Early Tahoe City

Early Tahoe City. . Tahoe City of the 1860s was a very different place than today. The first businesses include hay production, logging and fishing for native Lahontan cutthroat trout. Comstock Lode silver mining created short-lived boomtowns like Knoxville, Claraville, and Virginia City. This led to expanding business opportunities in Tahoe City., William Poman was one of the first town residents. He opened a saloon at Outlet Point, the location where the Lower Truckee River drains Lake Tahoe. Other early residents included M.L. King, who operated the Tahoe City Hotel and James C. Chesroon who built the first pier to accommodate the lake’s new steamboat, the Governor Blaisdel. So successful was the hotel that new ownership took over and expanded it into the Grand Central Hotel in 1871., By 1874 the town boasted a record of 15 year-round residents. Change was looming over this prosperous community. The need for lumber for mining and railway construction nearly consumed all the supply of timber and railway access furthered the rate at which native Lahontan cutthroat trout populations plummeted. Finally, with the mines exhausted, the stage was set for sweeping change in Tahoe City.