Myron C. Lake

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Myron C. Lake

Myron Charles Lake (Feb. 1828-June 20, 1884), merchant/entrepreneur, was the hot-tempered, tight-fisted founder of Reno, Nevada. Between 1862 and 1873, Lake lorded over the town through his vast real estate holdings and monopolistic control of a vitally important toll bridge and road. He quickly assumed the posture of a stereotypical “avaricious” robber baron, and in an unhappy marriage, often resorted to domestic violence. But he also wielded a keen business acumen and in so doing, ensured that the Central Pacific Railroad during the building of the great transcontinental project would run through Reno, thereby securing the future growth and prosperity of western Nevada.[1]


Early life

Very little is known about Lake’s early years and much of what is known remains unclear. He was born in Union County, New York state, the oldest of 7 children (5 boys, 2 girls) born to Catherine Van Tassell (1803-1874) of New York state and John Lake (Aug. 24, 1799-Jan. 15, 1877), of Maine. About 1839, the family moved to Paw Paw, DeKalb County, Illinois, about 70 miles west of Chicago.[2] Lake saw service during the Mexican-American War (1846-48) as an infantry private in Illinois’ volunteer Company D, First Regiment. Following the war, he returned home to establish a farm of 320 acres, comprised of a 160-acre government land grant and his personal acquistion of the rest.[3]

By 1852, he had moved on to Rabbit Creek, Calif. near Sacramento to try his hand at mining;[4] five years later, he moved intrastate to Honey Lake Valley, where he built a modest ranch. Evidence indicates that, in October 1857, Lake played prominently in the vigilante apprehension and near lynching of the notorious Lowery Gang.[5] It was here that he met Charles W. Fuller from whom Lake would, in June 1861 acquire Fuller's Crossing, a small station, road, and flimsy log bridge over the Truckee River at today's Virginia Street in exchange for Lake's meager California ranch.[6]

Lake’s Crossing

Even though Fuller failed to make a go of it, Lake could see only flashing dollar signs. He was intent on transforming the little crossing into a great commercial venture.[7] But before Lake had any real time to make significant improvements, all bridges across the Truckee River were swept away by the torrential flooding of early spring 1862. Upon rebuilding, Lake's first action was to guarantee that only he would control traffic over the new Lake's Crossing. He petitioned and won from Nevada's Territorial legislature a ten-year exclusive franchise to operate his toll bridge and road at that location. Now, no one else within a mile could replicate Lake's setup.[8]

Despite his monopoly, it took Lake nearly six years until fortune dawned in the form of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR). In the meantime, Lake's bridge withstood yet another flood in 1867 and defiantly undaunted, he invested his toll incomes to spawn important improvements: the purchase of substantial acreage (on both sides of the Truckee) destined to become Reno; a grist mill; and several additions to Fuller's once ramshackle inn.[9]

Most likely, it was Lake who first contacted CPRR construction superintendent Charles Crocker with an offer to sell him land for a town site and the railroad's right-of-way if it would construct a depot at his crossing. Both parties found the prospect instantly appealing. The public first heard of the deal in late February 1868 and one month later it was finalized: the railroad would get 160 acres straddling the river for $200. Driving a hard bargain, Lake also insisted it include the eventual return to him of half the land north and all the land south of the Truckee. It fell to Crocker to rename the settlement Reno to honor U.S. Army General Jesse Lee Reno, a Union hero of the Civil War.[10]

Dark Side

Legacy

Notes

  1. ↑ Townley, p. 146-47; Rocha, p. 28; Cafferata, pp. 25-32.
  2. ↑ John Lake was a Baptist farmer, buried next to his son in Reno's Mountain View Cemetery. In 1873, John and Catherine relocated to Reno; they moved in with Myron and Jane at their Junction House ranch (now, corner of S. Virginia Street and Peckham Lane). Townley, pp. 148, 166. For 1839 as the Illinois relocation year: J. Lake obituary, REG, Jan. 16, 1877, p. 2. Catherine Lake remained in Reno only six months before returning to Illinois because she "could not accommodate herself to the country, its people and customs." She died on Jan. 29. RC, Feb. 5, 1874, p. 2.
  3. ↑ Illinois State Archives, Springfield, Ill., Illinois Mexican War Veterans Database, accessed Nov. 30, 2008; Cafferata, p. 28.
  4. ↑ Lake's obituary in the NSJ (June 21, 1884, p. 3) gives the year as 1851.
  5. ↑ As such, Lake may well have been participating in the state's unorganized group of vigilance committees. Zanjani, p. 99; Townley, p. 53.
  6. ↑ Fuller is said to have also thrown in $1500. His idea, ahead of Lake, was to serve miners trudging to and from the Comstock. Fuller's station made for a considerably shorter and easier crossing than the existing Stone & Gates bridge, about four miles east of his (now, the village of Glendale). But at least two bridge washouts, a bankruptcy, and competition from existing fords convinced Fuller that it was time to try something else. Cafferata, p. 29; Townley, pp. 52-53, 57, 63.
  7. ↑ It seems safe to assume that both Fuller and Lake had prior knowledge of the coming of the railroad through the Truckee Meadows (Rocha, p. 28), but that Fuller, being flat broke and roundly discouraged had been blinded to the possibility of success that Lake foresaw and had the financial wherewithal to exploit.
  8. ↑ Townley, pp. 53-54.
  9. ↑ A Dec. 1868 fire levelled this structure. The new hotel, 'Lake House' was ready for business in March 1869. Townley, pp. 54, 148.
  10. ↑ Townley, p. 54, 67; Rocha, p. 28; Cafferata, pp. 31-32. One story still popular is that Crocker pulled "Reno" out of a hat filled with the names of fallen Union generals. Stephen Ambrose (Nothing Like It in the World, p. 304) repeats it as if indisputable. A renaming was needed, it is believed, because 'Lake's Crossing' was too lengthy to fit on the CPRR's preprinted timetables. Reno's official birthday: May 9, 1868, the day on which the railroad auctioned off 400 northside lots for as much as $1000 each. Townley, pp. 67, 70.

References

There is no single biography and even now much information remains to be collected, especially with regard to Lake's pre-Nevada life. He left no diaries or journals. And amazingly, absolutely no information exists on Lake's first marriage, which most likely occurred during the decade he spent in California. A collection of Myron C. Lake Papers can be found at the Nevada Historical Society in Reno.

  • Cafferata, Patricia D. Lake Mansion: Home to Reno's Founding Families (Reno: Eastern Slope Publisher, 2006).
  • Newspapers: Nevada State Journal (NSJ); Reno Crescent (RC); Reno Evening Gazette (REG).
  • Rocha, Guy Louis. “Reno’s First Robber Baron,” Nevada Magazine 40,2(March-April, 1980), pp. 28-29, 62.
  • Rowley, William D. Reno: Hub of the Washoe Country (Woodland Hills, Calif.: Windsor Publications, 1984).
  • Townley, John M. Tough Little Town on the Truckee: Reno, 1868-1900 (Reno: Great Basin Studies Center, 1983).
  • Zanjani, Sally. Devils Will Reign: How Nevada Began (Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press, 2006).
  • Zimmer, Ethel. "In a Housewife's Life--a City's History," NSJ (Sept. 7, 1958), p. 8; "Myron Lake Made a Trade and Founded a City," NSJ (Nov. 2, 1958), p. 52.
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