CHAPTER XXVII. CARNELIAN BAY AND TAHOE COUNTRY CLUB
On making the circuit of the Lake the last stopping-place on the trip starting south, or the first when starting north and east, is Carnelian Bay. This is a new settlement rapidly coming into prominence because of the number of cottages and bungalows erected by their owners on their own lots. From early until late in the seasons of 1913 and 1914 the sounds of the saw and hammer were seldom still. The result is the growth of quite a summer settlement. Easy of access, either by train and steamer from Truckee, or by direct wagon or auto road via Truckee or the new boulevard from the south end of the Lake, Carnelian Bay attracts the real home-seeker. It has been the first section to fully realize what John LeConte has so ably set forth in another chapter on Tahoe as a Summer Residence. With the completion of the state highway around Lake Tahoe and the projected automobile route from Reno and Carson City, Carnelian Bay will be adjacent to the main arteries of travel. The proposed link of the Lincoln Highway around the north shore of the Lake will put Carnelian Bay directly on the great international auto road.
The beauties of Lake Tahoe can hardly be magnified to the people of the West. Those who have once viewed its wonders and its magnificence, who have for a season breathed its invigorating and stimulating atmosphere, who have caught the wily trout which abound in its waters, who have sailed, or rowed, or motor-boated over its indigo-blue surface, carry in memory pictures in comparison with which any word-picture would be inadequate and incomplete.
Hence the projectors of Carnelian Bay struck a popular note when, out of their 81-acre tract, they put on sale convenient-sized lots. Of these 75 were purchased almost immediately, and by 1914 there were over 45 homes, large and small, already erected. Every lot was sold to a purchaser who expressed his definite intention of speedily erecting a house, cottage or bungalow for his own use. Hence the community is of a selected class into which one may come with confidence and assurance of congenial associations.
While there is no hotel at present there are several cottages and bungalows especially erected for rent to transient guests, and a good store, together with its close proximity to Tahoe City and Tahoe Tavern, render a summer vacation here one of comfort, pleasure and perfect enjoyment.
PROJECTED TAHOE COUNTRY CLUB AT CARNELIAN
The increasing need exists among those who are familiar with the beauties and advantages of Lake Tahoe as a summer residence resort for accommodations for families or transients where the usual comforts of home may be obtained at a cost not prohibitive to the family of ordinary means. Last year no less than 80,000 persons visited Lake Tahoe. It is safe to say that this number will increase annually, particularly with added accommodations at the Lake and with better facilities for automobile travel. The proximity of Lake Tahoe to the coast cities and the cities of the Sierras and the Middle West makes it at once attractive to the business man who desires to spend his summer vacation where the family is located for the summer months.
The Tahoe Country Club is designed to meet the need. The incorporators have taken over in fee simple a beautiful tract embracing about 1500 feet of the beach at Carnelian Bay, California, perhaps the most attractive site on Lake Tahoe. It commands a view of the entire length of the Lake, looking toward the south, and embracing a magnificent panoramic view of the mountains beyond. This site contains approximately nine acres, and includes a natural inland harbor, making off from a protected bay. The beach is shallow, of clean sand, sloping down from easy terraces beautified by shade trees and lawns.
The plan of organization of the Tahoe Country Club is cooperative. Its benefits are to be shared by its members, their families, and such of their friends as they may invite to be guests of the club. The properties taken over by the incorporation, including the 1500 feet of beach front, harbor, wharf, and a system of water works already installed, together with the perpetual title to the water rights, is conservatively appraised at $30,000. This is held in fee, free from incumbrance.
The charter - or organizing - members of the club will be the investors in the bonds issued and secured on the real estate taken over by the incorporation. This bond issue, the redemption of which will be guaranteed by first mortgage on the properties, will be for $20,000. These will be in denominations of $100 each, bearing six per cent. interest after two years from June 1, 1914, and will be redeemable, at the option of the mortgagor, at any regular annual interest period on or after five years from the date of issue. They will be payable in fifteen years.
Each original bond purchaser becomes a charter life member of the club, entitled, without the payment of annual dues or other assessments, to the privileges and benefits offered. These, briefly, aside from the natural advantages of location, scenery, etc., are an assured congenial environment, known associations (not always a possibility in a public summer hotel), the absence of every possible unpleasant influence, opportunities for fishing, boating, tennis, golf and other outdoor sports, and first-class accommodations at a cost far below that charged at regular high-class summer hotels.
The proceeds of the bond issue are to be devoted to the erection of the first unit of the club's buildings, consisting of the club house proper, and probably six four-room cottages adjacent. Thus the value of the real estate securing the bonds will at once be enhanced virtually to the full extent of the investment made by the charter members.
With the initial buildings assured and in process of erection, the membership and patronage of the club will be augmented by extending the privileges of the organization to non-investors, who will be enrolled upon payment of a fixed membership charge. These associate members, like the charter members, will enjoy the privileges offered for themselves and their families and for such of their friends as they may desire to recommend, and for whom limited-period guest-cards are requested.
With a membership so broadly scattered as will be the membership of this club, community control of its affairs would be impracticable, if not impossible. It has been decided, therefore, to vest the supervisory control of the club in a self-perpetuating advisory board, composed of many of the most prominent citizens of Nevada and California.
The plan proposed is a feasible and practicable one, and one that ought to appeal to nature lovers who desire just such opportunities as it will afford on Lake Tahoe. The president of the company and the directing genius who has made Carnelian Bay possible is L.P. Delano, of Reno, Nevada, to whom all requests for further particulars regarding the Tahoe Country Club, or of Carnelian Bay should be addressed.