Barton Ranch in South Lake Tahoe set for demolition

In what many locals was hoping wouldn't be the case, the Barton Ranch in South Lake Tahoe is set for demolition.

Family members who own the land and the buildings have spent years trying to get to this point in order to remove what they say is a dangerous set of buildings that have caused problems with vandals and vagrants.

On Tuesday, employees of Allied Environmental, Inc of Shingle springs were on site to remove asbestos in preparation for demolition.

But proof of the asbestos abatement isn't all that will be needed to tear down the buildings that have been in the location near the "Y" for several generations.

They family must also provide historical documents, including oral history, to the South Lake Tahoe Branch of the El Dorado County Library.

Once these two requirements have been signed off, the ranch can be torn down according to the South Lake Tahoe planning department. An employee of Allied said they'll be out of the house and accompanying buildings by the end of the day Wednesday and he expected demolition contractors to be there by Thursday, August 20.

Hiram "Hy" Barton was a dairy farmer in El Dorado County starting in 1856, moving cattle between his ranch near White Rock Road to pasture in Lake Valley (now known as South Lake Tahoe). Barton started with 500 acres in Lake Tahoe.

According to documents presented to the Planning Commission on Monday, August 17, the main house of the ranch was built in 1890 with additions in 1936 and the 1940s. There are six guest houses on the property which were built between 1910 and the 1940s.

In the Historic Resource Study Judith Martin of Foothill Resources, LTD prepared for the Barton family in 2009, she states, "The Barton Ranch Complex is evaluated as eligible for listing on the National and California Registers at the local significance of importance. The buildings are associated with the livestock and dairy industries in the Tahoe Basin, an important event in the history of Lake Tahoe, and one that has almost completely disappeared from the land."

"The complex is also the last significant vestige of livestock operations in South Lake Tahoe, and retains all elements of such, with a ranch house, barn, corrals,a livestock chute, guest houses and other support facilities" said the report. "The Barton Ranch Complex is also important to the local Native American community, who feel strongly that the ranch house stands as a surviving example of the history of ranching at Lake Tahoe; moreover, it is representative of the contacts and relationships between Washoe individuals and Barton family members, which is emblematic of the cross-cultural ties that were established between Washoe and other ranching families at the lake."

The Lake Tahoe Historical Society was trying to get an investor involved that could move the buildings to a new location in order to preserve the history of the family and ranching. All efforts failed.

In the document used at the presentation that South Tahoe Now obtained, the author suggests the Barton Complex could be developed into a historical centerpiece for the Tahoe Valley area plan and serve as a focal point of the "Y, " and that it could even serve as a museum or visitor center or even a temporary events center.

But, it also states that such a project would have to be economically viable and that the property rights of the owner should also be recognized.

"The catch phrase that 'history sells' is a concept that has been successfully promoted throughout the Tahoe Sierra and it could easily be pursued at Barton Ranch Complex."

"When Mrs. Barton came to town and opened up the house each Spring and the shutters on the windows opened on the main house," said a local Tahoe Conservancy employee, "it meant that the change of seasons was officially here."

Once the buildings are torn down, they are gone. The Lake Tahoe Historical Museum would like to get the barn door to have as part of a future exhibit.