Lake Tahoe History Presentations

The following History presentations are free and open to the public. Call David at (760) 920-8061 for more information.

August 27 – “There It Is…Take It!” on Mulholland and L.A. Aqueduct, 2 PM @ Wylder Hotel Hope Valley.  “There It Is…Take It!.” These were the words Los Angeles City Water Department’s chief William Mulholland spoke upon completion of his engineering marvel, the LA Aqueduct. This program closely examines the construction, intrigue, and long-reaching effects of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which diverts almost the entire Owens River in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada region to the City of Angels, over 300 miles away. Bombings, kidnapping, ransom…this true account of how a powerful and burgeoning metropolis nearly extinguished an entire rural community in its quest for “liquid gold,” is one of the most fascinating accounts of 20th-century water politics.

September 2 – Uncommon Conservation; How George Whittell “Saved” Lake Tahoe @ 7:30 PM, Tallac Historic Site-Valhalla, South Lake Tahoe. A Living History Program. From the 1930s to the 1960s, George Whittell was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. He was eccentric, bombastic and larger than life, keeping an African Lion for a pet and at one time owning 27 miles of Lake Tahoe waterfront. His eccentricities and flamboyance inadvertently preserved much of Lake Tahoe’s public lands enjoyed today.