Historical Markers of
Washoe County & Reno

 

  • HM 4 - Junction House
  • HM 18 - Pyramid Lake
  • HM 24 - Olinghouse
  • HM 29 - Chinese in Nevada
  • HM 30 - Reno
  • HM 43 - Derby Diversion Dam
  • HM 62 - Truckee River -- West
  • HM 63 - Truckee River -- East
  • HM 68 - Wadsworth
  • HM 79 - Civil War Plot
  • HM 81 - Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Tree
  • HM 88 - Sparks
  • HM 94 - The Winters Ranch
    (Rancho Del Sierra)
  • HM 114 - Franktown
  • HM 128 - The Great Train Robbery
  • HM 148 - The Two Battles of Pyramid Lake
  • HM 149 - High Rock Canyon
  • HM 152 - Gerlach
  • HM 166 - Bowers Mansion
  • HM 169 - Glendale School
  • HM 189 - Southern Pacific Railroad Yards
  • HM 191 - Verdi
  • HM 198 - Steamboat Springs
  • HM 210 - Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad Depot
  • HM 211 - Old Geiger Grade (In Canyon Below)
  • HM 212 - Galena
  • HM 218 - Geiger Station (Magnolia House)
  • HM 220 - The Fight of the Century
  • HM 221 - Sand Harbor
  • HM 227 - Lake Mansion
  • HM 230 - Mount Rose Weather Observatory
  • HM 234 - Moana Springs
  • HM 238 - Huffaker's
  • HM 240 - Coney Island
  • HM 245 - Frederick Joseph DeLongchamps (June 2, 1882 - February 11, 1969)
  • HM 246 - The Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada
  • HM 247 - Site of Nevada's First Public Library
  • HM 248 - Virginia & Truckee Railroad
    Right of Way
  • HM 253 - Emigrant-Donner Camp
  • HM 256 - Historic Transportation...
  • HM 265 - Governor Emmet Derby Boyle
  • HM 267 - Galena Creek Fish Hatchery
  • Sand Harbor

    Location: Southern Washoe County, Lake Tahoe
    Directions: At the Sand Harbor Boat Launch, 4 miles south of Incline Village
    (Access via SR 28, 8.2 miles north of US 50)

    Location: 2
    Visibility: 9
    Accessibility: 4
    Marker type: St (M)
       

    Date Conquered: 8/19/07
    Quick Description: A marker honoring the lumber flume system used to supply cordwood for the Comstock mines.
    Signed: No -- This marker used to be signed. The sign was removed because of the highway's extremely narrow lanes.

    NOTES: Here is yet another marker that would benefit from at least one sign from the highway. Without question, [221] Sand Harbor is one of the most difficult markers to locate in the entire state, for a few reasons of course ...

    1) [221] is not located directly alongside SR 28. Instead, hunters must drive into the boat launch area and park in order to view it.
    2) Common sense would dictate that an historical marker located within a heavily-visited state park would be placed where people could easily view it. In this case, main state park visitor's center to Sand Harbor, or the main parking area to the park would be far better and more obvious choices. Instead, the SHPO chose the Boat Launch, a private-use area for boaters only.

    Whatever the reason, look for a brown sign that reads "Boats Only." If you're coming north from US 50, this sign is located just past the main entrance to "Sand Harbor, Visitor Center." Turn left to pull into the Boat Launch and park. The marker sits a few yards south of the entrance booth literally right in front of the boat ramp and half-hidden by a small spruce. Be warned, however, if you come here during the middle of summer, don't be surprised to find the entrance kiosk staffed and ready to take your $6 parking fee (the fee fluctuates per year)! If so, just adamantly tell the ranger you're only here to capture the marker and they should let you go. If not, park along SR 28 somewhere and walk into the boat launch.

    Trust me folks, I've tried it.
    Thanks to this tree, you can't see this marker from the highway.

    Full Description:
    Exact description as reads ...

    History records Sand Harbor as playing an important role in the operations of the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company, one of three large combines supplying lumber and cordwood to the Comstock mines during the late 19th century. Walter Scott Hobart organized the company and John Bear Overton was its general manager.

    The steamer "Niagara" towed log rafts from company land at the south end of Lake Tahoe to Sand Harbor. Here the logs were loaded on narrow-gauge railway cars and taken two miles north to a sawmill on Mill Creek.

    Lumber and cordwood were started on the way to Virginia City via an incline tramway 4,000 feet long, and rising 1,400 feet up the mountainside where the material was transferred to water flumes and transported to Lakeview just north of Carson City.

    The tramway has been described as "the Great Incline of the Sierra Nevada."

    Once you know where to look, it's not so bad. Notice the entrance kiosk and the road you come in on.
    This marker would be better placed at the main entrance to Sand Harbor, or the "Vista Point" just up the road.

    Next: [222] Site Homepage Contact

    Partnered with

    Great Basin Wilds Photography
    Copyright © Paul Sebesta

    Fact #221: The deepest point of Lake Tahoe (1,650') is approximately three miles west of Sand Harbor, Nevada.