The following dates can be found on the tree piece found inside City Hall at the Lake Tahoe Airport. The numbers on the tree match the historical event below:

1.  1844 – John C. Fremont is the first non-native person to record seeing Lake Tahoe

2.  1849 – Gold is discovered in Coloma, 60 miles west of Lake Tahoe

3.  1856 – John “Snowshoe” Thompson was hired to carry mail from Placerville to Genoa

4.  1859 – Silver was discovered in Virginia City

5.  1860 – Pony Express route comes through South Shore, Friday’s Station is built

6.  1861 – Mark Twain first lays eyes on Lake Tahoe

7.  1860 thru 1890 – The trees around Lake Tahoe are clear-cut

8.  1880 – Lucky Baldwin buys a hotel on 2,000 acres, and renames it Tallac House

9.  1895 – California creates the first state Highway which later became Hwy 50

10. 1908 – Chris Johnson purchases land at Sierra House for his 500 cattle

11. 1911 – U.S. Forest Service builds the first ranger station in the Lake Tahoe Basin

12. 1913 – Road around Emerald Bay built

13. 1915 – Barton Family settles on land from the Y to the airport

14. 1927 – The TV was invented

15. 1928 – Laura Knight builds Vikingsholm

16. 1931 – Nevada legalizes gambling and two clubs open on South Shore

17. 1937 – New Meyers Grade over Echo Summit was started but not done until 1947

18. 1947 – Bijou Skyway Park opens for skiing on South Shore with one 1,000ft rope tow

19. 1952 – South Tahoe High School is established

20. 1955 – Heavenly Valley opens with 1 lift and 1 lodge

21, 1959 – Lake Tahoe Airport becomes 6th airstrip built on South Shore, just in time for the 1960 Olympics

22, 1960 – Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley (now Palisades Tahoe)

23. 1965 – City of South Lake Tahoe is incorporated

24. 1967 – Johnson family heirs donate land for a government center

25. 1968 – Sierra Ski Ranch opens

26. 1969 – The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) is formed to protect Lake Tahoe

27. 1980 – Harveys Lake Tahoe is bombed

28. 1993 – The world wide web (www) launches to the public, and the internet is born

29. 2007 – Angora Fire burns 3,100 acres and destroys 242 homes

20. 2015 – Bijou Community Park is built 1Type your paragraph here.

The South Lake Tahoe Tree Project is a collaborative effort between the Lake Tahoe Historical Society, the South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce, the City of South Lake Tahoe, and Kenny Curtzwiler of K & K Tree Services. There will be more tree rounds installed around South Lake Tahoe. 

Lake Tahoe History Museum  530.541.5458

The South Lake Tahoe History Ring Project.

Preserving Tahoe's History