Who was the first President to visit Lake Tahoe?

Long before President Bill Clinton's visit to lake Tahoe with Vice-President Al Gore in 1997, and President Barack Obama's visit coming on August 31, 2016, there were two Presidents who enjoyed some time at the lake.

Two men who once served as America's chief executive visited Lake Tahoe and Nevada
in the late 1800s according to former Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha. Both Ulysses S. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes were transported along the lake on the steamboat, Meteor.

Ulysses Simpson Grant was the first chief executive to visit Lake Tahoe and Nevada,though he was already out of office when he came to the area on October 26, 1879. Grant was on the last leg of a world tour with his family when he arrived at Tahoe City. Their group boarded the Meteor, took a tour along the west shore, and then went to Glenbrook.

Once back on land they took the narrow gauge Lake Tahoe Railroad to Spooner Summit, then rode in carriages down to Carson City via the Clear Creek route. At the reins of Grant's carriage was none other than Hank Monk, the famous, and colorful, stagecoach driver.

Less than a year after Grant's visit to Nevada, the first sitting president to visit Lake Tahoe and Nevada was Rutherford B. Hayes on September 7, 1880. He stopped first for a celebration in Reno, where he told the gathered crowd, "Yours is a barren region but you have surrounded yourselves with all the comforts to be found in the most favored lands."

After a large party and parade in Virginia City (where Hayes was heard to say "I'd much rather govern the country from here"), famous Hank Monk drove Hayes to Spooner Summit where he and his entourage took the train down to Glenbrook where he toured D.L. Bliss’ massive wood mills. They then boarded the Meteor for a trip along the east and north shores and got off in Tahoe City.

-South Tahoe Now Staff Report