Welcome to Spooner Area
(Logging and Lumber Period: 1868-1895)
(elevation 7026')
Nevada State Historical Marker No. 225
Perhaps one of the least noticed and best hidden of all the Nevada State Historical Markers, this SHM stands just off Highway 28 at the entrance to the Spooner Lake and Backcountry Nevada State Park. You don't have to pay to park just to access the marker... you can turn around at the ranger station kiosk and you'll find a convenient paved pullout immediately on the right (north) side of the exit road, perfect for temporary parking so you can read the marker and access the cache.
Marker Text:
This area bears the name of Michele E. Spooner, a French Canadian entrepreneur, who, along with others, was instrumental in establishing the wood and lumber industry which supplied the needs of the Comstock mines and mills.
In 1868 Spooner became a partner with Oliver and John Lonkey, the Elliot Brothers, Henry M. Yerington, William Fairburn and Simon Dubois in the Summit Fluming Company and operated a shingle mill and sawmill. In 1870 Yerington, Bliss & Company took over the Summit Fluming Company.
In 1873 another sawmill was erected at Spooner Meadows. Later in 1873, all the mills were taken over by the Carson & Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company. This company, headquartered at Glenbrook, went on to become the largest of the three huge combines supplying wood and lumber to the Comstock.
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Nestled in the Lake Tahoe Basin, the Spooner Backcountry is a widespread recreational and natural oasis, with a lake surrounded by aspens and more than 12,000 acres of forested, open space. The park features 50 miles of hiking, equestrian and mountain biking trails and primitive roads. A few of the more popular trails are the Marlette, Red House, Flume and Tahoe Rim Trails. Camping and cabins are also available. The Spooner Lake Cabin sleeps four people comfortably and Wildcat Cabin sleeps two. Both cabins have basic amenities such as composting toilets, beds, cook stoves and wood burning stoves.
The backcountry is more than a recreational playground and an ecological resource. It is also the site of the historic Virginia Gold Hill Water System and an enormous amount of Comstock logging done by the Sierra Nevada Wood and Lumber Company and the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company. Logging operations were conducted from the 1870s through the turn of the century and supplied the Comstock with the lumber and cordwood necessary for the gold and silver mines of Virginia City, Silver City and Gold Hill. Initially developed in 1873, an ingenious water system furnished the water required by extensive steam engine operations of the mines and the nearly 30,000 people of the boom towns. The system was comprised of Marlette Lake, Hobart Reservoir and an intricate system of wooden box flumes and pipelines. The Marlette Flume and another flume from the north entered a 3,994 foot tunnel that emptied onto the east side of the Carson Range and joined the Inverted Siphon, the key pipeline through Washoe Valley. This 813 psi pipeline was the highest pressure pipeline in the world at the time and represented an engineering feat that most thought could not be done. At its peak, the water system delivered up to 10 million gallons a day to the Comstock. This system, now known as the Marlette Water System is one of the original inverted siphons and is still in use today.