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   Number 5 waits at Truckee in this undated photo. It appears to be from ca.1907. Narrow Gauge on the Net Collection Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation Co. The history of the L.T.Ry.& T.Co. started in 1898 when the company was formed by Duane L. Bliss. But the story actually began in the shadow of Sun Peak, overlooking the Comstock Lode. D.L. Bliss had come to California in the Rush of 1849. He worked a claim near Marysville and was able to gain enough money to open a business in Trinity, California. In 1860, Bliss moved to Gold Hill, Nevada and managed a small mill. He partnered with W. H. Baker and Almarin Paul to form a bank with an office in Gold Hill. This town adjoined the southern limits of Virginia City. He became acquainted with William Sharon, who was manager of the Virginia City branch of the mighty Bank of California. The bank at this time, had its money in every aspect of the Comstock Lode. It owned many of the mines through its ownership of the Union Mill and Mining Co. It owned the water, Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Company. It owned the transportation, in the form of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad. What the mines needed desperately was timber. The Comstock used a method of timbering devised by Philipp Diedesheimer, a German engineer directing work at the Ophir Mine, which was needed because of the huge ore chambers encountered in the Lode. Square set timbering, as it was known, used large timbers on an unprecedented scale. Bliss began buying timberlands at Lake Tahoe in anticipation of exploiting this need. Meanwhile the small bank Bliss owned was taken over in 1865 by the mighty and feared, Bank of California. He was made cashier of this bank by Sharon. A "cashier" of a bank in the 1800's was not a mere employee. He was an active manager, running the bank and investing money for the bank and others. Mr. Bliss was known as an honest and dependable man, not something that had been an attribute of the Bank of California and its overseers. It was known as the "Bank Ring" or "Ralston's Ring," referring to the notorious cashier William Ralston at the Bank of California's San Francisco headquarters. Nevertheless, Bliss, in another partnership, this time with the well-connected Henry Yerington, had taken over approximately fifty thousand acres of forest in the Tahoe area to join in the speculation surrounding the mining boom. He told the owners of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad that he could ship three million feet of lumber per month to the mines in Virginia City. He obtained right of way and financial credit for building a railroad that would connect sawmills at Glenbrook with a flume at Spooner Summit. The flume would then dispatch the lumber down to the Carson Valley and be loaded on the standard gauge cars of the V. & T. Yerington, Sharon and Ralston were all tied together in the web of businesses that worked the Comstock Lode. These gentlemen were in control of the mining, milling and transportation of the bulk of Virginia City's ore. Bliss experienced a personal financial setback and the plan seemed to be in disarray. Due to his good reputation, Bliss was assisted out of this quagmire by none other than the president of the Bank of California, Darius Ogden Mills, a leading financier of the Pacific Coast. Mills was the titular head of the bank. The financial dealing and market schemes were left to the others. Nevertheless, all of these men were connected to various facets of the Comstock Lode. It would soon become difficult to ferret out where one ended and another began. With the new partners the Carson-Tahoe Lumber & Fluming Co. was begun in 1871. The railroad, called simply, the Lake Tahoe Railroad, was 8.75 miles long with a long switchback to gain elevation. It featured numerous trestles and a short tunnel before reaching the summit. There were three sawmills operating at Glenbrook. The small railroad served its purpose and became an integral link in the fortunes of the Comstock mines. There are photographs of vast stockpiles of timber awaiting delivery to the mines. The slopes of the eastern shore and mountains of Lake Tahoe were being denuded of trees. It was said that if there was a tree left standing it was obviously a mistake. The voracious appetite for timber would only slow and finally end when the mines began to enter their final decline. In the late 1880's D. L. Bliss saw that there would be coming a change, sooner, if not later. He began plans that would eventually result in the Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation Co. The railway was to tap the growing need for transporting tourists to the spectacular "Lake in the Sky." In 1898, Bliss formed the company with members of his family owning all of the stock. Two years earlier, Bliss had commissioned a steamer to navigate the lake. The "Tahoe" was built in San Francisco at the Union Iron Works. The steamer was sent up to the lake in sections, to be assembled at Glenbrook. As the logging railroad shops were at this site on the Nevada side of the lake, this was the logical place to build and launch the vessel. She was launched in 1898 fitted out as an ocean-going ship. This was the result of navigating a lake that had ports in multiple states, California and Nevada. The third project to fill out the new vision for Bliss' Lake Tahoe endeavors would be a luxury destination resort. The Tahoe Tavern was born. Everything was being set in place to reap the benefits of this new "bonanza." Tourists. William S. Bliss, a son, surveyed the route along the Truckee River for the family enterprise. To keep curvature at a minmum, William Bliss used many bridges. In one relatively short section near Old Road Station, the railway crossed the river five times. The Truckee River, once clogged with logs from an unconnected operation, would be relieved by rail transportation of timber. The traveler would be carried in dark red cars to an astonishing view of the lake at the end of the run. The train would actually go onto the pier to meet the passenger ships making the circuit of the lake. Another son, architect Walter Bliss, designed the two-story office and depot at Tavern Pier. The Tahoe City depot was at the Tahoe Mercantile, a Bliss owned business. These structures were all built in a rustic fashion to emphasize the beauty of the area. The workers were housed in yet another company operation, a boarding house. The house was overseen by a man named Toy Yat, of Chinese descent. Inevitably, the place became known to the local wags as the Toy Yacht Club. A miniature boat was placed before the entrance to make it "official." The maintenance facilities had to be brought across the lake from Glenbrook. Since the logging operations were essentially shut down, the entire plant was moved. The shops were very complete. They were not only in place to service the railway, but also to perform the maintenance needed for the steam vessels that plied the lake for the company. Ways were installed and by means of a block and tackle arrangement, locomotives pulled the heavy water-craft up so work could be performed. A track installed at a right angle to the way allowed this to be done. Pulled clear of the water, propellers could be repaired and hulls could be maintained. This was an extensive facility for such a small operation.  
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