A GUIDE TO THE RECORDS OF THE
Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company
Collection no. NC72
(1873-1947)
The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company was organized in 1873 with Duane L. Bliss as president and general manger and H.M. Yerington, D.O. Mills and J.A. Rigby as stockholders. It was probably the largest and most extensive lumber operation serving the mines of the Comstock. At its peak of operation, holdings included 50,000 acres of timber at Lake Tahoe and Lake Valley, three mills at Glenbrook, two steamers two logging railroads, logging camps, and a narrow gauge railroad. It operated several flumes to transport lumber down the mountain to the railroad depots and also maintained a box factory in Carson City.
In the early years, the center of activity was located around Glenbrook, Spooner Summit, and on Clear Creek Canyon, site of the original flume of the Summit Flume Company which was absorbed by the Carson and Tahoe lumber and Fluming Company. The company eventually acquired the property of the Hobart Estate, the Nevada Lumber Co. and the Sierra Nevada Wood and Flume Company as it gradually accumulated timber lands around the Lake Tahoe region. Its major land holdings were located in El Dorado and Placer Counties, California, and in Douglas, Ormsby, and Washoe Counties, Nevada.
The primary function of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company was cutting timber until logging operations ceased around 1896. This was due to the depletion of timber on its land and to the decline of mining on the Comstock. Following this, the company’s main business was leasing and liquidating its property. It also operated a store and a campground at Zephyr Cove in the 1930s. Eventually, the company’s land holdings were sold to private individuals including a large portion in Douglas County to George Whittell in 1938. Land in El Dorado County was deeded to the El Dorado Wood and Flume Company in 1904 and was part of the Bliss family property in that county that was included in a California State Park on the south west shore of Lake Tahoe.
D.L. Bliss died in 1906 and H.M. Yerington died in 1910. They were succeeded by their sons, W.S. Bliss and E.B. Yerington, who remained with the company until the late 1920s. The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company was dissolved in 1947.
Scope and Content
The Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company records are contained in 25 archival boxes and about 30 bound volumes. They consist, mainly, of original hand written materials dealing with the company’s timber operations and land transactions from 1864 to 1946. Included are correspondence, company papers, legal documents, land patents, deeds, property tax statements, land descriptions, financial account ledgers, vouchers, receipts, payrolls, lumber statistics, and accounts and maps. A large portion of the material was destroyed in the San Francisco fire of 1906 which may account for several gaps in the records. (There are no vouchers or receipts between 1892 and 1902.)
Note: One folder of invoices and receipts was purchased at a Butterfield auction in Oct. 1994.
Severely damaged documents have been photocopied and placed in envelopes for preservation. Records of the Summit Flume Company have been integrated into this collection. Two bound volumes of lumber accounts and a number of letters in a letterpress book originate from the Carson Lumber Co., Carson City, Nevada. It is presumed that this company, possibly a subsidiary of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company, was a large lumber yard also referred to as the Carson Dump, a mile south of Carson City.
Note: William W. Bliss donated to Special Collections 11 cubic feet of materials (dating from 1869-1941) in 1996. Now known as the William W. Bliss papers (collection 96-53), these materials fill in some of the gaps in the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company Collection and supplement the historical record of real estate and tourism development at Lake Tahoe, especially at Tahoe City and Glenbrook. See separate guide for collection, 96-53.
This collection is divided into the following series:
Series 1: Correspondence
Series 2: Company Papers
Series 3: Legal Documents
Series 4: Real Estate
Series 5: Land patents, Claims, Deeds
Series 6: Payrolls
Series 7: Financial Statements
Series 8: Account Volumes
Series 9: Lumber
Series 10: Maps
Series 11: Telegrams and Notes
Box 1-2 Series 1 NC72/1 Correspondence
Included in this series are two letterpress books 1875-1876, 1900- 1907 and loose correspondence arranged chronologically in folders, 1875-1941. The material is predominately original hand written and typed.
Box 1 Letterpress books and loose correspondence 1875-1926
(includes letters from Carson Lumber Co. 1875-1876)
Box 2 Loose Correspondence 1927-1941
Box 3 Series 2 NC72/2 Company Papers
Grouped in this series are a variety and small sampling of papers pertaining to the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company in its later years. Included are resolutions, notices to stockholders, minutes of meetings, by-laws and franchise reports. Subject files such as water applications, Nevada Industrial Commission reports, and printed materials are also included. Most of the material dates from 1911 to 1946 and is either printed or copied. 7 folders.
Box 3 Series 3 NC72/3 Legal Documents
This series contains a variety of legal documents from 1864 to 1936. Included are court cases, 1885 to 1930; agreements, 1874- 1935; leases; mortgages; certificates of purchase; abstracts of title; powers of attorney; rights of way and bills of sale. Deeds, patents, and claims are not included. Because of their volume, they are described in a separate series. Of special interest is a title of possession dating from the territorial period, April 27, 1864. The material includes original and copied documents, which are arranged chronologically within subject categories. 21 folders.
Box 3 Series 4 NC72/4 Real Estate
Included in this series are land descriptions and assessment lists of taxable property owned by the Carson and Tahoe lumber and Fluming Company in El Dorado and Placer Counties, California and in Douglas, Ormsby, and Washoe Counties, Nevada. The material is arranged chronologically within county grouping and covers the period between 1906 and 1943. Tax receipts are not included and can be found with financial statements. Also in this series are a variety of unofficial land lists and descriptions from the same time period. Most of the material is typewritten or copied, although there are some original hand written documents. 14 folders.
Box 4 Series 5 NC72/5 Land Patents, Claims, and Deeds
This series contains homestead certificates (copies), land patents and grants, deeds and claims from 1864 to 1940. Most of the material involves land transactions but there are also deeds for mining claims and water rights. Included are U.S., California, and Nevada land patents, 1864-1910 and deeds recorded in California and Nevada, 1869-1940. A major portion of the material includes original, handwritten documents, some of which suffered damage in the San Francisco fire of 1906 and are in Fragile Condition. These have been copied and retained in envelopes. Material is arranged chronologically within categories. Several map reproductions are included with highway deeds.
Box 5-6 Series 6 NC72/6 Payrolls
This series consists of original, hand written monthly payrolls of the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company’s various operations including Summit flume, Tom Oliver’s flume, Lake Valley flume, Lake Valley railroad, Lake Tahoe narrow gauge railroad, railroad shop, steamer “Meteor”, mills number 1 and 2, box factory, electric light company, wagon road, and R.H. Saxton’s lumber camp. Of special interest are the separate Chinese payrolls at Lakeview, 1883. Payrolls are arranged chronologically.
Box 5 Contains payrolls from 1876 through 1888
Box 6 Contains payrolls from 1889 through 1891
Box 7-22 Series 7 NC72/7 Financial statements
Included in this series are financial accounts and statements from the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company from 1875 to 1936. Material is missing from all periods, but there is a complete absence of vouchers and receipts from 1893 to 1901. Most of the material is original and handwritten.
Financial statements from the years 1875 to 1892 include vouchers, bills and receipts for supplies and services and a few tax statements. These are arranged in folders, numerically by voucher number, with bills and receipts attached and chronologically, when no voucher number is evident. Voucher numbers can be cross-referenced in the cash books in series 8. Lumber accounts and payrolls form separate series because of their volume.
Materials from the years 1902 to 1936 are arranged chronologically. Included are vouchers, bills and receipts for supplies and services, tax receipts, balance sheets, bank statements, and company accounts. A small collection of miscellaneous financial material is included in the series, along with a box of cancelled checks retained for their historical value. Duane L. Bliss personal vouchers are boxed separately.
Box 7 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1875-1877
Folder from Butterfield Auction, 1875-1905
Box 8 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1878- 1879
Box 9 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1880-1887
Box 10 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1888
Box 11 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1889
Box 12 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1890
Box 13 Vouchers, bills and receipts 1891-1892
Box 14 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements 1902-1923
Folder from Butterfield auction, 1883-1904; bulk 1901- 1904
Box 15 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements 1924- June, 1930.
Box 16 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements July, 1930- 1931
Box 17 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements 1932- July, 1933
Box 18 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements Aug. 1933- Dec. 1934
Box 19 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements 1935 – June, 1936
Box 20 Vouchers, bills and receipts, financial statements July- Dec. 1936, 1937-1938; monthly reports of income and expenditures 1935- 1937; receipts for redemption of lands, Placer and El Dorado counties, California, 1889- 1917; depreciation schedules, 1932- 1937; promissory notes, 1875-1877, 1922- 1938; campgrounds and building accounts (Zephyr Cove), 1930- 1937; bank book, 1879- 1880; bank deposit tags, 1882-1907
Box 21 D.L. Bliss personal vouchers 1876- July, 1901
Box 22 Cancelled checks, 1876- 1906
Series 8 NC72/8 Account Volumes
This series includes 28 bound volumes describing company accounts and finances. They are arranged on the shelf and numbered in the following order:
1. Cash Book- 1870- 1872
2. Cash Book- July 1874- 1878 (also contains lumber and wood statements April, 1875- Jan. 1877)
3. Cash Book- August, 1874- March, 1877
4. Cash Book- April, 1877- May, 1882
5. Cash Book- June, 1882- Jan., 1889
6. Cash Book- Feb., 1889- Aug., 1893
7. Cash Book- Sept., 1893- July, 1895
8. Cash Book- Aug., 1895- July, 1920
9. Balance Sheet book- May, 1886- June, 1898, loose pages, 1898-1901
10. Check book- 1900-1917
11. Journal- July, 1874- April, 1882
12. Journal- May, 1882- Dec., 1888
13. Journal- Jan., 1889- June, 1895
14. Journal- July, 1895- Nov., 1901, Dec., 1906
15. Journal (cash book)- June 1895- Oct., 1896
16. Journal (cash book)- July, 1896- 1898
17. Journal (cash book)- Feb., 1899- Nov., 1908
18. Ledger- 1868
19. Ledger- July, 1874- 1882
20. Ledger- 1882- 1889
21. Ledger & Index- 1889- 1895
22. Ledger & Index- 1895- 1914
23. Petty Ledger- 1885-1889
24. Petty Ledger- Jan., 1890- 1893
25. Day book- Nov., 1882- Dec., 1885
26. Day book- June, 1889- Aug., 1890
27. Day book- May, 1900- Aug., 1901
28. Day book- June, 1925- June, 1930
Box 23-24 Series 9 NC72/9 Lumber Accounts
The material in the series contains the lumbering activities if the Carson and Tahoe Lumber and Fluming Company 1873-1901. Included are bound volumes of lumber orders, monthly lumber shipment ledgers and small notebooks recording logs scaled and hauled at various lumber camps, also, loose pages of lumber and wood statements and box factory orders and correspondence. Also included are two volumes of accounts of lumber received 1871-1872, from the Carson Lumber Company. The material is original and handwritten.
Box 23 Individual monthly, labor shipment ledgers (complete) 1888, 1889, 1890
1 lumber shipment ledger, June, 1890- January, 1891
Box 24 Mill statements, lumber shipped, 1873-1879; statements of lumber shipped 1882-1891; statements of lumber received 1875-1879; wood and log statements, 1878-1891; lumber shipped and received at the Carson Dump, 1866-1901 (ledger); box factory ledger, 1883; box factory orders and correspondence, 1883-1888; 75 small notebooks, logs hauled, banked, and scaled, 1866-1890; two large notebooks of logs scaled, 1886-1888
On shelf Large volume of lumber orders, Jan. 1877- Sept. 1878. The volume was severely damaged. It has been separated and divided into six wrapped packages.
1. Carson Lumber Co. bound volume-- Account of lumber received, Oct. 1871- July, 1872
2. Carson Lumber Co. bound volume --Account of lumber received, Aug., 1872- Sept., 1872
Series 10 NC72/10 Maps
Included are original, hand drawn and printed maps, 1860s-1930s showing the company’s land in Douglas and Ormsby counties, Nevada and Placer and El Dorado counties, California. Ten maps in one folder in map drawer.
Box 25 Series 11 NC72/11 Telegrams and Notes
This series is composed of telegrams and hand written notes presumably for telegraph purposes. The messages are mainly lumber orders and personal. A telegraph office was established in Glenbrook in 1866 and in 1870, Western Union constructed a line through Spooner Summit Camp. This may account for the volume of telegrams and notes, although material was removed from the Virginia and Truckee Railroad by its cataloger.