Discover History

Before Contact

Lake Tahoe and approximately 10,000 square miles of land surrounding the lake were once home to and the responsibility of the Washoe Indians.  Washoe existence at the lake centered around fishing camps and milling sites located in lush meadows within view of the lake and along permanent streams.

By comparing the similarity of artifacts found at archaeological sites, archaeologists track the Washoe way of life back about two thousand years.  Linguists think Washoe origins are earlier than any other Sierran or Great basin Indian cultures.  The Washoe language is unique and unrelated to those spoken by any neighboring tribes.  Washoe tradition indicates their homeland has always included Lake Tahoe, without reference to migrations from other worlds, as is common in other cultures.  The Washoe were first to name Lake Tahoe simply "the Lake," just as locals do today. Da ow ga, the Washoe word for "lake" is thought to be the source for "Tahoe."  All other lakes in the Washoe language include a descriptor.  The Washoe name for the Pacific ocean, for instance, isda ow ga shemu, meaning "real lake."

Contact or the Encroachment

Lake Tahoe, like the rest of the American West had been the territory of native people, "Indians," as Columbus named them.  Discoveries of gold and silver attracted overwhelming numbers of immigrants from around the world.  At Lake Tahoe, it was the Comstock silver strike of 1859 in Virginia City that transformed the landscape into a frontier for massive resource extraction.  After contact with non-Indian cultures (or the encroachment as the Washoe describe it) in the mid 1800s, the Washoe endured as a people, many maintaining ties to Lake Tahoe even after being forced from family camps and upland resource areas.  Families continued to trek to the lake each spring, gathering seeds and medicinal roots, making baskets, speaking their language and raising their children, working as domestics, laborers and game guides for the resorts.  They maintained remnants of their past way of life and cultural traditions even as their leaders struggled for political and social reforms and requested land and protection for their resources.

"Encroachment" is the legal term the federal government used to describe the process by which the Washoe gradually lost their territory: "The evidence shows that from 1848 to 1863 the area was overrun by miners, settlers and others with the approval, encouragement and support of the United States government.  Encroachment continued with increasing intensity until by December 31,1862 the tribe had lost all of its lands."

Today

Approximately 1500 enrolled members of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California live on "Colonies," tribal lands scattered in the Reno, Carson Valley, and Gardnerville areas of Nevada and in Woodfords, California.  Tribal headquarters are in Gardnerville and Stewart Indian School.  An active tribal government continues to lobby for a land base in the Lake Tahoe basin and works with federal and state agencies and private land owners to protect locations important to Washoe Heritage.

During a recent visit to Lam Watah, a cultural site you may visit where Washoe people once lived, one tribal Elder stated:

Yes, [the lake] was a sacred place. It is to us yet, even though it is so different today from what it was in our people's time, before the white people came.  It is hard to see what is happening to it, the surrounding area. The land is valuable, and not just in monetary value, but it was our land and we love it.  We were taught to respect everything from the land...So it is very precious to us still...we were the first people to take care of the lands and all the plants and things that grow...And it feels good to come up here and see these things and to walk around and remember...and hopefully the people who are here now will have respect and take care of the area.

Washoe Heritage

If you would like to learn more about the Washoe, you may visit the following locations:

Lam Watah Washoe Heritage Site - This small archaeological site managed by the USDA Forest Service includes many boulders with depressions where women prepared food for their families during the summer and processed dried food for the winter. It is in a meadow setting similar to that enjoyed by these First People, along a one mile hike to Nevada Beach. The trail head is located on the corner of U.S. Highway 50 and Kahle Drive, just north of the casino area in Stateline, Nevada.

Baldwin Museum - The Washoe Exhibit, created by the tribe is housed in the Baldwin Estate portion of the Tallac Historic Site, a National Register District managed by the USDA Forest Service. It is located approximately three miles northwest of the junction of California State Highway 89 and U.S. Highway 50, along the south shore of Lake Tahoe.

Gatekeepers Museum - This museum features a magnificent collection of baskets from many California Native Peoples, including Washoe basketry.  It's located on the north shore at 130 West Lake Boulevard in Tahoe City, south of the bridge at the Truckee River.

Carson Valley Museum and Cultural Center - This museum includes a permanent Washoe Exhibit, designed and installed by the tribe. This exhibit features dramatic murals depicting four aspects of Washoe heritage by different artists.  The museum is located in the old Douglas County high school, 1477 Highway 395 in Gardnerville.

Read more about Washoe Culture

• Lake of the Sky: Washoe Stewardship of Lake Tahoe, by The Washoe Cultural Office. 2004. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, Gardnerville, NV.
• Wa-De-T-i-me - It Grows Here, by The Washoe Cultural Office. 2009. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, Gardnerville, NV.
• The Washoe in Handbook of North American Indians Vol. 11, The Great Basin, by Warren L. d'Azevedo. 1986. Smithsonian.
• Washoe Tales: Three Original Washo Indian Legends, by Grace Danberg, 1968, Occasional Paper No. 1, Nevada State Museum
• Wa She Shu "The Washoe People" Past and Present, by The Washoe Cultural Office. 2009. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, Gardnerville, NV.

Please honor the rich, cultural heritage in the Lake Tahoe Basin and help protect sensitive archeological sites. If you find artifacts, please leave them and report the finds to: Heritage Program Manager, USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, 530-543-2600.

Lake Tahoe, like the rest of the American West had been the territory of native people. Then discoveries of gold, silver and other abundant resources attracted immigrants from around the world. At Lake Tahoe, the Comstock Silver Strike in nearby Virginia City transformed the landscape from Washoe territory into a frontier for extracting resources by people from around the world. Chinese people mainly from southwestern provinces of China, joined these new arrivals, contributing their language, culture and expertise to the patchwork culture and society that would become "America." The Chinese had a long tradition of trade with the New World. In fact, it was Chinese tea that was dumped into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party. Ginseng root was exported from New England in trade for beautiful porcelain, furniture and other exotic items from China.

Gold Mountain

The Chinese name for California was "Gold Mountain" after the gold strike of 1849, a name by which San Francisco is still known.1 In the 1800s, intense political and economic turmoil in China, drove many men from their homeland. Many came to the American West, including the Comstock, as sojourners, hoping to return home with their wealth. Once they arrived, however, they found opportunities limited by anti-Chinese sentiment and legislation. Some continued to mine, reworking small, abandoned mines, but many turned to a wide variety of service-related jobs. Chinese laborers on the transcontinental railroad became famous for their skill and endurance. Chinese merchants, serving a growing Chinese labor force with ethnic food, medicines and other items, eventually prospered by selling their wares to the community at large.2

Fueling the Comstock

In the Lake Tahoe Basin, from 1870-1890, Chinese laborers, organized by Chinese middlemen from Carson City, dominated the cord-wood cutting and flume tending industries. Lake Tahoe's timber, the "green gold" of the Sierras, was critical to supplying Comstock mines with bracing for shafts, fuel and building material. Ninety percent of the forest you see today is less than 100 years old. The forests were stripped of old growth in order to fuel the Comstock.

The largest known concentration of Chinese in the Lake Tahoe basin was in Glenbrook, on the east shore of Lake Tahoe. Now totally obscured by urban growth, the Chinese gardens of Glenbrook were once famous for fresh vegetables. In addition, archaeologists have discovered over 50 isolated sites where flume tenders and cord-wood cutters worked and lived together in small enclaves, preserving as much of their traditions and culture as possible.3

Living as Chinese in the Woods

Many Chinese men left their wives and families in China. In the 1880s and 1890s, U.S. Immigration laws prevented Chinese families from immigrating and forbade marriages between Chinese and non-Chinese. Few Chinese enjoyed normal family lives and a typical Chinese American household consisted of several men living together for protection and companionship. These bachelor household were especially common in logging and construction camps.

The artifacts from these campsites demonstrate how much these Chinese laborers continued to rely on their own traditions and culture, particularly in food and medicine. They used traditional Chinese ceramic rice bowls and heavy brownware storage jars. They frequently reworked metal cans and dishpans into lamps, woks, and steamers. Medicine bottles from Chinese pharmacies and opium paraphernalia are also common finds.

Although opium use is usually associated with Chinese, it was widely used throughout Europe and the U.S. in the 1800s. Europeans and Americans, especially upper-class women, preferred their opium in liquid patent medicines, while the Chinese preferred to smoke it.4

Where Did They Go?

We can only guess about what happened to the many Chinese people who lived and worked in Lake Tahoe's forests. Many hoped to return home. Many moved to the safety and security of urban China Towns or moved on to other boom towns needing their labor. Most of what is known is pieced together from newspaper accounts, census records, logging industry records and archaeological investigation. Careful analysis of archaeological sites is just beginning to reveal a rich and fascinating story.

Finding Out More

Sources

1. Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History: Searching for the Gold Mountain, Library of Congress.
2. Immigration and Relocation in U.S. History: Chinese, Library of Congress.
3. The Chinese in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USFS Susan Undstrom and Jeffrey Hall, 1991
4. The Chinese in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USFS Susan Undstrom and Jeffrey Hall, 1991

Publications

• Hidden Heritage: Historical Archaeology of the Overseas Chinese edited by Priscilla Wegars, 1993, Baywood Publishing Company
• Archaeology and the Chinese Experience in Nevada Donald L. Hardesty, 2003, South Dakota State Historical Society
• Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, Gary K. Roberts, Winter 1982

Please honor the rich, cultural heritage in the Lake Tahoe Basin and help protect sensitive archeological sites. If you find artifacts, please leave them and report the finds to: Heritage Program Manager, USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, 530-543-2600.

Lake Tahoe, like the rest of the American West had been the territory of native people. Then discoveries of gold, silver and other abundant resources attracted immigrants from around the world. At Lake Tahoe, the Comstock Silver Strike in nearby Virginia City transformed the landscape from Washoe Tribe territory into a frontier for extracting resources by people from around the world. The Basque people from Spain and France were among these new arrivals, contributing their language, culture and expertise to the patchwork culture and society that would become "America".

The First Family of Europe

The Basques are known as Europe's "Indians" or Europe's "First Family", since their language and culture is more ancient than any other in Europe.1 Basques were Europe's first whalers and accomplished sailors and navigators. The Basque were the first to sail around the world and Basque sailors accompanied Columbus to the New World, where they had pivotal roles in the Spanish colonial government and the expansion of the church for the next 300 years.2

Shepherds

In 1849, Basques joined throngs of other young men from around the world seeking their fortune in the American West. Before long many were employed in the sheep business and by the turn of the century, "Basque" and "sheepherder" became synonymous. To pass the long, lonely days of summer in the "high country" Basque sheepherders created a unique western cultural phenomenon: they carved on aspen trees, tens of thousands of them in ten western states.

Arborglyphs

Called arborglyphs, these carvings give us information unavailable elsewhere. If you want to know when and where sheep grazed or who the sheepherders were, chances are only arborglyphs could provide answers. Though carving was a widespread activity, the sites were remote and often the trees died before their messages from the past could be recorded. Today, there are very few left dating before 1900, since aspens only live about 100 years.

Most carvings are names and dates, the dry stuff of history. Most of the messages are hard to understand as most are in the Basque language, Euskara. The pictures, however, are easily read (some not necessarily suited for children). Carving topics included news on sheep herding, erotic messages and graphics, Old Country memories, loneliness, references to America, interpersonal matters among herders, humor, swear words, the "goodbye ritual", self-portraits, and Basque symbols. These personal details regarding the lives and thoughts of young Basque men shed light on roughly one hundred years of American Western history.

Enjoying the Carvings

While exploring the Nevada and California mountains, you may find some well-known names carved, such as Laxalt or Borda. Mostly you will encounter the musing of lonely and unknown herders like Arnot Urruty, whose spirit still clings to the trees he carved. 

At first glance these carvings seem simple until you realize how candidly human, they really are. Best of all, they have preserved a slice of the Old West that is long gone.

Please respect these aspen trees, canvases of Basque artists. Their carvings were skillfully done without injury to the living tree, but carving can cause injury and reduce the life span of these trees. If you are lucky enough to see them, enjoy them, respect these historic finds, but leave no new carvings of your own.

Finding Out More

Sources

1. Carving Out History: The Basque Aspens, Forest History Today, Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe, Spring/Fall 2001.
2. The Elcano Royal Institute: 20 Years Analysing the World, Juan Sebastian de Elcano. 

If you would like more information on Basque culture, the Basque studies Department at the University of Nevada Reno has a fine library. The following publications are also recommended:

• The First Family of Europe, National Geographic Magazine, November 1995
• History that Grows on Trees: The Aspen Carvings of Basque Sheepherders, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 35 (1)

Please honor the rich, cultural heritage in the Lake Tahoe Basin and help protect sensitive archeological sites. If you find artifacts, please leave them and report the finds to: Heritage Program Manager, USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, 530-543-2600.