Tahoe Beneath the Surface: The Hidden Stories of America's Largest Mountain Lake

by Scott Lankford

Overview

Lake Tahoe transformed America, and not just once but many times over—from the earliest Ice Age civilizations to the mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe. It even played a hidden role in the American conquest of California, the launch of the Republican Party, and the birth of John Steinbeck's first novel. Along the way, Lake Tahoe found the time to invent the ski industry, spark the sexual revolution, and win countless Academy Awards. Tahoe beneath the Surface brings this hidden history of America's largest mountain lake to life through the stories of its most celebrated residents and visitors over the last ten thousand years. It mixes local Washoe Indian legends with tales of murderous Mafia dons, and Rat Pack tunes with Steinbeck novels. It establishes Tahoe as one of America's literary hot spots by tracing the steps of more than a dozen authors including Bertrand Russell, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Michael Ondaatje. Tahoe beneath the Surface reveals how the lake transformed the lives of conservationists like John Muir, humorists like Mark Twain, and Hollywood icons like Frank Sinatra. It even touches upon some of the darker aspects of American history, including anti-Chinese racism and the Kennedy assassination.

Despite the impact Lake Tahoe has had on America, environmental threats loom large, and Tahoe Blue—a term that Lankford uses to encompass the whole range of life, beauty, and meaning the lake represents—grows increasingly vulnerable. In Tahoe beneath the Surface, human history and natural history combine in a most engaging way, one that will both inform and inspire all who would keep Tahoe blue.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781597141390
Publisher:	Heyday
Publication date:	12/01/1990
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.96(w) x 11.28(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Raised in Colorado, Scott Lankford got lost en route to Stanford Universityand spent much of the next ten years as a maintenance man, musician, and mountaineering guide at Lake Tahoe. After joining the 1985 American Everest West Ridge Expedition, he completed a Ph.D. in modern thought and literature with a dissertation on John Muir. Currently a professor of English at Foothill College, in California's Silicon Valley, he has also served as Foothill's dean of Language Arts and codirector of the Foothill College Center for a Sustainable Future.

Table of Contents

1 Diving beneath the Surface Jacques Cousteau 1

2 Curse of the Ice Age Mummy Spirit Cave Man 15

3 The Man Who "Discovered" Lake Tahoe John Frémont 33

4 The Burning Woman Sarah Winnemucca 49

5 The Donner Party Murders Luis Salvator 75

6 A Washoe Watershed Datsolalee 97

7 Tahoe Twain Samuel Clemens 115

8 Tahoe National Park John Muir 141

9 The Winters of His Discontent John Steinbeck 161

10 The Last Resort Bertrand Russell 183

11 Tahoe's Sinatraland Frank Sinatra 193

12 Tahoe's Bonanza Cartwright Crusaders 213

13 The Truckee Method Maxine Hong Kingston 223

14 Déjà Blue Michael Ondaatje Gary Snyder 241

15 The Weasel Brothers: Waterspouts and Water Babies 259

Acknowledgments 265

About the Author 267