Nestled just 40 minutes south of the bustling South Lake Tahoe, there’s a seemingly unremarkable parking area along the shoulder of state Route 88. It’s the kind of spot that often goes unnoticed by passersby, and even the start of the trail from this location can be easily overlooked. Measuring a mere 0.7-mile round trip, it’s a short journey that can be conquered in about half an hour, factoring in the 230-foot elevation gain achieved through steep stone steps.
At first glance, you might wonder why this modest trail even exists. At its endpoint, you’ll find a pile of boulders forming a cave, about five feet deep. It’s intriguing, no doubt, but hardly the type of spectacle that would typically become a weekend destination.
![Grizzly Flat [ca. 1851-1852]](http://www.inedc.com/23/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GrizzlyFlats-1851-1852-120x86.webp)
That is unless you’re a history buff, a cross-country skiing enthusiast, or even a U.S. Postal Service aficionado (yes, the actual postal service, not the band).
Gaze into that cave, and you’ll understand why it wasn’t the most comfortable place to spend a night. However, one remarkable individual did so, voluntarily, in the heart of winter, and not just any winter, but the winter of the 1860s.
This remarkable character was none other than John Albert “Snowshoe” Thompson, originally known as Jon Torsteinson-Rue. Through a series of unconventional decisions, Snowshoe Thompson became a legendary figure in the annals of the American West. He earned the moniker of the “Skiing Mailman of the Sierra Nevada” for his extraordinary feat of delivering mail on skis across the perilous and snow-clad mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe in the 1860s. On a daily basis, he would ski up to 45 miles on the kind of narrow wooden skis that today serve as decorative items on the walls of vintage diners and ski lodges. However, back in the 1850s, these skis were Snowshoe Thompson’s sole means of traversing the most challenging and inhospitable landscapes of California, Nevada, and what was then Utah.
A Viking in the Sierra: Taking On the Impossible
Born in Norway, Snowshoe Thompson and his family immigrated to the United States in the 1830s. They settled in the Midwest, where young Thompson honed his skiing skills on the wintery frontiers of the time. But following his father’s death and the family’s financial struggles, Thompson decided to journey west during the Gold Rush era.
Thompson initially tried his hand at mining and farming in Placerville, a burgeoning mining town. However, the relentless snowfall in the Sierra Nevada made both pursuits utterly futile during the winter months. Wagon, horse, and man alike struggled to move through the snow, and this posed a unique challenge for mail delivery. Approximately one-sixth of the letters sent to California in the 1850s never reached their intended recipients due to the lack of efficient winter transportation.
Recognizing this challenge, Thompson responded to an advertisement in the Sacramento Union seeking a new mail carrier. Drawing on his skiing expertise, he volunteered to deliver mail across the snowy, mountainous terrain. This novel idea likely raised eyebrows, as there were scant records of anyone successfully crossing the Sierra Nevada in winter, except for a famous and ill-fated 1846 attempt.
Nevertheless, Thompson got the job and embarked on his first postal run in 1856. His route spanned approximately 90 miles through the Sierra Nevada, from Placerville, California, to Genoa, Nevada. The journey was grueling and fraught with dangers, featuring steep climbs and descents, unpredictable weather shifts, and a conspicuous absence of roads or mapped routes between stops.
To tackle these challenges, Thompson turned to a tool from his youth. Today, we’d call them skis, but in the mid-1800s, they were often referred to as snowshoes. He reportedly crafted a pair from trees on his Sierra farm, each measuring 10 feet in length and weighing around 25 pounds. It’s worth noting that Thompson’s delivery bag could weigh between 60 and 80 pounds or even more on occasion. Despite this burden, he rarely carried more than a bit of meat jerky and some crackers for his personal sustenance. As reported by the Chicago Weekly Post and Mail in 1876, “Mr. Thompson never carried blankets” and often rested with “his head resting upon one of Uncle Sam’s mail bags.” While he usually curled up near tree stumps, the rocky cave near state Route 88, now named in his honor, was one of his favored spots.
Thompson covered the route in approximately three days: two for the uphill journey and one for the descent. His cargo included everything from components of Nevada’s first newspaper printing press to the very first discovery of silver ore in the renowned Comstock Lode and mail for inmates far removed from their East Coast families.
Tahoe’s Unofficial Search-and-Rescue Hero
Snowshoe Thompson’s bravery and heroism quickly became legendary. Reports abound, suggesting he saved “Lucky” Baldwin, a prominent Tahoe businessman and casino magnate, from freezing to death in 1859. He stared down howling wolf packs while traversing dense woods, and reportedly rescued a man who had been trapped in his cabin for nearly two weeks, teetering on the brink of amputating both his frostbitten feet. However, the veracity of these legends remains challenging to confirm, with some newspapers claiming he once stabbed a grizzly bear through the eye and others asserting that he had “never met or seen a grizzly bear, or bear of any kind.” According to The Ventura Free Press in 1876, Thompson was hailed as “the best snowshoe traveler on the coast” and reputedly skied 1,600 feet downhill in a mere 21 seconds.
Another story, equally shrouded in ambiguity, involves Thompson’s role in a confrontation with a group of Paiutes in 1860. These Native Americans were suspected of killing a few European settlers in the region. Thompson volunteered for the local militia, chasing the tribe and engaging in combat several miles east of Carson City. While contemporary newspapers predominantly blamed the tribe members for the settlers’ deaths, it’s unclear whether the Paiute individuals were involved. Nevertheless, a battle ensued, and only around 30 of the 105 men in Thompson’s band, including Thompson himself, survived. This event came to be known as the “First Battle of Pyramid Lake” and ultimately led to the establishment of Nevada as a state in 1864.
Despite the relentless demands of his job, Thompson remained committed to his mail route for nearly two decades, until his untimely death from pneumonia in 1876. The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 largely rendered his services unnecessary. Unfortunately, Thompson was never paid by the government for his extraordinary efforts. It is estimated that at the time of his death, he was owed around $6,000, equivalent to approximately $172,000 today.
Snowshoe Thompson was posthumously inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1970 and is permanently honored in several locations around Lake Tahoe. This includes a bronze statue at Mormon Station State Park in Genoa.
![Grizzly Flat [ca. 1851-1852]](http://www.inedc.com/23/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GrizzlyFlats-1851-1852-350x250.webp)
