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Geology
The Lake Tahoe Basin was formed by a geological block faulting about 2 million years ago. A geological block is a fracture in the Earth's crust causing blocks of land to move up or down. Uplifted blocks created the Carson Range on the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west. Down-dropped blocks created the Lake Tahoe Basin in between.
Some of the highest peaks of the Lake Tahoe Basin that formed during process of Lake Tahoe creation are Freel Peak at 10,891 feet, Monument Peak at 10,067 feet, Pyramid Peak at 9,983 feet and Mount Tallac at 9,735 feet.
Eruptions from the extinct volcano Mount Pluto formed a dam on the north side. Melting snow filled the southern and lowest portion of the basin to form the ancestral Lake Tahoe. Rain and runoff added additional water. Modern Lake Tahoe was shaped and landscaped by glaciers during the Ice Ages, which began a million or more years ago.
Exploration
Lt. John C. Fremont was the first non-indigenous person to see Lake Tahoe during his second exploratory expedition in 1844. The area around Lake Tahoe was originally inhabited by the Washoe tribe of Native Americans. Lake Tahoe was the center of Washoe Indian territory including the upper valleys of the Walker, Carson and Truckee Rivers. John Calhoun Johnson, Sierra explorer and founder of "Johnson's Cutoff" (now US Route 50). From a peak abaove the lake he named Fallen Leaf Lake after his Indian guide. In 1853 William Eddy, the surveyor general of California, identified Tahoe as Lake Bigler (Bigler is for John Bigler, governor of California). In 1862 the U.S. Department of the Interior first introduced the name Tahoe. Both names were used well into the next century. The lake received its official and final designation as Lake Tahoe in 1945.
Ecology
The vegetation in the Lake Tahoe Basin is comprised by a mixed conifer forest of jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine, white fir and red fir. The area also contains areas of wet meadows and riparian areas, dry meadows, brush fields and rock outcrop areas.
Development
Appreciation of Lake Tahoe expanded. In the congressional session in 1912, 1913 and 1918, there was an effort, albeit unsuccessful, to designate the basin as a national park. Development around the lake during the first half of the 20th century consisted of a few vaction homes. The post-World War II population and building boom, followed by construction of casinos in the Nevada part of the area during the 1950's, and the completion of the interstate highway links for the 1960 Winter Olympics at Squaw Valley, caused a massive increase in development within Lake Tahoe Basin. From 1960 to 1980, the permanent residential population increased from approximately 10,000 to greater than 50,000, and the summer population grew from 10,000 to 90,000. Since the 1980s development has slowed due to controls on land use.
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