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Glen Alpine Springs
A National Historical Landmark
Glen Alpine Springs is and exceptionally valuable example of late 19th and early 20th century western recreational culture not only because its buildings retain the integrity of its early 20th century innovative resort architecture, but also because it illustrates American history as far back as the California gold rush and still retains its pristine high Sierra forested mountain setting.
Besides the outstanding architecture by Bernard Maybeck, there are may other significant resons why Glen Alpine Springs can and does interpret the heritage of the United States.
The Story
History Dates back to the 1849 California Gold Rush
Nathan Gilmore and his brother Andrews diary, documents their emigration from Ohio, in 1850, to Hangtown California, Site of the gold rush. The diary describes the wagon train trip west, the Indians they met, deaths posted on tress on the trail, and their final arrival in California. Amanda Gray, her brother and five sisters emigrated from Illinois in 1850 to start a new life in California.
These western pioneers panned for gold, opened a general store, then became cattle ranchers. After the 1859 Comstock Silver Lode in Virginia City, NV, Nathan Gilmore explored Lake Tahoe, discovered Fallen Leaf Lake and a spring in a canyon. By 1871 he filed a deed for 10,000 acres extending from Fallen Leaf to Mt Tallac in Devil's Valley Wilderness. Amanda Gray Gilmore names the area (Clan) Glen Apine Springs after Sir Walter Scott's 1810 long poem, "Lady of the Lake." Explored by noted geologists and conservationists, the Glen Alpine Springs area was declared "the finest example of volcanic and glacial activity in the Tahoe area."
Above Photos
- Top from left: Nathan Gilmore, 1850; John Muir conservationist, 1870's; Louis Agassiz, 1872; Gilmore's 1871 deed
Home of susie jackson
Washoe Indian Matriarch
Washoe Indians, the Basket Weavers, have lived in the Lake Tahoe Area (California/Nevada) for 10,000 years. Spearheads and arrowheads are still being found at the Spring.
Susie Jackson, matriarch of Washoe tribe, narrated legends of the Washoe Indians and they're documented by Bertha Price in Charles Wharton James "Lake of the Sky" published in 1915.
Susie taught basket weaving and sold her baskets to settlers and guests at Glen Alpine Springs and Fallen Leaf Lake. Susie lived at Glen Alpine Springs. These photos were taken there in 1899.
Above Photos
- Photo on the left is Susie Jackson with her baskets in front of her home at Glen Alpine Springs.
- Photo on the right is Susie dressed up in her native costume from 1899 photo album of Glen Alpine Springs.
Glen alpine springs 1878
First Family Resort at Lake Tahoe
After the discovery of the spring and filing water rights, Gilmore brought his family to the mountains during the summer as part of his cattle camp. Initially begun as a health resort because of the qualities of the spring water, its popularity grew and he added more cabins and began providing nature hikes into the wilderness for his summer guests. He seeded the local creeks and lakes with trout, brought in Angora Goats, shipping the wool to England, and bottled, sold, and shipped the spring water. While other locations on the Tahoe Lake were known as hostels or hunting lodges, when Polish actress, Helena Modjeska, her husband and son stayed in 1878, that officially established Glen Alpine Springs as the first family resort of the Lake Tahoe area. As many as 120 guests stayed in tent cabins or the small hotels, and were served three meals a day on linen tablecloths with silverware and china for $5 a day.
Late 19th & Earlier 20th Century Lake Tahoe Hotel / Resorts
1894 Postcard of the Spring and Pagoda
1890's Postcard of guests arriving by stagecoach
Desolation valley wilderness began at glen alpine springs
Gilmore established the trails into Devil's Valley Wilderness. Most of Lake Tahoe was stripped of trees for the Nevada Comstock Mines but trees at Gilmore's resort and the wilderness remained. To prevent Baldwin's (owner of Tallac Hotel) expansion into the wilderness, Gilmore gave up his claim to Devil's Valley and is credited as the initiator of the Lake Tahoe Forest Preserve. He, along with John Muir, the Sierra Club, presidents and faculties of two universities plus California and Nevada governors and legislatures initiated a letter campaign to President McKinley and the wilderness became a Forest Preserve in 1899.
Devil's Valley is now Desolation Valley Wilderness, per acre, the most heavily used wilderness area in the U.S.
Above Photos
- Top row from left:Backpaking into resort wilderness in 1905; John Muir, 1892; Lucky Baldwin, 1890's
- Second row: Hiking at the resort, 1907; Climbing Mt Tallac, 1907; President William McKinley, 1899.
- Bottom: Red line indicates Gilmore property 1870, Purple encompasses the area Gilmore gave up to be part of the Lake Tahoe Forest Preserve, 1899
The significance of Bernard Marbeck, Architect
Biography
Bernard Maybeck was born in New York, 1862, and educated in design and architecture at the Ecole des Beaus-Arts in France. He lived in New York, France, Connecticut, Kansas and California. He had careers as a furniture designer, cabinet salesman, teacher, arhitect and bohemian. He receibed the Gold Medal from the American Institure of Architecture in 1951. Maybeck was married over 60 years and worked into his 95th year until he died in 1857.
National Recognition
There are 3 Maybeck National Historical Landmarks:
- Principia College, Jersey, IL, built 1930-38
- First Church of Christ Scientist, Alameda, CA, built 1910
- Swedenborgian Church, San Francisco, CA, built 1894
There are 6 Maybeck National Register of Historical Places:
- Faculty club, Alameda, CA, built 1902
- Hearst Gymnasium, Alameda, CA, built 1921
- Tahoe Meadows, El Dorado, CA, built 1925
- Outdoor Art Club, Marin, CA, built 1904
- Sunbonnet House, Professorville Historic District, Santa Clara, CA, built 1899
- Parsons Memorial Lodge, Yosemite National Park, CA. built 1915
Maybeck is one of the ten top U.S. architects
American Institute of Architecture
Above Photos
- Top row from left: Bernard Maybeck teachin at University of CAlifornia, 1890's. Maybeck at age 68;
- Below, First Church of Christ Scientist, Alameda, CA, 1915 Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco; Principia College, Illinois, 1930's
A reflection of western culture
Glen Alpine Springs is a perfect example of how transportation changed summer recreation over 250 years. It starts with the Gilmore brothers emigrating to the California gold rush then Nathan Gilmore following a deer path to discover a lake and a spring 10 years later. Within 25 years Gilmore's resort in a mountain canyon saw guests come by train, cross Lake Bigler on a steamboat, then picked up by horse-drawn stagecoach to follow the road that was originally the deer path. Guests slept in tent cabins bought as surplus from the Civil and Spanish-American Wars, ate three meals a day on linen tablecloths with silver and china, and stayed weeks and months at a time. When the Pierce Arrow Stagecoach came to the resort just before World War One, the culture was already changing - guests trips became shorter and more frequent. After the depression and World War Two, resort life changed drastically in the Lake Tahoe area. People had their own cars, preferring weekend trips at the big lake and not in the back woods. The gambling casinos and the 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics made the biggest change: The lake became a year round destination, the off-lake resorts became camp grounds or condos and Glen Alpine Springs closed down. It was another 25 years before hikers rediscovered the backwoods and Glen Alpine Springs again, but it was no longer open to the public.
Above Photos
- Top row: Wagon trains in 1850; Small-guage trains from San Francisco; Steamboat on lake Bigler (Tahoe)
- Second row: Stagecoach arrives at the Glen Alpine Office / Post Office in 1889; Arrival of the Pierce Arrow in 1909; Model-T Ford parked in front of the resort's hotel
- Bottom: Glen Alpine Springs 1919 Pierce Arrow still runs and is in Stockton, California.