Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company Records

Collection

Identifier: NC72

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company Records mainly consists of original hand written materials dealing with the company's timber operations and land transactions. Included are correspondence, company papers, legal documents, land patents, deeds, property tax statements, land descriptions, financial account ledgers, vouchers, receipts, payrolls, lumber statistics, and accounts and maps. Of particular interest are the payroll records for Chinese workers found in Series 6.

A large portion of the material was destroyed in the San Francisco fire of 1906, which may account for several gaps in the records. (There are no vouchers or receipts between 1892 and 1902.) Severely damaged documents have been photocopied and placed in envelopes for preservation. Researchers should use these photocopies in lieu of handling the damaged original documents.

Dates

1858-1946

Creator

Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company (Creator, Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Materials must be used on-site; advance notice suggested. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Administrative History

The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company was organized in 1873 with Duane L. Bliss as president and general manger and H. M. Yerington, D. O. Mills and J. A. Rigby as stockholders. It was probably the largest and most extensive lumber operation serving the mines of the Comstock. At its peak of operation, holdings included 50,000 acres of timber at Lake Tahoe and Lake Valley, three mills at Glenbrook, two steamers two logging railroads, logging camps, and a narrow gauge railroad. It operated several flumes to transport lumber down the mountain to the railroad depots and also maintained a box factory in Carson City.

In the early years, the center of activity was located around Glenbrook, Spooner Summit, and on Clear Creek Canyon, site of the original flume of the Summit Flume Company which was absorbed by the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company. The company eventually acquired the property of the Hobart Estate, the Nevada Lumber Company and the Sierra Nevada Wood and Flume Company as it gradually accumulated timber lands around the Lake Tahoe region. Its major land holdings were located in El Dorado and Placer Counties, California, and in Douglas, Ormsby, and Washoe Counties, Nevada.

The primary function of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company was cutting timber until logging operations ceased around 1896, due to the depletion of timber on its land and to the decline of mining on the Comstock. Following this, the company's main business was leasing and liquidating its property. It also operated a store and a campground at Zephyr Cove in the 1930s. Eventually, the company's land holdings were sold to private individuals including a large portion in Douglas County to George Whittell in 1938. Land in El Dorado County was deeded to the El Dorado Wood and Flume Company in 1904 and was part of the Bliss family property in that county that was included in a California State Park on the south west shore of Lake Tahoe.

Duane L. Bliss died in 1906 and H. M. Yerington died in 1910. They were succeeded by their sons, W. S. Bliss and E. B. Yerington, who remained with the company until the late 1920s. The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company was dissolved in 1947.

Extent

50.563 Linear Feet (53 boxes, 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

Arranged into the following series: 1) Correspondence; 2) Company Papers; 3) Legal Documents; 4) Real Estate; 5) Land Patents, Claims, Deeds; 6) Payrolls; 7) Financial Statements; 8) Account Volumes; 9) Lumber; 10) Maps; 11) Telegrams and Notes

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Gordan A. Sampson in 1952; transferred from the Mackay School of Mines in 1961.

Accruals

1) One folder of invoices and receipts was purchased at a Butterfield auction in October 1994 and added to the collection.

2) Records of the Summit Flume Company have been integrated into this collection.

3) Two bound volumes of lumber accounts and a number of letters in a letterpress book originate from the Carson Lumber Company, Carson City, Nevada. It is presumed that this company, possibly a subsidiary of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company, was a large lumber yard, also referred to as the Carson Dump, a mile south of Carson City.

Related Materials

Researchers interested in this collection should also consider consulting the William W. Bliss Papers, manuscript collection 96-53. These materials fill in some of the gaps in the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company Collection and supplement the historical record of real estate and tourism development at Lake Tahoe, especially at Tahoe City and Glenbrook.