Big Blocks on the Move
In the early days there was no Sierra Nevada Range, only a wide hump between what is now the Sacramento Valley in California and the Great Basin that includes Nevada and Utah. Then a grinding collision of tectonic plates deep inside the earth caused a north-south fracture in the earth's crust allowing blocks of rock to move up or down. One uplifted block created the 50-mile Carson Range that runs along the east side of the lake today.

Another uplifted block formed the Sierra Nevada Range west of the lake. This was a huge block that runs 400 miles from Southern California to west of Susanville, near Mt. Lassen, in the north. In between the two ranges, another set of blocks dropped down (fell in the hole, so to speak) and formed a large valley or basin. Today this water-filled basin is called Lake Tahoe.

The Story
Before the blocks moved, the Qua people lived peacefully for generations on a broad plateau across the top of the hump. Now the general area is termed the "Central Sierra." The Quas hunted wild animals and birds and fished in the streams; they even grew some berries and leafy things. Occasionally they would journey either east or west down off the plateau into a valley on one side or the other--east or west--to explore.

The patriarch of the Quas at the time of this story was Zum Qua. He was the aged chief. He had a square-shouldered son named Hum who gradually took over more and more of the chief's duties, including going on the treks to the distant valleys. Hum Qua was leading one such trip far to the east when he met a beautiful maiden near what is today called Virginia City (Nevada). She had inviting eyes, skin of bronze covering a svelte figure, and her name was Noe. Noe's people, the Hoes, were quite wealthy; they mined silver and gold from the numerous creek beds in the area. After appropriate introductions and ceremony, Hum and Noe became acquainted and...they fell deeply in love. When Hum left to return to his people atop the distant hump in the west, he promised Noe and her people that he would return soon and marry her, thereby uniting their two peoples.



Rumble, Rumble
One night soon after Hum returned home, he and the rest of the Qua people were viciously shaken from their sleep. The wide hump shuddered, shook, and groaned. Everything moved at once for what seemed to be hours. As daylight broke, the Qua people found themselves on land tilting high, high into the sky to the east. It was though the earth itself had risen toward the morning sun.



In the days that followed, young Hum and other Quas cautiously sortied into the surrounding hills. Everything was different--some steams flowed in reverse, most trees were uprooted or leaning, and animals of all kinds were fleeing from the higher ground and heading downhill to the west. After almost two moons, Hum and a small group ventured far uphill to the east and reached the top of the mountain ridge that now blocked their way. At the crest, they hesitantly looked over. Never before had they seen such a chasm. They stared into a huge valley that had been slashed north to south into their mother earth like a knife wound; it was surrounded on all four sides with mountain peaks touching the clouds. They had found their way to the upper edge of the tilting earth, most likely in the vicinity of what is today called Desolation Valley, probably near Phipp's Peak (9,234').

On the far side of the chasm they saw another ridge punctuated with a bare, solitary mountaintop--possibly today's Snow Valley Peak (9,214') or Genoa Peak (9,150'). The far ridge, too, seemed to run endlessly to both the north and the south. Hum's eyes welled as he thought about Noe far away to the east, beyond the chasm and the far ridge. He wondered if he would ever see her again.

Hum Qua becomes Chief
The shock of the changes killed Zum and Hum became the leader of all the Quas. At his coronation he vowed to reach out to the Hoe people across the new mountains who might be in trouble, and he further vowed to bring Noe home as his bride.

Winter came and for the first time the Qua people experienced prolonged periods with snow on the ground. Their pleasant life on the dome had changed in many ways and soon there was talk around the campfires of moving westward, downhill, toward level ground and the giant sea of strange-tasting water.

Looking uphill to the distant, snow-covered peaks in the east, Hum figured (wisely) that the towering new range would block the flow of moisture into the distant valley where Noe lived. Without fresh water, Noe and her people could perish over time. As soon as the warm winds returned in spring, Hum took a patrol of men and headed east.

The Search
For weeks the patrol sought a way to either get around the still-steaming slash in the earth or to get across it. The chasm was barren and boulder filled. The mountains surrounding it were steep, treeless, unfriendly, and covered with sharp rock (granite). The men could not find a way. Then they tried to get down to one of the three lakes they could see nestled into the mountainside below them. The lake farthest away looked like a fallen leaf from high up where the party stood, weary and exasperated. There was a small lake in the middle. Finally the men were able to reach the closest lake, the one that sparkled like an emerald in the sun. The water was so clear Hum could see the bottom, far down.



Emerald Lake
The Quas camped by the emerald-like lake. During the first night Hum stirred with a dream. In the dream an eagle appeared and beckoned Hum to follow. In the dream, the eagle led Hum to the outlet of the emerald lake where a small stream ran out of the lake, over the edge of the chasm, and dribbled a thousand feet down into the depths of the steaming slash in the earth. Eagle whispered to Hum: Break open the lake and flood the chasm. Then you can cross. The eagle faded away.

At sunrise, Hum led his men to the outlet and peered over the edge. It was just like the dream. Below them was a long slope, then a jumble of rocks atop a smooth bottom that disappeared into a steamy mist arising from the deepest part. Hum put his men to work digging and moving aside rocks and dirt in the stream bed. Slowly the days passed and the amount of water flowing from the emerald lake into the chasm increased.

One day Hum noticed the eagle flying high above the head of the lake where a sizeable waterfall spit into the air and cascaded into the lake. Hum sent some of his men to where the eagle flew; they started to clear away rocks blocking the falls, and the flow of water from the plateau lakes higher up (e.g., lakes today called the Velmas) steadily increased.

Within a moon, more and more water was falling into one end of the emerald lake and pouring out the other...into the chasm, which slowly it began to fill.

The Big Lake
It took two years for the water in the huge chasm to rise so that it was level with the emerald lake that filled it. By that time the outlet of the smaller lake was quite wide, and the emerald lake became a bay to the big lake. During the two years, Hum brought groups of his people to visit the place and see the many wonders of the area. Hum had his people built huge bonfires on the crest in hopes that Noe would see the smoke trying to signal Hum's message: "Wait for me, Noe; I am coming."

In the third summer after the heaving earth, Hum fashioned a canoe and carried it from his home grounds over the crest to the lake that had become a bay. He packed the canoe with food and gifts and at sunrise paddled out the entrance of the bay and off across the big blue lake that was still steaming in places from the molten rocks strewn across its bottom.

On the far (east) side of the big lake the young chief landed on a quiet shoreline (now Glenbrook Bay); with his gifts he headed for the lowest point in the ridgeline above. As he neared the saddle separating the new lake from the great basin beyond in the east, he saw a silhouette against the skyline. He pushed uphill...closer and closer to the figure. Suddenly Hum and Noe were reunited.

Today the place where they embraced, forever, is called Spooner Summit.



* * *

For readers with a technical or geographic bent, here are a few facts that relate to the story:
1. The uplifted block that created the Carson Range runs along the east side of Lake Tahoe today. This range starts at Luther Pass on highway 89 about 12 miles south of South Lake Tahoe and runs to the Truckee River just east of Reno. The block is about 50 miles long, and the Carson is actually a splinter off of the Sierra Nevada Range.
2. The large block that forms the main Sierra Nevada Range runs 400 miles from Tehachapi Pass east of Bakersfield in Southern California to Fredonyer Pass on highway 36 west of Susanville, near Mt. Lassen, in Northern California.
3. In between the two ranges, another set of blocks dropped down (fell in the chasm) and formed the Lake Tahoe Basin. Geologists call the down-dropped blocks a "graben".
4. The waterfalls and small lake above and behind Emerald Bay are both named after the eagle: Eagle Falls and Eagle Lake.
5. Spooner Summit in the lowest one in the Carson Range; it has an elevation of 7,146 feet above sea level. It is the main pass that miners used to travel between the silver & gold mines of Virginia City, Nevada and Central California, including Sacramento and San Francisco, in the late 1800s. It carries highway 50 today.
6. The elevation of the surface of Lake Tahoe is 6,225 feet; the bottom of the lake is at 4,585 feet. The elevation of Carson City, Nevada is 4,660 feet, 75 feet higher than the lake bottom.
7. There is 1640 feet of water in Lake Tahoe at the deepest point, where there is a plug.


Copyright © 2009, Steven C. Brandt