First sighted by John C. Fremont and Charles Preuss in 1844, the "Lake of the Sky"
beckons to pioneers and adventurers today as it has through history.

Author Mark Twain, popular lecturer George Wharton James, industrialist Duane Bliss,
and film star ElizabethTaylor all found inspiration in its secluded sylvan beaches.

Washoe tribal members held Dá'o' a ga ("Edge of the Lake") as their paradise
until lumber demands for the Comstock Lode all but stripped the dense forests.

Gradually, lakefront property became private retreats and hostelries catering to tourists
happily arriving from around the world for winter skiing, summer boating, and holidays.

Carol A. Jensen, a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe
and author of Arcadia Publishing's The California Delta, depicts the opening of Lake Tahoe's west shore
and the romance of vacation getaway for magnates, movie stars, and modern adventurers.

Here, we visit the Rubicon Bay Gold Coast, the Foursquare Church Tahoma-Cedars Retreat,
Civil War general Phipps's homestead, President McKinley's Forest Preserve, Tahoe Tavern,
Lake Tahoe Railroad and Transportation Company, and more.

Jensen presents vintage images—many never before published—from private collections and archives,
such as the North Lake Tahoe Historical Society, the Tahoe Yacht Club, and the California State Library.