Conquering the Sierra by Car

TAHOE • STORIES

CONQUERING THE M SIERRA BY CAR

otorists take Interstate 80 for granted, the year-round, trans-Sierra highway that crosses the mountains at Donner Pass, except of course when it’s shut down for hours by winter storms. It is a quick link between markedly different climate regimes in California and a vital conduit for a large portion of the tourism dollars that flow into the TahoeTruckee region.

BY MARK MCLAUGHLIN

Before automobiles began to gain popularity (after 1900), locals and tourists relied on stagecoaches and a system of railroads and lake steamers that transported people

and supplies to the mountains and around Lake Tahoe. Nevada ranchers who relied on their trusty horses remained skeptical of the viability of the automobile until car dealers took to the state’s rugged roadways in winter to demonstrate their performance and dependability. Once people got used to the independence and convenience of traveling in their own car, however, it meant the end of the short line, narrow gauge railroad that connected Tahoe City to Truckee, as well as the classic steamers that plied the deep waters of Tahoe.

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When businesses realized that future tourism dollars were going to arrive by automobile, not passenger train, they began to pressure the state and county governments to improve mountain roads. Years before the first highway was constructed over Donner Pass, intrepid drivers were fighting their way over this portion of the rugged Sierra, using block and tackle and tying ropes around their tires for traction. Donner Pass was first crossed by a party of “autoists” who negotiated the Dutch Flat and Donner Lake Wagon Road in May 1901. The first motorcyclist was George Wyman who managed to pick his way over in August 1902.

Within two years, other adventurers making crosscountry automobile expeditions blazed a route closer to South Lake Tahoe, crossing Echo Summit on the Placerville to Carson City route. The arrival of the automobile represented a new transportation technology, one that was quickly embraced by the half dozen Truckee locals who owned a car by 1906.

frozen Bering Strait, towards Siberia, Russia and eventually Paris. It was a crazy idea and hardly anyone really believed it could be done, but 17 men representing four countries dared to try.

When the U.S. team won the closely watched race driving a Thomas Flyer, a 60-horsepower stock production four-cylinder, four-speed picked off the E.R. Thomas Motor Company factory lot in Buffalo, N.Y., the popularity and belief in the newfangled transportation was secured in America. By 1910, marketing to the rapidly growing auto-based tourist economy had become established and it hasn’t let up since. That year, Valvoline Oil sponsored a round trip car race from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe with a large trophy as the prize.

Determined to ride this new craze of adventure motoring, the Tahoe Tavern near Tahoe City offered its own silver trophy in the spring of 1911, to the first party to drive a car from California over the Summit Road to the luxury hotel. The operators of the Tahoe Tavern were hoping to ramp up their early season tourist business and to generate advertising headlines in the San Francisco newspapers.

Many people in rural America were still skeptical that the new “gasoline buggies” would ever replace a good horse over rough terrain. In That spring season order to prove offered a greater than them wrong, usual challenge to automakers anyone attempting and the media to cross the Sierra organized an by automobile. epic endurance Similar to this past contest to prove year, it too had been the mettle of the a long winter with new horseless late season snow, Men pushing and pulling an automobile but carriage. In the mid-winter 1907, the Paris storms of 1911 had over Donner Pass in June, 1911. newspaper Le been epic. In March Photo courtesy of North Lake Tahoe Historical Society.

Matin began 1911, snow depths promoting the reached extraordinary idea for a challenging auto race. The New York levels nearing 40 feet at 8,000 feet. Despite the Times teamed up with the French paper to coTahoe Tavern’s well-advertised award, it wasn’t until sponsor “the toughest race ever devised.” The June 1911 that anyone would try to drive over the editors charted a global course so grueling, so mountains to collect the 3-foot high trophy and earn brutal it seemed that no automobile (or man) could a daredevil reputation. withstand the punishment.

Although promoters at the Tahoe Tavern were The 1908 New York-to-Paris race met that criterion. calculating that their trophy would be won by a It was an unprecedented automotive odyssey of socially prominent person from San Francisco, the more than 22,000 miles that would take nearly six primary contender turned out to be a group of men months and span three continents. Entrants were from the Grass Valley area led by Arthur B. Foote. forced to drive across the United States during Mr. Foote had purchased his first car in January winter, a feat never previously accomplished 1908, and it was shipped in parts by train. After by automobile. The next leg of the race went reading the instruction manual, he spent a couple on to Alaska, for an attempt to drive over the of days assembling the machine. Once his new Continues on page 4

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vehicle was put together and fueled with gasoline purchased at the drug store (there were no gas stations yet), Foote took a ride and immediately became an aficionado of the new horseless carriage. When he heard about the Tahoe Tavern contest a few years later, he decided to take on the challenge with his Model T Ford.

Foote, who was the assistant superintendent of the North Star Mines Company, needed help in this arduous endeavor. Pushing, pulling and dragging an automobile over the roadless Sierra would be a major physical and logistical hurtle so he convinced several men he knew to help. Foote’s matter-of-fact diary entries detail the Herculean task before them: On June 2, the first day, he wrote: “Packed stuff, took off windshield, Mr. Starr and I left for Emigrant Gap at 4 p.m. with shovels, tackle, etc. Passed Emigrant Gap and got stuck in soft snow 2.5 miles further on. Walked to Cisco, got there 10:30 p.m.”

Snow drifts had blocked the trail, but the following morning Foote and Starr woke early and surveyed the road ahead until they came to a washed out bridge on the Yuba River. They returned to Cisco where they joined the other men and slept until the early morning hours, when they awoke and started driving on the still-frozen snowpack. Although parts of the surface were bare granite, the car would occasionally fall into deep crevices in the snow, and each time the men used their block and tackle system to pull it out. Five hours later they reached the Yuba River roaring with snowmelt. Both Foote and Starr were accomplished engineers and they quickly rigged a metal cable over the raging torrent and slid the car to the other side.

Foote’s group wasn’t the only one competing for the prize, but when the other drivers following them came to the washed out bridge on the Yuba, they were at a loss on how to cross. Foote and Starr had removed the cable and told no one of their

A group car touring and camping in Lake Tahoe, circa 1915.

Arthur Foote heading down to Donner Lake in his Model T Ford. Note the open car door.

Photo courtesy of North Lake Tahoe Historical Society.

technique. This gave them an insurmountable lead.

Two days later they were stuck in snow again, but having gained their substantial lead they confidently left the car and returned to Grass Valley by train to gather more equipment. On June 7 they were back at it using wooden runners to push the car over the snowpack. By June 9 they had reached Soda Springs where they spent the day repairing or replacing various broken parts. Finally on Saturday June 10, they pulled their vehicle over rock and snow down to Donner Lake where they had breakfast. Taking advantage of the clear road from Truckee to Tahoe City, they reached the Tahoe Tavern at noon and claimed their handsome trophy.

Promoters at the Tahoe Tavern were completely surprised by their arrival. The next day the Grass Valley Morning Union featured the story on page one: “The victors enjoyed the consternation which they caused by their unexpected arrival. The resort management had not expected these men from Grass Valley to achieve their success by shoving, tugging, and hoisting their Model T over seemingly impassable mountainous terrain.”

Photo courtesy of the Mark McLaughlin Collection.

Tahoe historian Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author and professional speaker. His award-winning books are available at local stores or at thestormking.com.

You can reach him at mark@thestormking.com.

Check out Mark’s blog: tahoenuggets.com