The Complete Guide To Boating Lake Tahoe: Nautical History

Beginning with the earliest known boat on Lake Tahoe in the 1850's, many interesting vessels have plied the cobalt blue waters over the years. In our files below are photographs and brief descriptions of several of the most famous and fascinating.

Photos of the steamships are courtesy of the Lake Tahoe Historical Society and much of the information about them gleaned from the publications Steamboats Of Lake Tahoe by Lyndall Baker Landauer and The Saga of Lake Tahoe by E.B. Scott. Click on any of the photographs for larger views of the subject. For other books on Tahoe vintage watercraft visit the web site of Sierra Maritime Publications and for some excellent displays of Tahoe's maritime history visit the Tahoe Maritime Museum at 5205 West Lake Blvd. in Homewood, CA. See their web site for more information.

Steamer Tahoe gets underway. Click for larger view!

     The longest and certainly the grandest ship ever to grace the waters of Lake Tahoe was the steamer Tahoe. Commissioned by lumber baron Duane L. Bliss, the S.S. Tahoe was constructed in San Francisco in 1894, then disassembled and transported in sections by train and horse drawn wagons to the lakeshore at Glenbrook, Nevada. There the 169 foot steel-hulled steamship was reassembled and launched with great fanfare on June 24, 1896. The two wood-fired steam engines each drove a huge, three-bladed propeller and developed a combined total of 1200 horsepower.

     Outfitted in an elegance befitting the "Gay '90s", the steamer sported many polished brass fittings, a teak and mahogany trimmed deckhouse, and interior appointments which included leather upholstery, hand-woven carpeting, and marble lavatory fixtures. It also boasted some of the latest technological advancements of the day, including hot and cold running water in the lavatories, electric lights and bells, and steam heat. In addition to a dining room which could seat 30 people was a gentlemen's smoking lounge.

     The vessel was designed to accommodate 200 passengers in luxurious comfort as well as their baggage and other freight. She carried a crew of seven, including captain, purser, steward, fireman, engineer, and two deckhands. Beginning in 1901, following completion of the new Tahoe Tavern railroad pier in Tahoe City, the Tahoe departed from that pier every summer morning carrying passengers, mail and freight that had arrived by train. The steamer made a complete circuit of the lake stopping at all the major landings and returned to Tahoe City by late afternoon. Thus the ship established itself as a vital link for the lake's residents and visitors alike, as it would not be until 1926 that a roadway for automobiles was completed around the lake.

     Following the loss of much of its passenger traffic to the automobile as well as the loss of a lucrative federal mail contract in 1934, the steamer became too costly to operate and lay unused at dockside until 1940. Dismayed at the once proud steamship's deteriorating condition, William S. Bliss, son of the original owner, bought the vessel back from the company he had sold it to, and ordered it to be scuttled as a memorial to the bygone era of steam traffic on the lake. The S.S. Tahoe went to the bottom of the lake off Glenbrook in the early morning hours of August 29, 1940, and still lies there today in nearly 400 feet of water.

     Footnote 1: A series of dives on the wreck of the S.S. Tahoe was completed in the summer of 2002 by New Millennium Dive Expeditions. The treacherous expedition featured the deepest scuba dive ever in Lake Tahoe and was the deepest high altitude dive ever attempted. For more information and several dramatic images of the old steamer visit their web site.

     Footnote 2: Walter S. Hobart's former cruiser, Quit-Cha-Kiddin', which towed the Tahoe to her watery grave is currently being restored and will be available for public viewing in the boathouse at the Tallac Historic Site, just west of Camp Richardson Marina.

Meteor, circa 1898. Click for larger view!

     Also commissioned by lumber baron Duane L. Bliss, the Meteor was built in Wilmington, Delaware, and transported in sections by rail to the Carson Valley. From there the sections came across the Clear Creek Grade (now Spooner Summit) by oxcart for reassembly at Glenbrook, NV. Launched on August 26, 1876, the 80 foot long steamer was the first iron-hulled vessel at Lake Tahoe, and also the fastest with a top speed of over 20 knots. The Meteor confounded critics who were certain the newfangled iron hull would not float.

     Placed in service at the height of logging operations in the Tahoe Basin, the steamer was used specifically for towing huge log booms from all points of the lake into Glenbrook Bay, site of the largest lumber mill at Tahoe. During the 1870's and 1880's virtually the entire basin was clearcut and a vast number of those logs rode into Glenbrook behind the Meteor. She performed those duties well for 20 years, and following the end of the logging days, spent another 30 years as an excursion boat and mail carrier.

     The advent of the automobile and a road circiling the lake sealed the Meteor's fate, much as it did to the steamer Tahoe a year later. With no further demand for her services, owner W.S. Bliss ordered her scuttled and on April 21, 1939, the Meteor was sent to her final resting place on the bottom of the lake.

Mercury in the South Boathouse. Click for larger view!

     During the Roaring Twenties at Lake Tahoe a new era of boating emerged. Fueled by the fortunes and friendly competition of Tahoe's elite, annual powerboat regattas were conducted by the newly formed Tahoe Power Boat Club (known today as the Tahoe Yacht Club). Through the late Twenties and early Thirties these events were dominated by just a handful of these wealthy capitalists and their sleek racing machines. Among the triumphant were Henry J. Kaiser, Leland Stanford Scott, R. Stanley Dollar, and the Fleishhacker family, piloting speedsters with the unlikely names of Baby Skipalong, Maybe Not II, Bess, and Short Snorter.

     In the summer of 1937, Dollar introduced his latest acquisition, the 35' Cigarette IV, a veteran of East Coast regattas held a decade earlier. Built in New York in 1925 by the Brewster Body Works at a cost of $60,000, she was one of the first constructed almost entirely of polished duraluminum and powered by a Curtiss V-1400 Conqueror capable of developing 625 horsepower. Rechristened Mercury by Dollar, the narrow (6', 6") double-ender finished second in her 1937 Lake Championship Race debut. Mercury took the Lake Championship trophy in 1938 but gave way in succeeding years to newer and faster boats.

     Following World War II she was completely restored and in 1951 served as a camera boat in the filming of the movie "A Place in the Sun". Mercury was retired in 1958 following one last exhibition race and today can be viewed in the South Boathouse at Sugar Pine Point State Park.

Thunderbird at Harrah's Villa. Click for larger view!

Photo by Dave Marion

     The largest and undoubtedly the most elegant of all gasoline powered, mahogany hulled "woodies" to grace the waters of Lake Tahoe is the Thunderbird. Designed for real estate tycoon "Captain" George Whittell, Jr., by naval architect John Hacker in Michigan, this 55' marine masterpiece was built by Huskin Boat Works in Detroit. Whittell's love of aircraft is evident in the graceful turn of the riveted, brushed stainless steel cabin of the yacht, sculpted at his instruction to resemble the fuselage of his personal DC-2. To accommodate the Thunderbird at his Tahoe estate, Thunderbird Lodge (see related story), its notoriously reclusive owner ordered the construction of a 100-foot long enclosed boathouse and 600-foot long tunnel that connected it to the main residence, both blasted out of solid granite.

     Completed at a cost of $87,000 (over $3.3 million in today's dollars), Whittell took delivery of the Thunderbird in 1940, and it first crossed the mountain lake's sparkling blue waters on July 14th of that year. The aging playboy used it extensively that summer and the next, retrieving friends from nearby communities and showgirls from the Cal-Neva casino for lavish parties at his estate. Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, however, Whittell became afraid that his beloved yacht or its engines might be conscripted into military service, and he hid it away in Lodge's boathouse. Until the war's end the Thunderbird never saw the light of day and was used only occasionally at night.

     In George Whittell's later years the Thunderbird sat unused in its boathouse slings until purchased in 1969 by casino founder William F. Harrah. Mr. Harrah had the cruiser meticulously restored by craftsmen who maintained his extensive automobile collection in Reno and replaced the original Kermath engines with two 1000 horsepower V-12 Allison aircraft engines. Harrah used it as his private yacht for the entertainment of his casino high-rollers and showroom headliners, such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra and Bill Cosby, to name a few. During the years he owned it, the Thunderbird was transported to Reno each fall where the triple-planked hull was stripped to bare wood and refinished with ten coats of marine varnish!

     After Harrah's death in 1978 the Thunderbird was bought by Buzz and Joan Gibb of Tahoe City and still makes occasional, but all too rare, appearances on Lake Tahoe. Today the yacht is still fully operational and can be viewed in its boathouse at the Thunderbird Lodge Historic Site during tours of the fascinating property conducted by the Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society and Woodwind Cruises. It is also usually on public display each August at the Concours d'Elegance.