Local history

OLYMPIC VALLEY, Calif. - Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows announced Tuesday that it is making a commitment to change the name of the legendary California mountain destination and remove the word "squaw."

What the new name will be is unknown at this time and work to determine what it will be is beginning immediately. They will announce the new name after the winter season concludes in 2021.

On Saturday, September 28, at 10:00 am, the final event of the 2019 Festival season features members of the 1962 graduating class of Douglas High School sharing their memories of Carson Valley in the 1950s and 1960s.

Carson Valley has always been a unique, close-knit community. Of the original thirty-five graduating students, twenty-one are still living, many of whom have remained in Carson Valley.

Graduates of the Douglas High School Class of 1962 continue to meet regularly, explaining that they are good friends who enjoy reminiscing.

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August closes with a Chautauqua presentation “Sisters of the Sage” which will highlight the lives of Annie H. Martin, Lillian V. Finnegan and Anna N. Harris at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 28, at 6:30 pm.

These three influential women from the early days of Nevada will meet to reminisce about their early lives, the suffrage movement and their accomplishments as women, in both Carson Valley and Carson City.

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Chautauquan Kim Harris will portray Lizzie A. Borden on Wednesday, July 10, at 6:30 pm, and historian Mark McLaughlin will speak on “Lake Tahoe and the Comstock Era; Stories, Facts and Fun” on Saturday, July 13, at 10:00 am, at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

Lizzie Andrew Borden was tried and acquitted in a court of law for the axe murders of her father and stepmother in 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. The court of public opinion sentenced her to a life of public scrutiny and branded her a social pariah.

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SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) have been working in the historic pioneer cemetery in Al Tahoe, surveying original boundaries and unmarked grave sites dating back to the late 1800s.

Long before there was a South Lake Tahoe, the town of Rowlands rested on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe in the area of the current Bellevue and Lakeview Avenues.

Thomas Rowland built the cemetery for the small community several hundred feet away from the town that bore his name.

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West returns to Dangberg Historic Park for a third year on Saturday, August 25 with festivities beginning at 2:00 pm. This is the park’s final special event of the 2018 Dangberg Summer Festival, focused on raising funds to support the operation and future of the park.

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Chautauquan and noted local historian Michael Fischer will portray “Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg, Sr.” in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 4, at 10:00 am.

H. F. Dangberg, Sr. helped to shape the agricultural and livestock history of Carson Valley. Beginning with 160 acres in 1856, Dangberg built an empire of ranches and farms that covered over 30,000 acres by 1902 when he formed the H. F. Dangberg Land & Live Stock Company. Some of the irrigation ditches, canals and reservoirs he dug are still in use today.

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The Borges Family came by Sierra House Elementary School on Tuesday, May 29 to give our 3rd-5th graders a taste of Lake Tahoe History. We had an amazing presentation of Emerson (played by Kim Harris 775-220-0605 kim@westernhistoryalive.com ) as she taught us about the Pony Express; why it came to be, what it was like and why it only in operation for 18 months. We had Sarah Winnemucca (played by Evie Bouette ) teach us a Washoe Indian dance and some of their traditions. We were up and moving and learning!

Author Nancy Raven will speak on her book A Postal Journey: Discovering Nevada Through Its Post Offices at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, June 2, at 10:00 am.

Upon Nancy Raven’s arrival in Nevada, a friend suggested Raven travel the state photographing each town, which she refined to Nevada’s post offices. Raven’s quest took her to every corner of Nevada, with her photographs, her art work and a song becoming the book A Postal Journey: Discovering Nevada Through Its Post Offices.

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Fritzi Dangberg was not your typical rancher’s daughter. Born in 1907, Fritzi’s family was one of the most influential in Nevada’s Carson Valley, with a stake in several businesses and a livestock ranch that included tens of thousands of acres and animals. Her family’s prosperity made life comfortable and gave Fritzi many opportunities: college, travel and notable friends. While her heart was always at the ranch, her mind and spirit were ready to conquer the world.

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In a one man show, Chris Bayer will portray both Major William Ormsby and Lucky Bill Thorington in “The Major and the Gambler” at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, August 9, at 6:30 pm.

Major William Mathew Ormsby was born in 1814 in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Ormsby was a teamster, failed horse dealer, citizen at large, visionary and one of the most important figures in the founding of Nevada and its capitol, Carson City. He was killed in 1860 during the Pyramid Lake Paiute uprising.

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Doug Watson will portray legendary humorist “Will Rogers”, at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, July 12, at 6:30 pm.

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The Lake Tahoe Historical Society is holding another one of their popular History Clubs on Saturday, October 22 from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the museum. The History Club is designed for children to experience activities from the past, learn a new skill,
play a game, and use their imagination.

Due to limited class size, reservations are required. The cost is $20 per child.

Sign-ups are also being taken for the other two clubs on Saturday, November 4 and December 10.

For more information, or to make reservations, contact the museum at 530-541-5458.

Sherry L. Rupert will speak on preserving the Stewart Indian School, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, September 24, at 10:00 am.

For ninety years, Stewart Indian School fulfilled a federal commitment to pursue Native American education in Nevada. Located three miles southeast of Carson City, the school grounds encompassed 240 acres.

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Anita Watson will portray Mary Pickford, at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Wednesday, September 7, at 6:30 pm.

Mary Pickford was America’s Sweetheart. Pickford was an actress on the stage and in film, a writer, a producer, a director, and co-founder of a movie studio. She socialized with Hollywood’s most famous stars and married a swashbuckling film hero, Douglas Fairbanks. In 1955, Mary Pickford published her autobiography, Sunshine and Shadows. In this presentation, Pickford will discuss her book and her life.

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Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Exhibition comes to the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 27, beginning at 11:00 am.

The Grand March & Opening Ceremony will feature the Douglas High School Marching Band, the 1st Nevada Cavalry Co. D. along with bugler Ray Ahrenholz, and a cast of celebrities and presenters. Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins will sing the “Star-Spangled Banner” for the Opening Ceremony and the Closing Ceremony will feature Krista Jenkins singing "America the Beautiful".

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Ever since I moved to South Lake Tahoe two months ago to work at Tallac Historic Site, I have been surprised daily to discover how few locals know the historic site exists. Tallac is located next to Camp Richardson and Fallen Leaf Lake Campground – an area most folks are familiar with – and yet locals constantly wander onto the site from the beach and announce they had no idea this place was here.

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Historian Michael E. Fischer will speak on Baby Face Nelson in Nevada in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 13, at 10:00 am.

Few people living in Nevada today know that Baby Face Nelson, whose given name was Lester Gillis, spent a great deal of time in Nevada. He was avoiding the heat from authorities in the Midwest. In Reno, he was afforded protection from arrest and incarceration because of his connections to Bill Graham and James McKay. Their political and business connections covered almost the entire state.

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Author Guy Clifton will speak on his book Dempsey in Nevada in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Saturday, August 6, at 10:00 am.

Many people are surprised to learn that Jack Dempsey once called Nevada home. Dempsey left footprints all over the Silver State that affected the entire sporting arena.

He helped usher in the era known as “The Golden Age of Sport” along with baseball’s Babe Ruth, football’s Red Grange, golf’s Bobby Jones and tennis’ Bill Tilden.

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The weekend of July 23 and 24 the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park will feature two days of Dangberg family history with a Chautauqua on Fred Dangberg, Jr. and a presentation by his real life grandson Steve “Dink” Achard. Both presentations are free.

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Author Mark McLaughlin will speak on his book, Snowbound! Legendary Winters of the Tahoe Sierra, in a free presentation at the Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park on Sunday, July 10, at 10:00 am.

Mark McLaughlin’s latest book is not about meteorology, however it is about weather. In his book, McLaughlin focuses on the top ten biggest winters in the Tahoe Sierra based on snowfall measured at Donner Pass since 1879. He will share amazing weather facts and incredible stories of men and women struggling to cope against some of the most powerful storms on Earth.

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The Sierra Business Council announced the winners for their annual Sierra Vision Awards, and a South Lake Tahoe business and its owners were on the list.

They give out the awards to recognize and honor leadership in restoring and invigorating our local economies, communities, and environment.

Who were the first residents of the Lake Tahoe basin? How do you convey the word "SOS" in Morse Code? What is the 1930's cabin tour? If you don't know the answers to these questions, ask a third grader.

In the month of October, 220 students from third grade classes in Lake Tahoe Unified School District took field trips to the Lake Tahoe History Museum where they spent a morning with hands on displays, singing and docent led museum tours.

The school tours started in 2010 when Jackie Dumin, the Tallac Site Director for the U.S. Forest Service, developed the program.

The Friends of the Library, in partnership with the Lake Tahoe Historical Society, is excited to welcome back author, Mary Jo Sonntag. Her new presentation answers questions about the early pioneers to our area: What was pioneer life really like? What diseases did pioneers experience?

Her award-winning book, "Write, If You Live to Get There" tells the true story of her ancestor’s westward migration from Vermont to Tahoe through a series of family letters spanning more than 120 years. Interesting, informative and open to all.

Book sale and signing to follow.

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