Subaquatic Ferroequinology

Last week I was in Tahoe for a few days of mountain biking. Most mornings I was out in the hills by 9:00 a.m. and done riding by 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. That left me the afternoons to cool off and do a little exploring.

With the current drought the lake is quickly approaching it's lowest level in nearly a quarter century. The lake's natural rim is at 6,223' above sea level. With the dam, the lakes highest possible level is 6,229.1'. At present, the lake is at 6,222.45' and dropping, steadily, at at rate of .01' per day.

Since they began monitoring the lake level in 1900, it has reached a low level of 6,220' twice, in 1931 and again in 1992. However, the lake typically does not reach it's lowest point during the year until mid October. So, if condidions remain the same, it could, potentially, reach it's lowest level since monitoring began in 1900! I should add that there is eveidence that 5,000 to 6,000 years ago the lake dropped to 6202' and remained there for more than 150 years!

So what does all of this have to do with railroading? With the lake level so low, I decided that I should go see what I could discover at the former site of the LTRy&T Co. pier at the Tahoe Tavern. I was out there five or six years ago when the lake was low but it's even lower now, low enough that I was able to wade out to the very last set of piers, 954 feet from the normal shoreline, and found myself standing in only four feet of water! At this discovery, I quickly ran into town and purchassed a mask and snorkel and went to work looking for gold pocket watches. I didn't have much luck in that endevor but I did have a fun afternoon and found a few interesting artifacts, although only one of them was railroad related. That was a wheel which was submerged just below the present shorline. It has a chain bolted to it and was, apparently, an anchor for someones mooring but I was able to turn it on edge and roll it out of the water to get a picture. Aside from that I found lots of electrical conduit, insulators, broken whiskey bottles and boneware china, one handrail stanchion off the pier, a bullet, a button and a couple brass items that I will have to bead-blast to identify.

I do have a couple questions about the pier. Does anybody know when it was removed? Does anyone have a profile showing how far out on the pier the building stood (what was it's purpose? there is a large trash field off the north side of where the building was.)? From the photo's I've seen, I always thought that the building was near the shore but having now seen the location of the pilings that supported it, I'd say it was about half way out on the pier, if not further.

Also, from photo's that I've seen, I always thought that the pier was purpendicular to the shoreline but, as it turns out, it angled southward at about 30 or 40 degrees.









Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2015 06:50PM by crackerjackhoghead.