The South Lake Tahoe Winter of 51/52 and Other Great Stories

Dubbed the "All Star Panel," a group of long time local residents shared stories of a South Lake Tahoe most of us never experienced. The seven panelists have lived in Lake Tahoe a combined 600 plus years and shared some great stories with the overflowing crowd at Camp Richardson Lodge on Tuesday evening. In fact, the number of long time locals in the audience was very evident since their combined years of living in Lake Tahoe was over 1880!

Dave Wakeman, South Lake Tahoe resident since 1947

It seemed appropriate to have Dave Wakeman lead off the group with his tales of living near Camp Richardson (he grew up in what is now Alpina Cafe). Wakeman pointed out that the building we see at the entrance to the road to Tallac Historic Site used to be a firehouse, and the awkward design resulted by their having to accommodate a new fire truck. The local telephone company was nearby in the parking lot just north of the lodge. The exchange was Tallac, so phone numbers were Tallac and then a few numbers and letters reflecting home many long and short rings came to your home(so Tallac2L3S1L would be 2 long rings, 3 short rings, one long ring). If you picked up when it wasn't your call you'd be privy to other conversations, but then, there weren't many residents at that time. There was one operator who would take messages if you weren't home. Wakeman shared that, as was the case at his childhood home, if you wanted to add on to your home, you filed the plan with the office in Placerville but they never came to check to see if done correctly or not. Building codes and inspections weren't common until 1960. Many questions from the audience during the night concerned the big winter of 1951/52. Wakeman reflected on the 149.75" of snow received in a 72 hour period that year. Yes, that's 72 hours! He said not many people lived at the lake year round back then, many businesses closed shop as the owners went back to the flat land. Those living around Camp Richardson would walk to the Lodge for a drink and a game of cards.

Patty Olsen, resident of South Lake Tahoe since 1950

"We had a good time" during the winter of 51/52 according to long time local Patty Olsen. She said the worst part though was no running water, but the locals made fun out of all that snow. Olsen still lives in the same home she did back then, a 165 year old home in the Bijou neighborhood. Many locals headed to their family market to get liquor and canned goods during the big winter. She was one of those who helped bring a hospital to the area since the closest one was in Reno (where her children were all born). With more people staying at the lake year round as the years went on, the need for a hospital was evident. They needed $400,000 to build the hospital and the town only had 400 residents at the time, so fundraising was needed. Harrah's and Harvey's donated money as did their employees, and those funds combined with the community donations fell in at just under the needed mark. The Barton family then donated the land where the hospital would be built and Barton Hospital was born.

Marjorie Daum, South Lake Tahoe resident for 66 years

Daum's recollection of the big winter was that the community really pulled together and helped each other out. She highlighted two of the more entertaining stories of the evening: The patient tied to a sled and the red Koolaid/Jello cross and arrow across the snow. A woman in the Bijou Pines area that Marjorie babysat for, Betty Hogan, had an appendicitis attack during the storm. Since there was no local doctor, residents went to her home, tied her to a toboggan and moved her to the shore where a seaplane came in to take her to a hospital. The heavy snow of the storm also caused the one push snow plow in town to break down. There were no parts locally so they arranged for an airplane to drop the needed supplies into town. The local men went to Patty Olsen's family store and picked up all of the red Kool-aid and Jello in stock and mixed them with water. They went out to the field at the site of the current Bijou Golf Course and made a huge arrow and cross out of the red liquid to lead the pilot to where to make the drop (the arrow to lead him in the right direct with all of that snow, and the red cross to mark a spot to drop).

Betty Mitchell, South Lake Tahoe local since 1958

Mitchell was instrumental in starting the Lake Tahoe Historical Society, the host for the evening's event. She was born in Yosemite and lived there until 3rd grade, and then moved to Lake Tahoe when her husband got a job as the school teacher. He later became the Principal and she a substitute teacher. One of her favorite stories was the summer of 1960 when there was a large fire on the north shore which took out the power for the south shore. She said that nobody could take showers and the lake was too cold to bathe in so everyone got rather stinky. She grew up with great stories of mountain living and no matter which mountains you live in you'll have great stories to share.

Tom Celio, member of the Celio Ranch family in the region since 1863

Tom spent summers in Tahoe and wintered in El Dorado and Placerville, just as his ancestors did years before him. As a child, he spent every summer at the ranch in Meyers. When he was 16 he was on his way to a job interview at the Richardson Stables when his uncle steered him into a job putting up fences and herding cattle. He ran cattle in many of the same meadows and lakes in the area that the original Celios did long before him, giving him a taste of what live must have been like. They brought up 500 cows to summer in the area from their winter home on the west slope. He'd spend his days on horseback, checking on the herds at Round Lake, Meiss Meadows, High Meadows and assorted other locations, putting up fences so they wouldn't wander over to Hope Valley and delivering salt licks.

Bill Kingman, Visitor in the 40s/50s and Local since 1961

Many know Kingman's voice since he's been heard on local radio for over 50 years, including his narration of the annual 4th of July fireworks display. As a 19 year old, he moved to South Lake Tahoe and got a job as the 8 pm to 4 am DJ on KOWL which was housed at Harrah's Tahoe at the time. Since he was under age he had to stay in the studio and not wander around the casino. Another 19 year old was in the country band playing at Harvey's that first summer. They hung out together since they were in the same situation....that young singer came back as a headliner years later and that singer was Wayne Newton! Bill shared stories of when the radio was the only news people had during major storms and was once snowed in and he and the other guys in the same situation stayed on the air, living on the candy bars from the vending machine, and keeping locals abreast of the news. Kingman also shared a lot of his old photos, back when the Y was actually a Y and when the drive-in theater was where the Heavenly Village Cinema now is.

Dr. David Borges was the facilitator for the night and is a local historian and long time local himself. Borges' dad moved the family to South Lake Tahoe in 1965 and opened Borges Sleigh Rides. He said that the Historical Society wants to put on another evening just like this in the near future. A DVD of the evening will be on sale December 5 at the museum.