President of the _Lake Tahoe and San Francisco Water Works_,
offered to sell to the City of San Francisco certain rights to the
water of Lake Tahoe, the dam at the outlet, contract for a deed to two
and a half acres of land on which the outlet dam was constructed, a
diverting dam in the Truckee River, a patent to the land (forty acres)
on which this land stood, and the maps and surveys for a complete line
conveying the water of Lake Tahoe to the city of the Golden Gate. He
offered to construct this line, including a tunnel through the Sierra
Nevadas, and deliver thirty million gallons of water daily, for
$17,960,000. If a double line, or a hundred millions of gallons daily,
were required, the price was to be correspondingly increased.

This proposition aroused the people of Nevada, and R.L. Fulton, of
Reno, Manager of the State Board of Trade, wrote to the San Francisco
supervisors, calling attention to the facts that there was no surplus
water from Tahoe during the irrigation season, for the water had
been diverted by the farmers living along the Truckee River to their
fields; that flouring-mills, smelting and reduction works, electric
light plant and water-works at Reno, immense saw-mills, a furniture
factory, box factory, water and electric-light works, railroad
water-tanks, etc., at Truckee, half a dozen ice-ponds, producing over
200,000 tons of ice annually, sawmills and marble-working mills at
Essex; planing-mills at Verdi, paper-mill at Floristan, and other
similar plants, were totally dependent for their water supply upon the
Truckee River.

He also claimed (what was the well-known fact) that the Von Schmidt
dam was burned out many years ago, and that Nevada would put up a
tremendously stiff fight to prevent any such diversion of Tahoe water
as was contemplated. Needless to say the plan fell through.

CHAPTER XII

BY RAIL TO LAKE TAHOE

Lake Tahoe is fifteen miles from Truckee, which is one of the mountain
stations on the main line of the Southern Pacific Railway (Central
Route), two hundred and eight miles from San Francisco, thirty-five
miles from Reno, Nevada, and five hundred and seventy-four miles
from Ogden, Utah. By the San Joaquin Valley route via Sacramento, the
distance to Los Angeles is five hundred and eighty miles, or by San
Francisco and the Coast Line six hundred and ninety-two miles.

During the summer season trains run frequently through, making Tahoe
easily accessible.

From t