Chapter XL: Public Use of the Waters of Lake Tahoe

There has always been considerable discussion and dissension among conflicting interests as to the use of the waters of Lake Tahoe for private or semi-public uses, and, finally, in 1903 the U.S. Reclamation Service entered into the field. At my request Mr. D.W. Cole, engineer-in-charge of the Truckee-Carson project, kindly furnishes the following data:

Along in the 60's of the last century the region around the
Lake acquired great importance on account of the fine growth
of timber on the surrounding mountain slopes. It is said that
a great many million feet of lumber were harvested in this
region. For many years the entire lumber supply for the old
Comstock mines was derived from this source. Virginia City,
Carson City and the neighboring mining communities were built
from the timber of the Lake Tahoe basin, and it might be said
that the foundation of the fortunes of the California gold
kings, who developed the Comstock mines, was made of the pine
wood which grew upon the shores of Lake Tahoe, without
which that wonderful output of $700,000,000 of gold from the
Comstock lode would have been impossible.

Supplementing the timber supply the water from Marlette
Lake, a tributary to Lake Tahoe, was diverted by a remarkable
engineering achievement for supplying Virginia City and the
deep mines. Marlette Lake lies several hundred feet above Lake
Tahoe on the Nevada side, and half a century ago its waters
were taken through flume, tunnel and pipe line across the
dividing mountain range and out into the desert valley of the
Carson River for sustaining
the gold seekers of Virginia City. This work of the pioneer
engineers was scarcely less bold in its conception and
wonderful in its execution than the famous Sutro tunnel which
drains the underground waters from the Comstock mines.

About 1870 the first use of Lake Tahoe for other than
navigation purposes was made by building a log crib dam at the
outlet for the purpose of storing flood-waters to be used in
log-driving in the Truckee River below the Lake.

The outlet of the Lake was in a land grant section belonging
to the Central Pacific Railway Company, and one of the
earlier lumber companies procured a charter from the State
of California and proceeded to build a dam and operate it for
log-driving purposes.

In the course of time the development of water-power in
the Truckee River below the Lake became of considerable
importance, both for saw-mill and other manufacturing
purposes. The dam at the Lake's outlet was passed from the
possession of the Donner Boom & Lumber Company into the hands
of other interests who were making a larger use of power.

Eventually, in the last decade of the century, the water-power
plants were converted into hydro-electric plants and began to
furnish electric current for power and lighting in the city of
Reno and as far south as Virginia City.

About the year 1908 the ownership of the several hydroelectric
plants was passed to the Truckee River General Electric
Company, under the management of the Stone & Webster
Engineering Corporation, of Boston, one of the very large
public utilities corporations of the country.

This company has enlarged and improved the plants and is now
furnishing a large amount of electric current for all purposes
in Reno, Virginia City, Carson City, Yerington, Thompson,
Minden and various other towns and mining camps in the State
of Nevada, forming a group of communities which are wholly
dependent upon this power for their various purposes.

In 1903 the United States Reclamation Service filed an
appropriation of all surplus waters which had theretofore gone
to waste from Lake Tahoe, and under this appropriation, with
others covering waters in the Carson River, the
Truckee-Carson Reclamation Project in Nevada was commenced.

By this irrigation project it is proposed to cover an area
of about 206,000 acres, of which 35,000 acres are now being
irrigated and about 500 families have their homes upon
productive lands, which were formerly a part of the great
desert which was traversed with much suffering by the pioneer
gold seekers.

In 1908 the Reclamation Service entered into negotiations for
the purchase of the real estate and dam controlling the outlet
of Lake Tahoe, but before the purchase was concluded the
reorganized power company secured possession of the property.
A condemnation suit was then brought by the United States
to acquire possession and control of the Lake's outlet. A
contract was entered into with the power company for the joint
building of a new dam with gates for controlling the outlet
from the Lake. This dam was partly built in 1909, replacing
a portion of the old timber structure. Owing to various
complications this new cement dam has stood in an uncomplete
condition until the fall of 1913 when arrangements were made
for its completion, and now the structure is entirely done and
is well adapted to control the outlet from the Lake so as
to hold the waters at satisfactory levels according to the
various uses for which the water is required.

There have been confusing statements made in the public press
and otherwise concerning the intentions and actions of the
Reclamation Service and of the power company. The gist of
the whole matter is that both the Reclamation Service and
the power company have proposed by means of the new dam to
regulate the Lake within a range of six feet vertically,
this being well within the limits of fluctuations which have
occurred during the past 40 years when the Lake has been
partially controlled by means of the old logging dam, and
during which period the navigation and resort interests have
taken the place of the lumber business in the commercial
aspects of the Lake.

The records show that during these 40 years the Lake has
fluctuated to the extent of a little more than eight feet
between low and high water marks.
The landowners around the Lake are principally interested in
its esthetic qualities as a basis for the commercial interests
involved in the tourist traffic and summer resort business.
These interests would naturally desire the Lake to be held at
a fixed level.

Likewise the navigation interests which operate a large
number of boats of various sizes would be best pleased with a
stationary level of the Lake, in order that their wharves and
boat routes might be built and maintained for a single level
of the water.

On the other hand the natural conditions and the use of water
for power and irrigation, which are among the older vested
rights, require the Lake to be used to some extent as a
storage reservoir, which implies a fluctuating level.

The whole problem is to reconcile these various interests so
as to derive the greatest possible economic advantages while
maintaining the great beauties of the Lake for those whose
interests lie mainly in that direction.

There has been suspicion on the part of some of the riparian
owners that either the power company or the Government, or
both, have been entertaining ulterior motives with the purpose
of drawing down the Lake to unprecedented levels and of
extracting from the Lake an amount of water greater than the
average annual inflow. It may be stated once for all that
there has never been such a purpose and that all calculations
of the available water in the Lake have been based upon a long
record of seasonable fluctuations which prove that the average
annual outflow from the Lake is about 300,000 acre feet.

All plans have contemplated the use of _only_ this average
amount of water annually.

The Lake has an area of 193 square miles. The elevation of its
high-water mark has been at 6231.3, whereas its low-water mark
is recorded at elevation 6223.1 above sea level.

Should the Government be successful in acquiring the outlet
property from the power company by the condemnation suit now
in court, it is proposed to operate the gates of the dam at
all times so as to maintain the Lake at the highest level
consistent with the maintenance of a desirable shore-line and the
conservation of water for the public utilities. It is proposed
never to draw the Lake below the previous low-water mark or to
allow it to rise as high as the previous high-water mark, at
which low and high limits damage in some degree was done to one
or another's interests at the Lake.

The regulation proposed by the Government provides for
recognition and protection of all rights in and to the waters
and shores of Lake Tahoe, including the rights of the general
public and of the lovers of natural beauty everywhere, and it
is believed that the charms, as well as the utilities, of this
paragon of lakes can more safely be entrusted to a permanent
government agency than to any single private interest.

A few additions to Mr. Cole's lucid statement will help the general reader to a fuller comprehension of the difficulty as between the States of Nevada and California. It will be recalled that Lake Tahoe has an area of about 193 square miles, of which 78 square miles are in the counties of Washoe, Ormsby and Douglas, Nevada, the remaining 115 square miles being in Placer and El Dorado Counties, California.

Because of this fact, that nearly two-thirds of the superficial area of the Lake is in California, the people of California claim that they have the natural and inherent right to control, even to determining of its disposal at least nearly two-thirds of the water of the Lake.

The situation, however, is further complicated by the fact that the only outlet to the Lake is in California near Tahoe City, in Placer County, into the Truckee River, which meanders for some miles in a northeasterly course until it leaves California, enters Nevada, passes through the important city of Reno, and finally empties into Pyramid Lake, which practically has no outlet.

In response to the claim of California, the people of Nevada, in which it appears they are backed up by the U.S. Reclamation Service, contend that Nature has already determined whither the overflow waters of Lake Tahoe shall go. That, while they do not wish in the slightest to restrict the proper use of the waters of the Truckee River by the dwellers upon that river, they insist that no one else is entitled to their use, and that every drop of superfluous water, legally and morally, belongs to them, to be used as they deem proper.

In accordance with this conception of their rights the Nevada legislature passed the following act, which was approved, March 6, 1913:

That for the purpose of aiding the Truckee-Carson reclamation
project now being carried out by the Reclamation Service
of the United States of America, under the Act of Congress
approved June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. p. 384), known as the
Reclamation Act, and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary
thereto, consent is hereby given to the use by the United
States of America of Lake Tahoe, situated partly in the State
of California and partly in the State of Nevada, and the
waters, bed, shores and capability of use for reservoir
purposes thereof, in such manner and to such extent as the
United States of America through its lawful agencies shall
think proper for such purpose, and as fully as the State of
Nevada could use the same, provided, however, that the consent
hereby given is without prejudice to any existing rights that
persons or corporations may have in Lake Tahoe or the Truckee
River.

At the present time (winter of 1914-15) the matter is in the courts awaiting adjudication, which it is to be hoped, while being satisfactory to all parties to the suit, will fully conserve for the scenic enjoyment of the world all the charms for which Tahoe has been so long and so justly famous.