(California History)

PLACERVILLE, Calif. — It was a hot, dusty day when a photographer, J. Eastman, captured a logging team pulling a heavy, loaded wagon near Lake Tahoe, c.1898.

Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company

Demand for lumber declined as Comstock Lode ore depletion became evident.

Bliss shifted his attention to building a steamboat landing at Tahoe City, California for his Tahoe Tavern resort. Bliss formed the Lake Tahoe Railway and Transportation Company in 1895 to launch the 200-passenger Tahoe in 1896 and acquire the rebuilt passenger steamer Nevada. When transfer of lumber over the C&TL&F flume ended in 1898, the Lake Tahoe Railroad was dismantled and shipped across Lake Tahoe to be reassembled in 1899 as a 16-mile (26 km) tourist railroad connecting Tahoe City to the Southern Pacific Railroad at Truckee, California.