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Horses, Trains & Planes By Mark McLaughlin

The invention of the airplane was one of those benchmark advances in technology that dramatically improved the lives of those living in the Far West, where wide open spaces and remote locations made for a lonely life. The first breakthrough came when a couple of promoters thought of using young men and fast horses to deliver letters and communication to California and Nevada communities. The Pony Express was in business for less than 19 months starting in 1860, when riders relayed their satchel of letters in an operation that could move mail nearly 2,000 miles in just 10 days. However, when the transcontinental telegraph was completed in October 1861, the Pony Express died a quick death. The telegraph could send messages through wires in the blink of an eye, but for the average person it was expensive and letters were still the standard method for communicating over distance. The next breakthrough came less than a decade later when Central Pacific and Union Pacific completed the

first transcontinental railroad across the United States. The two railroad companies raced each other to lay as much track as possible to earn lucrative government payments and federal land grants. Central Pacific worked east from California and Union Pacific pushed west. The two finally met in Utah in May 1869. Imagine the difference the transcontinental railroad made for people of that time! Before the railroad, many California-bound immigrants traveled in covered wagons, leaving the western frontier (Missouri River) in spring with the hope of reaching the Pacific Coast before winter snow in the Sierra closed the road. It was a long journey of 2,000 miles that could take four to five months, replete with multiple dangers that included accidents, disease, Indian attack and equipment breakdown. (Commercial stagecoaches could deliver you to the West much quicker during the summer months, but you were limited in what you could bring with you and it was a bumpy, dusty ride.) Once the railroad was completed, however, someone in New York City could decide in early December that they wanted to spend Christmas in San Francisco. They could board a train and ride in safety and relative luxury through stormy weather, enjoying food and wine while gazing at the passing scenery. The transcontinental railroad was a game changer when it came to cross-country transportation in America.

Horses, Trains & Planes / continued on page 4 The first planes over the Sierra reached Reno from Sacramento in 1919. Photo courtesy of the Nevada Historical Society.

Fall 2026 | Northwoods Tahoe

Horses, Trains & Planes / continued from page 3 Despite the development of railroad lines in the United States, efficient and easy travel in the Sierra was still a challenge—even after 1900. The next breakthrough came in December 1903 when the Wright brothers made the first successful flight in a powered airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The news was broadcast around the country, but years would go by before anyone in Truckee or rural Nevada would see a plane. Despite a few attempts, the early airplanes were incapable of flying over the ridgeline of the Sierra. One of the first to try was a well-publicized flight by Robert Fowler in 1911, but his primitive, underpowered airplane could not surmount the range. In April 1916, a New York millionaire attempted a transcontinental flight from San Diego to New York, transiting through Las Vegas. He crashed 125 miles into his flight, but the effort was frontpage news in Nevada. Initially, air travel was too expensive and complex for individual entrepreneurs. As with railroad and highway transportation, it would take the power and resources of the federal government to develop aviation. During World War I (1914-1918), the Army Air Service established 69 airfields across the U.S., but none in Nevada. These bases became part of a nationwide network of airways and landing fields that permitted rapid deployment of military units across the country. During WWI, primitive biplanes

made of wood and canvas with top speeds of 100 mph were outfitted with machine guns and converted into offensive weapons. More than 125,000 aircraft were produced during the war. The adaptation of the airplane as a military weapon rapidly accelerated its technological development. Following the war, the Army Air Service worked with civilian leaders to develop municipal airports. The Army Air Service pioneered transcontinental air routes throughout the West. In 1919, three U.S. Army planes with 90 horsepower engines successfully crossed the Sierra from Sacramento to Reno. They flew over Donner Pass where a wagon train of emigrants had struggled and died in deep snow less than 80 years before. Once the air route between Reno and San Francisco was established, flights over the Sierra became almost “routine”. Another big step occurred that year when a military pilot flew from New York to San Francisco in just three days. Nevada newspaper editors began to envision regular air routes across the Silver State, which would dramatically reduce traveling times by automobile. The successful flights over the Sierra near Donner Pass opened the door to aviation’s first practical use which was airmail. On May 15, 1918, the U.S. Postal Service inaugurated airmail service between New York City and Washington, D.C. Western bankers

Airmail begins arriving in Reno in 1920. Photos courtesy of the Nevada Northwoods Tahoe | Read online www.tahoeweathercam.com Historical Society

and other business leaders wanted the eastern network linked to the western states, in part to help reduce the float time of checks moving across the country. Postal officials laid out a transcontinental air mail route between San Francisco and New York via Reno, Elko, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Omaha, Chicago and Pittsburgh. On Sept. 8, 1920, a West Coast-bound airmail plane took off from New Jersey on the first leg of the new transcontinental route. Pilots relayed the 400 pounds of mail to each other much like a hi-tech version of the earlier Pony Express mail delivery system. Planes could not fly at night, but the mail still arrived in San Francisco in four days. The coast-to-coast delivery had taken nearly 83 hours, more than the projected 54 hours for the trip, but the media loved it. One aviation booster magazine, the Aerial Age Weekly wrote, “September 8 will go down in history as the great day when the epoch making event, the first trip of the transcontinental aerial mail, took place.” Flying over the Great Basin was one of the most treacherous portions of the journey, with serious problems related to climate, geography and weather. Vast expanses of alkali desert and only isolated, remote settlements, made the flight over Utah and Nevada daunting. Without location transmitters or radios, it was nearly impossible to find a pilot who may have crash-landed in the vast expanse of Nevada. To give themselves a chance, pilots followed the tracks of the transcontinental railroad and the Lincoln Highway. Despite the obstacles, airmail pilots in the West developed a fairly safe operation and during the first three years, only seven pilots died in the western sector, a rate comparable to other sectors of the country at that time.

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Resilient Flooring Benefits for Short- and Long-Term Homeowners Whether you just closed on your forever home or decided to stay put with a low-interest loan and renovate, choosing the right flooring often pays off. Flooring is a foundation homeowners count on every day in their homes and often a key factor for potential buyers. No matter where you are in your home journey, your flooring needs to deliver. Great design, durability, ease of maintenance, convenience, indoor air quality, performance and value – these are universal considerations when choosing flooring, but not every type of flooring offers these benefits. Resilient flooring has a host of solutions that offer a balance of performance with personalization, making it a great option for homeowners at every stage of their building or renovation journeys. According to the Resilient Floor Covering Institute, this flooring is defined as a non-textile floor that offers comfort underfoot and recovers from repeated traffic. It sits between soft carpet and hard floors such as hardwood, stone or ceramic tile. If you’re staying put, one of the most impactful things you can do to improve your home is refresh your floors. Ease of maintenance is one of the most valued attributes in flooring. Resilient flooring has a host of options that are known for how easy they are to clean and how well they stand up to furry friends’ claws and accidental spills.

On the other hand, if you’re moving on and up, it’s important to remember dated and poorly maintained flooring are red flags for potential buyers or renters, making them consider repair costs or whether the rest of the home has been maintained. Updating flooring prior to selling often supports the value of your home compared to similar homes with worn or outdated floors. They inspire in the listing photos, create a positive first impression and make your home feel move-in ready. No matter where you are in your home journey, when you’re balancing your budget for upgrades, it’s important to consider where you’ll get a good reward for your investment. Resilient flooring offers thousands of options to refresh any space in your home at a host of price points. When designing or redesigning a space, it’s important to also look beyond durability and performance and consider the invisible benefits like indoor air quality. Resilient flooring offers two major third-party certifications in indoor air quality. The FloorScore certification

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means your floors have been tested and confirmed to promote good indoor air quality. For rigid core flooring, Assure Certified also has strict standards for indoor air quality and content and performance requirements. Both give you peace of mind, knowing your floors are creating a better home environment where you live, play and work. Ultimately, resilient flooring has numerous options that deliver beauty and performance for your family now and years down the road. Whether you’re staying put or moving to your next home, resilient flooring meets you where you are in life and helps you enjoy the next step. To learn more about the benefits of resilient flooring, visit BeautifullyResponsible.com.

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UP–AND–COMER: Anthony Seghieri Anthony Seghieri’s lighthouse watercolor demonstrates an appealing instinct for atmosphere, composition, and the expressive possibilities of watercolor. Though Seghieri only began painting in January 2026, this work suggests an artist who has quickly developed an understanding of how the medium can do more than simply describe a scene—it can establish a mood.

Seghieri also makes good use of the watercolor medium’s inherent unpredictability. The sky is built from loose washes that bleed and mingle, creating clouds that feel fluid rather than rigidly outlined. Warm golden tones appear to filter through the cloud cover, suggesting either early morning or late afternoon light. Rather than rendering every cloud with equal precision, Seghieri allows areas of pigment to soften into one another. This gives the sky a sense of movement and contributes considerably to the painting’s overall mood. The composition is also thoughtfully arranged. The lighthouse sits left of center, leaving a substantial expanse of sky and open space to the right. That imbalance works well, creating a feeling of isolation that suits the subject. The viewer’s eye moves from the lighthouse through the grasses and toward the distant water and low horizon. The foreground grasses are handled with a mixture of loose texture and selective detail, giving the painting depth without making the landscape overly busy. There are moments where Seghieri’s developing technique is visible, particularly in some of the more architectural elements of the lighthouse. The railings and framework require a degree of precision that contrasts with the freedom of the sky and landscape. Yet that contrast is part of the painting’s character: a carefully observed structure surrounded by an intentionally fluid environment.

The painting’s strongest feature is its use of color. The lighthouse itself provides a vivid focal point, with its red-and-white structure standing firmly against a much softer palette of blues, lavender, ochre, and warm earth tones. That contrast immediately draws the eye toward the tower while allowing the surrounding landscape and sky to remain atmospheric rather than competing for attention. The red beacon and railings are particularly effective in giving the otherwise quiet composition a visual anchor.

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Seghieri’s background as a wildland firefighter offers an interesting perspective on his artistic interests. His stated attraction to landscapes, boats, and working vessels reflects an appreciation for places shaped by nature and human use. In this lighthouse, those interests converge. The painting is not simply a study of a building beside the sea; it is an exploration of solitude, weather, light, and the relationship between a man-made landmark and its surroundings. For an artist so early in his watercolor journey, Seghieri’s work shows a promising willingness to let the medium speak for itself. Original and prints available at The Genoa Gallery.

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Fierce Night Hunter As darkness settles over the forests and open valleys surrounding Lake Tahoe, a deep series of hoots may drift through the trees. The sound can seem surprisingly close one moment and distant the next, carried across a meadow or echoing between stands of pine. The source may be one of the Sierra Nevada’s most formidable nocturnal predators: the Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus). With its large size, prominent feathered ear tufts and brilliant yellow eyes, the Great Horned Owl is difficult to confuse with most other Tahoe-area owls. Adults can reach nearly two feet in length, with wingspans approaching five feet. Females are generally larger than males, while males have a deeper voice. Yet size is only part of what makes this owl remarkable. A Predator Built for the Night Great Horned Owls are remarkably adaptable. Across North America they occupy coniferous and deciduous forests, open woodlands, agricultural areas, wetlands, deserts and even suburban landscapes. Their preferred territory generally combines trees for roosting and nesting with more open areas where prey can be found. That combination makes the Tahoe region suitable habitat. Around the basin and throughout the surrounding Sierra Nevada, forested slopes are interspersed with meadows,

clearings, riparian corridors and other openings. These edges give the owl an ideal hunting strategy: perch quietly in a tree, scan the ground below, and launch into a short, powerful flight when prey is detected. The owl's broad wings allow it to maneuver through forest, while its exceptionally soft flight feathers help reduce the sound produced by its wingbeats. This gives a Great Horned Owl a distinct advantage over prey that may never hear it approaching. A Surprisingly Varied Menu An opportunistic predator, its diet is among the most varied of any North American raptor. Rabbits, hares, mice, voles, squirrels, woodrats, gophers and other mammals make up much of its diet, but birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and even fish can also find their way onto the menu.

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In fact, Great Horned Owls are capable of killing prey considerably larger than themselves. They have been documented taking skunks, large birds and other raptors. Their powerful feet and talons provide much of the killing power. The Sierra Nevada has offered researchers an interesting glimpse into this predator-prey relationship. A U.S. Forest Service review reports that cottontails made up about 61 percent of the Great Horned Owl diet in one Sierra Nevada study, with woodrats ranking second among prey items. That connection to rabbits and other small mammals makes the owl an important predator within the mountain ecosystem. Rather than specializing in a single prey species, however, Great Horned Owls can adjust their diet according to what is available.

Powerful Night Hunter / continued on page 12

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Powerful Night Hunter / continued from page 12 The Owl That Doesn't Build Its Own Nest Perhaps surprisingly, Great Horned Owls usually don't construct nests of their own. Instead, they frequently move into an old nest abandoned by another bird. Red-tailed Hawks, ravens, crows and other large birds may provide the original architecture. Great Horned Owls also use tree cavities, cliffs, abandoned structures and other suitable locations. Breeding can begin surprisingly early. Pairs may establish territories and begin courting during winter, with their characteristic hooting becoming especially noticeable before egg-laying. A typical clutch contains one to four eggs, which hatch after roughly a month of incubation. The young remain dependent on their parents for considerably longer as they develop their flying and hunting abilities. The parents can also become remarkably defensive. Anyone ap-

proaching a nest may encounter hisses, screams, bill snapping or a sudden display of wings and talons. For people exploring Tahoe's forests, an agitated owl is a good indication that it is time to give the area plenty of space. Listening for the Owl Seeing a Great Horned Owl can be difficult. Hearing one is considerably easier. Their familiar call is a deep series of soft, rhythmic hoots, often described as something like hoo-h’HOO-hoohoo. A mated pair may call back and forth, with the female's voice noticeably higher than the male's. Winter can be an especially rewarding time to listen. The forest is quieter, vegetation is reduced, and territorial calling becomes more prominent as pairs prepare for the breeding season. The next time a series of deep hoots travels across a Tahoe meadow after sunset, stop and listen. Some-

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where in the darkness, a nearly silent hunter may be watching from a pine branch, its yellow eyes reflecting the faintest available light. The Great Horned Owl is not simply one of Tahoe's largest owls. It is a remarkably adaptable predator— one capable of thriving amid forests, meadows and the changing landscape of the Sierra Nevada and in a region where so much of the wildlife is hidden from view, sometimes the best way to find one is simply to listen. Sources • Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus): Life History.” All About Birds. • Artuso, C., C. S. Houston, D. G. Smith, and D. Rohner. 2013. “Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus).” Birds of North America, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. “Bubo virginianus, Great Horned Owl.” Fire Effects Information System. • Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Great Horned Owl: Identification.” All About Birds. • Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Great Horned Owl: Sounds.” Macaulay Library / All About Birds. • Reynolds, M., J. Shook, G. Breed, and K. Kielland. 2021. “Diet and reproductive success of Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) at its northern breeding limit.” Canadian Field-Naturalist 135(4).

Fall 2026 | Northwoods Tahoe

Prepare Your Home for Storm Season Fall is the time to prepare for heavy snow, strong winds, and freezing temperatures. A little preparation before the first major storm can help protect your home and property while making winter more manageable. Check Your Roof and Gutters Start at the top. Inspect your roof for damaged or missing shingles, cracked flashing and areas where water may collect. Tahoe’s snow loads can be substantial, so address problems before accumulating snow makes repairs difficult. Clean gutters and downspouts of leaves, pine needles and debris. Trim Trees and Landscaping Heavy, wet snow and winter winds can turn weak branches into hazards. Remove dead, damaged or overhanging branches, particularly those near the roof, driveway or power lines. Keep an eye on trees that may have been weakened by

drought, insects or previous storms. Secure loose planters, decorations and other landscaping features before high winds arrive. Strengthen Your Home’s Weak Spots Walk around your home and look for places where wind, water or cold could get inside. Check doors and windows for worn weatherstripping, inspect exterior caulking and make sure vents and other openings are properly protected. Insulate exposed pipes where necessary and know where your main water shutoff is located. Inspect crawl spaces for moisture or signs of unwanted animal entry before winter. Make a Power Outage Plan Winter storms can bring down trees and disrupt power. Keep flashlights, batteries, backup phone chargers, blankets and emergency supplies somewhere easy to reach. If you use a generator, have it serviced before storm season and operate it outdoors, well away from doors and windows. Never use a grill or fuelburning appliance indoors. Keep drinking water and shelf-stable food available, too.

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Prepare Outdoor Entertaining Areas for Winter As outdoor entertaining winds down, store or secure furniture, umbrellas, cushions and decorations. Clean and protect grills, drain outdoor water lines where appropriate, and move delicate items under cover. Check decks, stairs and railings for loose boards or hardware before snow and ice make repairs more difficult. Plan for Snow Storage and Ice Mitigation Before the first storm, decide where snow will go. Avoid piling it against doors, foundations, vents or areas where melting snow can refreeze. Leave enough room to clear driveways and walkways without blocking drainage. Stock shovels and traction materials early, and identify shaded steps, north-facing walkways and roof drip lines that may need extra attention. A few hours of preparation in fall can make the snowy months safer, more comfortable and easier to enjoy.

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