Overview

 

Like many of the watersheds of the Lake Tahoe Basin, the Burke Creek Watershed is highly modified and impacted by historic uses. The historical periods that most significantly impacted the watershed are the Comstock mining period of 1880s—1890s when the watershed was extensively logged and the 1940s when Burke Creek was rerouted and a portion of Rabe Meadow filled for development. Rabe Meadow was used for cattle grazing until recent decades and was graded for casino construction in the late 1970s before being obtained by the US Forest Service for restoration purposes.

 

Washoe Tribe (WA SHE SHU)

The Burke Creek Watershed lies within the aboriginal territory of the Washoe Tribe. Burke Creek and Rabe Meadow served as a summer camp for the Washoe people. A bedrock mortar site along the creek serves as evidence of this use. The Washoe called the place “lamwO’tha”: lam meaning mortar, and wO’tha meaning “river.” The Washoe fished and hunted wild game and collected berries, roots, and grass seeds along the banks of Burke Creek through Rabe Meadow.

 

Comstock Era

The Tahoe Basin was not settled by European immigrants until the late 1850s. The Comstock mining boom in 1859 prompted a sudden surge of traffic through the Tahoe Basin. The Comstock boom led to the establishment of roads through the area and industries to support the mining boom.

 

Lincoln Highway

One of the earliest roads between the Mother Lode mines near Placerville, CA and the Comstock Lode mines in Virginia City, NV crossed the Burke Creek Watershed. Originally graded in 1852, the road became known in 1914 as the “Lincoln Highway”. Today, US Highway 50 follows much of this historic route. Along the early roads in the Tahoe Basin, hostelries, way stations, and inns (such as Friday’s Station and Lakeside, located near present-day Stateline) sprang up in order to provide the services required by travelers.

 

Kingsbury Grade

In 1860, Kingsbury and McDonald surveyed the route for a new road over Daggett Pass. This road became known as Kingsbury Grade and served as part of the route for the Pony Express. The first Pony Express rider crossed over Daggett Pass by way of Kingsbury Grade in 1860, but the road was not opened to the public until 1861. The Sacramento Daily Union proclaimed of the road, “There is no finer specimen of engineering in this country.”

 

Friday Station

In 1860, Martin K. “Friday” Burke and James “Jim” Washington preempted 320 acres near Burke and Edgewood Creeks. They built a small log cabin along an improved Washoe game path that wound towards Cave Rock, and hoped to profit from providing services to travelers on Kingsbury Grade and the Lincoln Highway. “Friday Station” (located north of the current Edgewood golf course) as it came to be called became a pony express station, and a stop for the Wells Fargo and Pioneer Stage lines. The original house and blacksmith shop are still standing. In 1870 Friday Station was deeded to Jim Small, who ran “Small’s Buttermilk Farm” and was known for his tall tales of giant grizzly’s and mermaids. John Wales Averill bought the land in 1888. He operated the “Lake Valley Meat Market and Dairy” and is remembered for growing the largest rhubarb in the Tahoe region. Averill named the area “Edgewood” which has persisted to this day.

 

Fishing

Fishing provided an important industry to the Tahoe Basin until around 1917. Martin Burke founded “Burke and Company” as one of the first commercial fishing businesses in the Tahoe Basin. In 1864, the Sacramento Daily Union reported on their practice of using quarter mile seines with gill nets to catch Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. It was reported that more than 18 tons of trout were harvested each year. The industry flourished initially in 1858 but then declined rapidly as fishing stocks were depleted.

 

Timber

Men stand near large logsWith the discovery of silver in Virginia City starting the Comstock mining boom, Nevada lumber was in high demand for use in the mines. Mostly Chinese immigrants worked the Basin’s logging industry. To fulfill a contract with the Sierra Wood and Lumber Company, Gilman N. Folsom purchased the land between the foot of Kingsbury Grade and Daggett Pass for $750. Between 1888 and 1896 Rabe Meadow served as the location for the “Hobart” logging camp while the forest around Kingsbury Grade was felled and sent off to the mines. As the Comstock era drew to a close in the late 1890s and forests of the Tahoe Basin were depleted, the timber industry declined sharply.

 

Post-Comstock Era

The basic land-use pattern during the post-Comstock period became a mixture of commercialAerial resort businesses, the growth of large private holdings or estates, and small-scale, seasonal ranching and farming in support of the resorts and estates. As the Tahoe Basin attracted more tourists, diverse resorts appeared along the southeast shore of the lake. People of more modest means vacationed in rustic hotels and cottages or camped at facilities such as Lakeside and the 4-H Camp near Stateline.

The movement toward year-round use of the Tahoe Basin brought building and development to Tahoe’s shores, with the need to house employees, not only vacationers. The legalization of gaming in Nevada in 1931 and the opening of gaming establishments at Lake Tahoe during the 1940s and 1950s prompted an increase in the volume of tourists and permanent residents to Tahoe’s southeast shore. To retain more of the tourist’s dollars on the Nevada side, the gaming houses erected high-rise hotels and elegant restaurants fronting the bay around Stateline. Heavenly Ski Resort opened in 1956, with further expansion of Tahoe’s ski industry occurring after the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley.

 

The meadow around Burke Creek later came under the ownership of Planes flying from the Sky Harbor Airportthe Rabe family who used the meadow for cattle ranching. Rabe Meadow was grazed heavily until recent decades. During the late 1940s, Burke Creek was relocated and the western portion of the meadow filled to develop the first airport in the Tahoe Basin. The Sky Harbor Airport was poorly engineered though, and shut down before 1950. The abandoned airstrip along Burke Creek was later developed as a residential neighborhood.

 

The Rabe family sold their land in 1978 to a casino developer. Work had started on the “Ted Jennings Tahoe Palace” and the building foundation had been laid when the United States Forest Service bought the property in 1980. The Forest Service immediately began restoration efforts which involved removing the casino foundation and reversing some of the damage done to the meadow and stream.

 

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