Lake Tahoe Historical Society’s “Ursus Among Us” exhibit.

Bears are omnivores that in nature have a varied diet, but in Tahoe they have also learned that it’s much easier to raid unsecured dumpsters behind restaurants for pizza crusts or other kitchen refuse, than rambling through the woods looking for insects, berries, and grubs.

In recent years, restaurant employees have been encouraged to keep trash dumpsters securely locked. Volunteers have distributed rock climbing carabineers to secure dumpster lids and prevent unwanted bear activity. More and more homeowners are installing “bear boxes,” bear-proof metal containers to hold their trash cans.

Dumpster labels have been distributed to Tahoe restaurants to increase awareness of bear feeding problems.

Much of the blame for nuisance bear activity is placed on unaware residents and tourists who put trash outside days before collection pickup. Waste food attracts bears, as well as neighborhood dogs, coyotes, and raccoons.

Urban visitors have little knowledge of the civilization-wilderness interface where humans and animals must learn to cohabitate in harmony. Sunny’s death was a stark wake-up call that Tahoe residents and visitors have a long way to go before that harmony is achieved.

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