Naming of Lake Tahoe, Part II

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BY MARK MCLAUGHLIN

Bigler versus Tahoe historic plaque in Kings Beach. | Mark McLaughlin

In June 1859, Dr. Henry De Groot journeyed from San Francisco to the newly discovered Comstock silver lode in western Utah Territory (Nevada). De Groot studied law and medicine, wrote for technical mining journals and worked as correspondent for “The Sacramento Daily Union” and “San Francisco Bulletin” newspapers. His 1861 Map of the Washoe Mines, which includes Lake Bigler, is considered the best, an extraordinarily detailed rendering of Nevada’s early mining era. As a linguist, De Groot explored the Tahoe Sierra with a Washo guide in order to compile a list of the tribe’s vocabulary. Research led him to suggest Ta-hoe-ee or Tah-oo, Washo for “big water” or “water in a high place,” he said. John S. Hittell, an historian and influential editor at San Francisco’s “Daily Alta California,” also supported the effort to change the name. Dr. De Groot and Hittell collaborated with William Henry Knight, chief cartographer with the U.S. Department of the Interior. Knight reached the Golden State in 1859 by horseback via Carson Pass. While gazing at Lake Bigler he wondered why such a beautiful body of water should have such an ugly name? Knight and De Groot brainstormed together and finally resolved to go with De Groot’s Washo interpretation: “Tahoe.” Knight telegraphed his superiors in Washington, D.C., and successfully obtained permission from the General Land Office to use the Washo-derived word on federal maps. Noted San Francisco-based historian and ethnologist Hubert H. Bancroft published Knight’s highly detailed rendering of the Pacific states with Tahoe on it, and the Dept. of the Interior began using the name on it prints, as well. But that did not settle the brewing controversary.

Newspapers conjured a variety of stories implying that the word “Tahoe” was unacceptable, of “vulgar significance” and worse. Even Mark Twain, one of America’s most popular writers and humorists, entered the fray. Samuel Clemens acquired his famous nom de plume in Virginia City, Nev., in the early 1860s. Twain was known for his condescension and racism against Native Americans and although a common attitude at the time, he had the power of the pen. In a Feb. 12, 1864, report that he wrote for the Virginia City’s “Territorial Enterprise,” Twain asserted, “Bigler is the legitimate name of the Lake, and it will be retained until some name less flat, insipid and spooney than ‘Tahoe’ is invented for it.” In a September 1863 article published in the “Territorial Enterprise,” he ranted: “I hope some bird will catch this Grub the next time he calls Lake Bigler by so disgustingly sick and silly a name as ‘Lake Tahoe…’ Of course, Indian names are more fitting than any others for our beautiful lakes and rivers, which knew their race ages ago, perhaps in the morning of creation, but let us have none so repulsive to the ear as ‘Tahoe.’ He griped: “They say it means ‘Fallen Leaf’ – well suppose it meant fallen devil or fallen angel, would that render its hideous, discordant syllables more endurable? ‘Tahoe’ – it sounds as weak as soup for a sick infant.” He did not stop there. In his 1869 novel, “Innocents Abroad,” Twain again derided the word: “People say that Tahoe means ‘Silver Lake’ – ‘Limpid Water’ – ‘Falling Leaf.’ Bosh! It means grasshopper soup.”

Many disagreed with Twain. John Bigler’s exceptionally close gubernatorial race indicates that he was only a marginally acceptable politician when first elected, with nearly half of those who filled a ballot voting against him. A large majority of pro-slavery Democrats from Southern California threatened to divide the state in two if Bigler’s administration did not accept slavery in California, specifically in the southern regions. Bigler pushed back. Based on the federal Free Soil Party platform, he helped form a similar faction in the Golden State that argued against the spread of slavery in Western states and territories. The move split California’s Democrat Party, as it did nationally, but the electorate in densely populated Northern California approved and Bigler was re-elected to a second term. No other governor in the state would win back-to-back elections until 1914. But when the Civil War broke out in 1861, ex-governor Bigler did an about-face and publicly supported the Confederacy, something that did not go over well in pro-Union Northern California. Bigler’s public approval ratings plummeted and more people began expressing dissatisfaction with the name Lake Bigler.

That year, Sacramento’s “Daily Union” reported that some representatives in the legislature — again ignoring Tahoe — were considering changing Lake Bigler to Tula Tulia, “an Indian name of the lake.” A short time later, the newspaper editorialized: “Why the finest sheet of water in the mountains should be named after a fifth-rate politician we have never been able to see. Let’s call it Tahoe. Fine fishing in Tahoe. Who’s going on a pleasant excursion this Summer to Tahoe? Poetical name; Indian name;

proper name. Tahoe is suitable. Who don’t say Tahoe?” In 1870 the “Daily Union” stated pragmatically: “We have a Tahoe Post office, Tahoe Hotel, and Tahoe toll-road, and it will not pay to change all these names.” In 1863, Rev. Thomas Starr King visited the lake. King was an immensely popular Unitarian Church minister from San Francisco, who considered Bigler treasonous and did not approve of the then Congressional candidate’s support of the Confederate cause, or of Bigler’s fierce opposition to Abraham Lincoln’s administration. King injected his influential opinion into the battle of cognomens, asserting that the name should be permanently changed to Lake Tahoe, a term that was steadily increasing in popular usage.

In 1864, the “Virginia Daily Union” suggested: “To obtain a more convenient and correct pronunciation, we would have the word ‘Tahho” introduced. By employing the spelling, a nearer approach is made to the Aboriginal sound than is generally made. The name of the lake is written ‘Tahoe,’ which causes us to pronounce it as though it were ‘Tay-ho.’ But all the bickering was to no avail because on Feb. 10, 1870, both the House and Senate of the California legislature, still dominated by Democrats, doubled down and reaffirmed that Lake Bigler was the official name, in honor of “Honest John,” then and into perpetuity. Or at least for 75 years until July 18, 1945, when the state government officially established “Lake Tahoe.” Despite controversy related to his anti-Chinese immigration stance, common at the time, and his endorsement of slavery in the American Civil War, considered unacceptable in Northern California, Bigler’s imposing granite monument holds a prominent place at Sacramento Historic City Cemetery, where he is honored as a permanent resident. n

Read Part I at TheTahoeWeekly.com

Mark McLaughlin is a nationally published author. His award-winning books are available at local stores or at thestormking. com | mark@thestormking.com.

creative awareness | arts & culture | makers’ movement

Check Off Tahoe Summer bucket list at TheTahoeWeekly.com #88,#89 & #90

BY KAYLA ANDERSON

FROM LEFT: Tahoe Backyard. North Tahoe Arts Center, Kings Beach. Inside the Chickadee Art Collective with Nicole Stirling. | Kayla Anderson

Kings Beach is a perfect walking town. Along the 1-mile stretch from the Highway 267/Highway 28 intersection to Beaver Street, it’s filled with shops, restaurants and recreational areas. The recent health pandemic created a unique opportunity for it to be more welcoming, with a few key community figures taking the reins on making it better through promoting local art. If you look closely, you’ll find that Kings Beach has a re-emerging art scene with a lot of exciting things happening. Between the formation of Tahoe Backyard, the opening of the second location of North Tahoe Arts, the art in the town’s roundabouts and The Mural Project, there are many reasons to visit Kings Beach.

A block away from the main drag, Tahoe Backyard provides a welcoming space for families and friends that’s complete with food, art, yard games and good beer. Two years ago, renowned local mandala artist Nicole Stirling left her job as a preschool teacher to pursue art full-time. Stirling was looking at renting studio space near her home in The Grid (KB’s most prominent neighborhood) when she came across the site of the Bear Belly Brewing Company, with a lot of open space to share. She rented out what is now Chickadee Art Collective and acts as the site manager to help bring in events and pop-ups. Tahoe Backyard hosts poetry workshops, makers markets, community art classes — and will be a stop on the upcoming Kings Beach Art Tour from July 30 to 31. “[The Kings Beach art scene] is gradually growing; I’m really excited about it. Like many, I think Kings Beach would be a great art town; it’d be cool to have this place an art destination. There are 40 to 50 artists right here just in this little neighborhood. This is a sleepy town with a lot of hidden talent and now they have a chance to shine and show their work,” Stirling says. She admits that she’s living, breathing, eating and sleeping art right now, but she wouldn’t change it for the world. “It fills my soul. I’m honored to be a part of this,” she says. | chickadeetahoe. com, tahoebackyard.com

On June 17, a barn-shaped building that was a former fireplace store opened to the public as North Tahoe Arts’ second location thanks to the generosity of longtime residents Jane and Ron Jenny. As an artist herself, Jane enjoys working with kids and started holding art camps with North Tahoe Arts when it was located in Dollar Hill in Tahoe City 23 years ago. “I had a dream that North Tahoe Arts could have a self-contained building to do all its programming. We own properties around here and I bugged my husband to buy something [for NTA], with the criteria that it had to have a storefront artisan shop, offices and a kitchen, as well as a yard for kids to be able to enjoy art classes. This building checked all the boxes,” Jane says. “And so the work began. We patched holes, fixed plumbing, repaired win-

dows and doors, fixed electrical and painted, painted, painted. Ronny and I are used to this as our side careers have been building new or remodeling old properties, so we tackled this job with a deep sense of gratitude that we could offer our beloved North Tahoe Arts — a secure future free from the threat of having to move.” The nonprofit North Tahoe Arts will continue to operate the Tahoe City location, as well. | northtahoearts.org

“Like many, I think Kings Beach would be a great art town … There are 40 to 50 artists right here just in this little neighborhood. This is a sleepy town with a lot of hidden talent and now they have a chance to shine and show their work.” - Nicole Stirling

collaborating on a project that has been approved to create or refresh murals in Kings Beach. Up to six murals are earmarked to be placed throughout the town with a focus on dressing up local businesses’ Americans with Disabilities Act ramps. The artwork will be created by professional and student artists to provide an additional opportunity for mentorship to North Tahoe’s youth while creating art outside of the classroom. “This project will bring both community enrichment and cohesion along with beautification of our area and an opportunity for local students to learn from professionals. The murals themselves will beautifully convey important local themes of environmental respect, stewardship and cultural heritage. And, as one local resident said, ‘The murals will show that the community cares about itself,’” says Alyssa Reilly, NTBA’s executive director. Arts for the Schools CEO Eve McEneaney emphasizes the excitement surrounding this project. “We hope The Mural Project will allow everyone in the community and visitors alike to experience art in their daily life. As an added benefit, the murals will highlight small, local businesses. This project is a special way to show how the arts can contribute to making local communities better,” she says. Businesses interested in participating in the program may register at artsfortheschools.org n

Saturdays until Sept. 24 (dark Sept. 3 & 17) | Tahoe Backyard

July 20, Aug. 17 & Sept. 21 | Tahoe Backyard

July & Aug. | Chickadee Art Collective

July 26-28 | North Tahoe Arts, Kings Beach

July 30 | North Tahoe Arts, Kings Beach