GLEN ALPINE SPRINGS
The earliest of all the resorts of the Tahoe region away from the
shores of Tahoe itself, Glen Alpine Springs still retains its natural
supremacy. Located seven miles away from Tallac, reached by excellent
roads in automobile stages, sequestered and sheltered, yet absolutely
in the very heart of the most interesting part of the Tahoe region,
scenically and geologically, it continues to attract an increasing
number of the better class of guests that annually visit these
divinely-favored California Sierras. John Muir wrote truthfully when
he said:
The Glen Alpine Springs tourist resort seems to me one of the
most delightful places in all the famous Tahoe region. From
no other valley, as far as I know, may excursions be made in
a single day to so many peaks, wild gardens, glacier lakes,
glacier meadows, and Alpine groves, cascades, etc.
The drive from Tallac around Fallen Leaf Lake under trees whose
boles form arch or portal, framing pictures of the sunny lake, is a
memorable experience; then on past Glen Alpine Falls, Lily Lake, and
Modjeska Falls, up the deep mountain glen, where the road ends at the
hospitable cottages, log-houses and spacious tents of Glen Alpine.
[Illustration: Mount Tallac, Rubicon Peaks, etc., from Long Wharf
at Al Tahoe, Lake Tahoe]
[Illustration: Al Tahoe Inn and Cottages, on Lake Tahoe]
[Illustration: Murphey Cottage, Al Tahoe, on Lake Tahoe]
[Illustration: Porterfield Cottage, Al Tahoe, on Lake Tahoe]
Here is the world-famous spring, discovered in the 'fifties by
Nathan Gilmore (for whom Gilmore Lake is named). Mr. Gilmore
was born in Ohio, but, when a mere youth, instead of attending
college and graduating in law as his parents had arranged for
and expected, he yielded to the lure of the California gold
excitement, came West, and in 1850 found himself in Placerville.
In due time he married, and to the sickness of his daughter
Evelyn, now Mrs. John L. Ramsay, of Freewater, Ore., is owing
his discovery of Glen Alpine. The doctor ordered him to bring the
child up into the mountains. Accompanied by an old friend, Barton
Richardson, of the James Barton Key family of Philadelphia, he came
up to Tallac, with the ailing child and its mother. Being of active
temperament he and Mr. Richardson scaled Mt. Tallac, and in returning
were much entranced by Fallen Leaf Lake. Later Mr. Gilmore came to
Fallen Leaf alone, wandering over its moraines and lingering by its
shores to drink in its impressive and growingly-overpowering beauty.
In those days there was no road at the southern end of Fallen Leaf and
the interested explorer was perforce led to follow the trails of bear,
deer and other wild animals. Rambling through the woods, some two
miles above the lake he came to a willow-surrounded swampy place,
where the logs and fallen trees were clearly worn by the footprints
of many generations of wild animals. Prompted by curiosity he followed
the hidden trail, saw where a small stream of mineral-stained water
was flowing, observed where the deer, etc., had licked the stones, and
finally came to the source in what he afterwards called Glen Alpine
Springs. Scientific observation afterwards showed that the water had
an almost uniform temperature, even in the hottest days of summer, of
39.6 degrees Fahr., and that there was free carbonic acid gas to the
extent of 138.36 cubic inches. The analysis revealed that each U.S.
gallon contained grains as follows:
Sodium Chloride ............ 21.17
Sodium Carbonate ........... 32.75
Potassium Carbonate ........ Trace
Ferrous Carbonate........... 1.8
Alumnia .................... 1.43
Borates .................... Trace
Magnesium Carbonate ......... 9.96
Calcium Carbonate ........... 45.09
Calcium Sulphate ............ 4.10
Silica ...................... 2.50
Organic Matter............... Trace
------
Total Solids................ 118.80
The water is pleasant to the taste, and, as has been shown, highly
charged with carbonic acid gas; its action is diuretic, laxative and
stimulative to the entire digestive tract. Eminent physicians claim
that it is beneficial in dyspepsia, torpid liver, kidney and bladder
irritation, and is also a tonic.
Whether this be true or not I cannot say, but I do know that every
time I go to Glen Alpine I drink freely and abundantly of the water,
to my great physical pleasure and satisfaction. It is one of the most
delicious sparkling waters I have ever tasted, as gratifying to the
palate and soothing to the fevered mucous membranes as Apollinaris or
Shasta Water, and I am not alone in the wish I often express, viz.,
that I might have such a spring in my backyard at home.
One result of this discovery was that Mr. Gilmore decided to locate
upon the land. As soon as the first claim was made secure a rude
one-roomed cabin was built and Mr. Richardson was the first guest.
Preparatory to bringing his family, Mr. Gilmore added two more rooms,
and to render ingress easier he built a road to intersect with the
Tallac road at the northern end of Fallen Leaf Lake. As this had to
be blasted out with black powder,--it was before the days of
dynamite,--Mr. Gilmore's devotion to the place can be well understood.
When his daughters grew up, they and their friends came here to spend
their summers, and by and by, almost unconsciously, but pleasantly and
agreeably, the place became a public resort. Though Mr. Gilmore has
long since passed on, having died in Placerville, Calif., in the year
1898, Glen Alpine Springs is still in the ownership of his family, and
its management and direction is entirely in their hands.
As in the beginning they have ever sought to preserve its character of
simplicity. It is their aim that everything should be as primitive as
possible, consonant with healthfulness, privacy and comfort. While
no sanitary precautions are neglected, and water, hot and cold, is
extravagantly provided, with free shower baths, there are none of
the frills and furbelows that generally convert these--what should
be--simple nature resorts into bad imitations of the luxurious hotels
of the city. There are positively no dress events. Men and women are
urged to bring their old clothes and wear them out here, or provide
only khaki or corduroy, with short skirts, bloomers and leggings for
the fair sex. Strong shoes are required; hob-nailed if one expects to
do any climbing. Wraps for evening, and heavy underwear for an unusual
day (storms sometimes come in Sierran regions unexpectedly), are
sensible precautions.
Sleeping out-of-doors is one of the features of the place, an
invigorating, rejuvenating joy, which Mark Twain affirmed was able
to destroy any amount of fatigue that a person's body could gather.
Visitors are given their choice of a comfortable bed in the open, in a
cottage, tent, or one of the main buildings. There are practically no
rules at Glen Alpine save those that would operate in any respectable
home. No liquors are sold, and visitors are frankly told that "If they
must have liquid stimulants they must bring them along." In order that
those who desire to sleep may not be disturbed by the thoughtlessness
of others, music is prohibited after ten o'clock. One of the delights
of the place is the nightly camp-fire. Here is a large open space,
close to the spring, surrounded by commodious and comfortable canvas
seats, that will easily hold eight or ten persons, the blazing fire
is started every evening. Those who have musical instruments--guitars,
banjos, mandolins, flutes, cornets, violins, and even the plebeian
accordion or the modest Jew's-harp--are requested to bring them.
Solos, choruses, hymns and college songs are indulged in to the
heart's content. Now and again dances are given, and when any speaker
arrives who is willing to entertain the guests, a talk, lecture or
sermon is arranged for.
Three things are never found at Glen Alpine. These are poison-oak,
rattlesnakes and poisonous insects. The rowdy, gambling and carousing
element are equally absent, for should they ever appear, they speedily
discover their lack of harmony and voluntarily retire.
While the Glen Alpine resort is not situated directly on one of the
lakes, it owns over twenty boats on eight of the nearby lakes, and
the use of these is freely accorded to its guests. That it is in close
proximity to lakes and peaks is evidenced by the following table,
which gives the distance in miles from the hotel:
_Miles_
2-1/2 Angora Lake
4 American Lake
6 Avalanche Lake
3-1/4 Alta Morris Lake
7 Azure Lake
5 Center Lake
5-1/2 Crystal Lake
5-3/4 Crater Lake
6 Cup Lake
4-3/4 Cathedral Lake
5-1/2 Echo Lake
2 Fallen Leaf Lake
5-1/4 Floating Island Lake
4-1/4 Forest Lake
6 Fontinalis Lake
1-1/4 Glen Alpine Falls
1-1/4 Grass Lake
4-3/4 Grouse Lake
3-1/2 Glmore Lake
3-1/4 Heather Lake
3-1/4 Half Moon Lake
5 Kalmia Lake
1 Lily Lake
2-1/4 Lucile Lake
3-3/4 LeConte Lake
2-1/2 Margery Lake
1/4 Modjeska Falls
3-1/2 Observation Point
4-1/4 Olney Lake
4-1/4 Pit Lake
6 Pyramid Lake
4-3/4 Rainbow Lake
2-3/4 Susie Lake
3-1/2 Susie Lake Falls
2-3/4 Summit Lake
6 Snow Lake
[Illustration: Cluster of Tents, Glen Alpine Springs]
[Illustration: Glen Alpine Falls, Near Glen Alpine Springs]
[Illustration: In the 'Good Old Days'. Glen Alpine Stage approaching
Office at Glen Alpine Springs]
_Miles_
4-1/4 Tamarack Lake
6 Tallac Lake
7 Tahoe Lake
6-1/2 Velma Lakes
3-1/4 Woods, Lake of the
3-1/2 Angora Peak
5-1/4 Dicks Peak
5-1/2 Jacks Peak
2-1/2 Keiths Dome
7 Pyramid Peak
6-1/2 Ralston Peak
3-3/4 Richardsons Peak
5 Upper Truckee River
4-3/4 Mt. Tallac
7 Mt. Agassiz
3 Cracked Crag
As the proprietors of Glen Alpine ask: "Where else outside of
Switzerland is there a like region of lakes (forty-odd) and world of
Sierran grandeur, such air with the tonic of altitude, mineral-spring
water, trout-fishing, and camaraderie of kindred spirits!"
While the foregoing list gives a comprehensive suggestion of the wide
reach of Glen Alpine's territory there are several especial peaks and
lakes that are peculiarly its own. These are Pyramid, Agassiz, Dicks,
Jacks, Richardsons, Ralston, and the Angora Peaks, Mount Tallac,
Mosquito Pass, and Lakes Olney, LeConte, Heather, Susie, Grass,
Lucile, Margery, and Summit with Lake of the Woods and others in
Desolation Valley, Gilmore, Half Moon, Alta, Morris, Lily, Tamarack,
Rainbow, Grouse, and the Upper and Lower Echo. Desolation Valley and
all its surroundings is also within close reach. This is some four
miles westward of Glen Alpine Springs, and is reached by way of easy
mountain trails under sweet-scented pines and gnarled old junipers;
besides singing streams; across crystal lakes, through a cliff-guarded
glade where snowbanks linger until midsummer, ever renewing the
carpet of green, decking it with heather and myriad exquisite mountain
blossoms. On, over a granite embankment, and lo! your feet are stayed
and your heart is stilled as your eyes behold marvelous Desolation
Valley. Greeting you on its southern boundary stands majestic Pyramid
Peak, with its eternal snows. Lofty companions circling to your very
feet make the walls forming the granite cradle of Olney, the Lake of
Mazes. The waters are blue as the skies above them, and pure as the
melting snows from Pyramid which form them. He who has not looked
upon this, the most remarkable of all the wonder pictures in the Tahoe
region, has missed that for which there is no substitute.
The whole Glen Alpine basin,--which practically extends from the
Tallac range on the north, from Heather Lake Pass (the outlet from
Desolation Valley) and Cracked Crag on the west and southwest, Ralston
Peak and range to the south and the Angora Peaks on the east,--is one
mass of glacial scoriations. Within a few stone-throws of the spring,
on a little-used trail to Grass Lake, there are several beautiful
and interesting markings. One of these is a finely defined curve or
groove, extending for 100 feet or more, above which, about 1½ feet, is
another groove, some two to four feet wide. These run rudely parallel
for some distance, then unite and continue as one. Coming back to the
trail--a hundred or so feet away,--on the left hand side returning to
the spring, is a gigantic sloping granite block, perfectly polished
with glacial action, and black as though its surface had been coated
in the process. Near here the trail _ducks_ or markers are placed
in a deep grooving or trough three or four feet wide, and of equal
depth, while to the right are two other similar troughs working their
winding and tortuous way into the valley beneath.
In Chapter VIII an idea is given of the movements of the great
glaciers that formed Desolation Valley and all the nearby lakes,
as well as Glen Alpine basin. These gigantic ice-sheets, with their
firmly-wedged carving blocks of granite, moved over the Heather Lake
Pass, gouging out that lake, and Susie Lake, in its onward march, and
then, added to by glacial flows from Cracked Crag, the southern slopes
of the Tallac range, and the Angora Peaks, it passed on and down,
shaping this interestingly rugged, wild and picturesque basin as we
find it to-day. How many centuries of cutting and gouging, beveling
and grooving were required to accomplish this, who can tell? Never
resting, never halting, ever moving, irresistibly cutting, carving,
grinding and demolishing, it carried away its millions of millions
of tons of rocky débris in bowlders, pebbles, sand and mud, and thus
helped make the gigantic moraines of Fallen Leaf Lake. The ice-flow
itself passed along over where the terminal moraine now stands,
cutting out Fallen Leaf Lake basin in its movement, and finally rested
in the vast bowl of Lake Tahoe.
To the careful student every foot of Glen Alpine basin is worthy of
study, and he who desires to further the cause of science will do
well to make a map of his observations, recording the direction,
appearance, depth, length and width of all the glacial markings he
discovers. On the U.S. Government maps the stream flowing through Glen
Alpine basin is marked as Eau Claire Creek. To the proprietors of Glen
Alpine, and the visitors, the French name is absurd and out of place.
No Frenchman has ever resided here, and if it was desired to call
it Clear Water Creek, why not use good, understandable, common-sense
English. At the request of those most intimately concerned, therefore,
the name has been changed on the map that accompanies this volume,
to Glen Alpine Creek, a name that "belongs" and to which no one can
possibly have any objection.