Places: CA-Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe-6,227' (Meeks Bay) (39.0959954, -120.0334329)
Lake Tahoe Dam-6,237' (Tahoe City) (39.1669058, -120.1438250)

Description:
Lake Tahoe, once called Lake Bigler and as such is on your maps, is the largest sheet of fresh water in the state.7  Recent measurements in connection with the boundary survey make it twenty-three miles long and ten wide, but it has always before passed for much more. It has been recently sounded; its greatest depth is 1,523 feet, and most of it is over 1,000 feet deep. It lies at an altitude of over six thousand feet, while around it rise mountains four thousand feet higher. Its Indian name, Tahoe, was dropped and it was called after Governor Bigler, a Democratic politician. He was once of some notoriety here, but since he has turned “Secesh” all the Union papers have raised the cry to have his name dropped, and the old Indian name has been revived and will probably prevail. The purity of its waters, its great depth, its altitude, and the clear sky all combine to give the lake a bright but intensely  blue color; it is bluer even than the Mediterranean, and nearly as picturesque as Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Its beautiful waters and the rugged mountains rising around it, spotted with snow which has perhaps lain for centuries, form an enchanting picture. It lacks many of the elements of beauty of the Swiss lakes; it lacks the grassy, green, sloping hills, the white-walled towns, the castles with their stories and histories, the chalets of the herders—in fact, it lacks  all  the elements that give their peculiar charm to the Swiss scenery—its beauty is its own, is truly Californian. The lake abounds in the largest trout in the world, a species of speckled trout that often weighs over twenty pounds and sometimes as much as  thirty pounds! Smaller trout are abundant in the streams. An Indian brought some into camp. I gave him fifty cents for two, and they made us two good meals and were excellent fish. He had speared them in a stream near. We were eating when he came; when we finished he wanted the remains, which I gave him. Rising satisfied, patting both hands on his stomach, he exclaimed, “Belly goot—coot-bye.” Many of these Indians, like the Chinese, cannot pronounce the letter R, substituting an L.  Beautiful as Lake Tahoe is from the south, it is yet more so from the  north—from having a finer background of high, rugged, black mountains, some of them eleven thousand feet high, or near it, their dark sides spotted and streaked with snow. This end will eventually become the most desirable spot for persons in pursuit of pleasure.              Lake Tahoe was discovered in 1844 by Frémont, who called it first Mountain Lake, later Lake Bonpland. In the early fifties it was given the name Lake Bigler, for John Bigler, Governor of California (1852-58). In 1862 the name Tahoe, said to mean “big water” or “water in a high place,” was proposed and soon became generally adopted. An attempt to revive “Bigler” was made in 1870, when the California State Legislature passed “An act to legalize the name of Lake Bigler” (California Statutes  1869-70, chap. lviii, p. 64). This act has never been repealed.    From Up and Down California by William Brewer, Book 4  Chapter 5

with the lovely Lake Tahoe (once Bigler), finer even than Lake Thun or Lake Geneva. Night came on, clear and cold, long before we crossed the eastern summit...    From Up and Down California by William Brewer, Book 5  Chapter 4

From GNIS:

• Tahoe is a Washoe Indian word for "much water". Lake Bonpland is an early name Fremont gave Lake Tahoe.
• Other Names:
• Bigler Lake: Original township survey plats, published in the 1800's. 1869
• Bonpland Lake:
• Daow aga: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p129
• Lago Beergler: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p129
• Lake Bigler:
• Lake Bompland: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p129
• Lake Bonplan: The American Guide Series, Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration. A state by state guide series published by various publishers, in the late 1930's and 1940's. Each book studies and describes each state's history, natural endowments, and special interests. Use code US-T125/Name/YYYY/p#. California/p589
• Lake Bonpland: #/YR - 'Biennial Reports of the Nevada Historical Society' Reno: Nevada Historical Society. Journals with articles on history and names. 3rd/p201
• Lake Teho: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p122
• Lake Tehoe: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p122
• Mountain Lake:
• Taa-oo *: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p122
• Tah-oo *: Lekisch, Barbara. Tahoe Place Names: the Origin and History of Names in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lafayette, California: Great West Books, 1988. p122
• Tula Tulia: 

Trips:

• 
  

References:

•  

Pictures:

•