Clark’s to Wadsworth 15 " 186 " 12.40 " Wadsworth to Pyramid Lake 18[1] " 187[1] " 10.39 " ______ _______ _______ Lake Tahoe to Pyramid Lake 103 " 2357 " 23.11 "

[Footnote 1:  The elevation of Pyramid Lake above the sea-level has never, as far as we know, been accurately determined.  Henry Gannet, in his Lists of Elevation (4th ed., Washington, 1877, p. 143), gives its altitude above the sea as 4890 feet; and credits this number to the Pacific Railroad Reports.  But as this exact number appears in Fremont’s Report of Exploring Expedition to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-44. (Doc.  No. 166, p. 217), it is probable that the first rude and necessarily imperfect estimate has been copied by subsequent authorities.  This number is evidently more than 800 feet too great; for the railroad station at Wadsworth (about eighteen or twenty miles from the lake), where the line of the railroad leaves the banks of the Truckee River, is only 4077 feet above the sea-level.  So that these numbers would make Pyramid Lake 813 feet above the level of its affluent at Wadsworth; which, of course, is impossible.  Under this state of facts, I have assumed the elevation of this lake to be 3890 feet.]

During the summer of 1873, the writer embraced the opportunity afforded by a six weeks’ sojourn on the shores of the Lake to undertake some physical studies in relation to this largest of the “gems of the Sierra.”  Furnished with a good sounding-line and a self-registering thermometer, he was enabled to secure some interesting and trustworthy physical results.

(1.) Depth.  It is well known that considerable diversity of opinion has prevailed in relation to the actual depth of Lake Tahoe.  Sensational newsmongers have unhesitatingly asserted that, in some portions, it is absolutely fathomless.  It is needless to say that actual soundings served to dispel or to rectify this popular impression.  The soundings indicated that there is a deep subaqueous channel traversing the whole Lake in its greatest dimension, or south and north.  Beginning at the southern end, near the Lake House, and advancing along the long axis of the Lake directly north towards the Hot Springs at the northern end—­a distance of about eighteen miles—­we have the following depths: 

Station Depth in Feet Depth in Meters

1  ...............    900                  274.32

2  ...............   1385                  422.14

3  ...............   1495                  455.67

4  ...............   1500                  457.19

5  ...............   1506                  459.02

6  ...............   1540                  469.38

7  ...............   1504                  458.41

8  ...............   1600                  487.67

9  ...............   1640                  499.86