Lake Tahoe Fbo

[Solana Axton]

Thelake was formed about two million years ago as part of the Lake Tahoe Basin, and its modern extent was shaped during the ice ages. It is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides.[5] The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe; its English name is derived from its Washo name, Dʔaw.[6] More than 75% of the lake's watershed is national forest land, covered by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the United States Forest Service.

Lake Tahoe is a major tourist attraction in both Nevada and California. It is home to winter sports, summer outdoor recreation, and scenery enjoyed throughout the year. Snow and ski resorts are a significant part of the area's economy and reputation.[7][8] The Nevada side also offers several lakeside casino resorts, with highways providing year-round access to the entire area.

Lake Tahoe is the second deepest lake in the U.S., with a maximum depth of 1,645 feet (501 m),[1][11] trailing Oregon's Crater Lake at 1,949 ft (594 m).[11] Tahoe is the 17th[12] deepest lake in the world, and the sixth deepest in average depth. It is about 22 mi (35 km) long and 12 mi (19 km) wide and has 72 mi (116 km) of shoreline and a surface area of 191 square miles (490 km2). The lake is so large that its surface is noticeably convex due to the curvature of the Earth.[13] At lake level the opposing shorelines are below the horizon at its widest parts; by nearly 100 feet (30 m) at its maximum width, and by some 320 feet (98 m) along its length.[14][15] Visibility may vary somewhat with atmospheric refraction;[16] when the air temperature is much greater than the lake temperature, looming may occur where the lake surface or opposing shoreline is lifted above the horizon. Fata Morgana may be responsible for Tahoe Tessie sightings.

Approximately two-thirds of the shoreline is in California.[17] The south shore is dominated by the lake's largest city, South Lake Tahoe, California, which adjoins the town of Stateline, Nevada, while Tahoe City, California, is located on the lake's northwest shore. Kings Beach, California, and Incline Village, Nevada anchor the lake's north shore.[clarification needed] Although highways run within sight of the lake shore for much of Tahoe's perimeter, many important[clarification needed] parts of the shoreline lie within state parks or are protected by the United States Forest Service. The Lake Tahoe Watershed (USGS Huc 18100200) of 505 sq mi (1,310 km2) is the land area that drains to the lake and the Lake Tahoe drainage divide traverses the same general area as the Tahoe Rim Trail.

The Truckee River is the lake's only outlet,[4] flowing northeast through Reno, Nevada, into Pyramid Lake which has no outlet. It accounts for one third of the water that leaves the lake, the rest evaporating from the lake's surface. Evaporation is thought to account for 40 to 60 percent of the water usage.[18] The flow of the Truckee River and the height of the lake are controlled by the Lake Tahoe Dam at the outlet. The natural rim is at 6,223 ft (1,897 m) above sea level. The maximum legal limit to which the lake can be allowed to rise in order to store water is at 6,229.1 ft (1,898.6 m); a spillway at the dam controls overflow.[19] Around New Year 1996/1997 a Pineapple Express atmospheric river melted snow and caused the lake and river to overflow, inundating Reno and surrounding areas.[20]

The Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by vertical motion (normal) faulting. Uplifted blocks created the Carson Range on the east and the main Sierra Nevada crest on the west. Down-dropping and block tilting (half-grabens) created the Lake Tahoe Basin in between.[1] This kind of faulting is characteristic of the geology of the adjoining Great Basin to the east.

Lake Tahoe is the youngest of several extensional basins of the Walker Lane deformation zone that accommodates nearly 0.47 in (12 mm) per year of dextral shear between the Sierra Nevada-Great Valley Block and North America.[21][22]

Eruptions from the now-extinct volcano Mount Pluto formed a volcanic dam on the north side. Melting snow filled the southern and lowest part of the basin to form the ancestral Lake Tahoe. Rain and runoff added additional water.[27]

Given the great depth of Lake Tahoe, and the locations of the normal faults in the deepest portions of the lake, modeling suggests that earthquakes on these faults can trigger tsunamis. Wave heights of these tsunamis are predicted to be on the order of 10 to 33 ft (3 to 10 m) in height, capable of traversing the lake in just a few minutes.[28] A massive collapse of the western edge of the basin that formed McKinney Bay around 50,000 years ago is thought to have generated a tsunami/seiche wave with a height approaching 330 ft (100 m).[29]

Lake Tahoe has a dry-summer continental climate (Dsb in the Kppen climate classification), featuring warm, dry summers and chilly winters with regular snowfall. Mean annual precipitation ranges from over 55 inches (1,400 mm) for watersheds on the west side of the basin to about 26 inches (660 mm) near the lake on the east side of the basin. Most of the precipitation falls as snow between November and April, although rainstorms combined with rapid snowmelt account for the largest floods. There is a pronounced annual runoff of snowmelt in late spring and early summer, the timing of which varies from year to year. In some years, summertime monsoon storms from the Great Basin bring intense rainfall, especially to high elevations on the northeast side of the basin.

The lake's low temperatures and extreme depth can slow the decomposition rate of organic matter. For example, the almost perfectly preserved body of a diver was found at a depth of 300 feet (90 m) 17 years after he went missing.[48]

The area around Lake Tahoe was previously inhabited by the Washoe Native Americans. Lake Tahoe was the center and heart of Washoe Indian territory, including the upper valleys of the Walker, Carson and Truckee Rivers.

Cave Rock is a large rock formation located on the southeastern shore of the lake and considered a sacred site for the Washoe Indians. The Washoe people called Cave Rock deʔek wadapush (Washo for Standing Gray Rock). Part of why the Washoe felt the Cave was sacred was due to "The Lady of the Lake" a rock formation on the side of the Cave which looks like the profile of a woman's face gazing out towards the lake. Washoe ancestors performed religious ceremonies inside the cave. There were significant but ultimately unsuccessful protests from the tribe when a tunnel was blasted through the rock in 1931 for Highway 50.[49]

Lt. John C. Frmont was the first European-American to see Lake Tahoe, during his second exploratory expedition on February 14, 1844.[50] Fremont named it "Lake Bonpland" after Aim Bonpland (a French botanist who had accompanied Prussian explorer Alexander von Humboldt in his exploration of Mexico, Colombia and the Amazon River).[51] Lake Bonpland's usage never became popular, and the name changed from "Mountain Lake" to "Fremont's Lake" several years after. John Calhoun Johnson, Sierra explorer and founder of "Johnson's Cutoff" (now U.S. Route 50), named it Fallen Leaf Lake after his Indian guide. Johnson's first job in the west was in the government service carrying the mail on snowshoes from Placerville to Nevada City, during which time he named it "Lake Bigler" after California's third governor John Bigler. In 1853 William Eddy, the surveyor general of California, identified the lake as Lake Bigler.

The usage never became universal. By the start of the American Civil War in 1861, former Governor Bigler, once a Free Soil Democrat, had become such an ardent Confederate sympathizer that Union advocates objected to the name. Unionists and Republicans alike derided the former governor's name on the lake on official state maps. Pro-Union papers called for a "change from this Secesh appellation" and "no Copperhead names on our landmarks for us."[51] Several Unionist members in the Legislature suggested changing the name to the fanciful sounding "Tula Tulia." The Sacramento Union jokingly suggested the name "Largo Bergler" for Bigler's widely perceived financial incompetency in his final term and contemporary Southern sympathies. Within a year, different maps referred to the lake not only as Bigler, but also as "Mountain Lake" and "Maheon Lake."

The debate took a new direction when William Henry Knight, mapmaker for the federal U.S. Department of the Interior, and colleague Dr. Henry DeGroot of the Sacramento Union joined the political argument in 1862. As Knight completed a new map of the lake, the mapmaker asked DeGroot for a new name of the lake. DeGroot suggested "Tahoe," a local tribal name he believed meant "water in a high place." Knight agreed, and telegraphed to the Land Office in Washington, D.C., to officially change all federal maps to now read "Lake Tahoe." Knight later explained his desire for a name change, writing, "I remarked (to many) that people had expressed dissatisfaction with the name "Bigler", bestowed in honor of a man who had not distinguished himself by any single achievement, and I thought now would be a good time to select an appropriate name and fix it forever on that beautiful sheet of water."[52]

But to most surveys and the general public it was known as Lake Tahoe.[55] By the end of the 19th century "Lake Bigler" had nearly completely fallen out of popular use in favor of "Tahoe." The California State Legislature reversed its previous decision in 1945, officially changing the name to Lake Tahoe.

Upon discovery of gold in the South Fork of the American River in 1848, thousands of gold seekers going west passed near the basin on their way to the gold fields. Europeans first impinged upon the Lake Tahoe basin with the 1858 discovery of the Comstock Lode, a silver deposit just 15 miles (24 km) to the east in Virginia City, Nevada. From 1858 until about 1890, logging in the basin supplied large timbers to shore up the underground workings of the Comstock mines.[56] The logging was so extensive that loggers cut down almost all of the native forest.[57]

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