Rare hand drawn Master Township Plat (MTP) atlas for the portion of Placer County which includes Lake Tahoe.
This remarkable group of maps is entirely hand drawn with ink and hand colored, showing rivers, lakes, prominent features, camps, mining towns, timber camps, other communities, such as "Murderer's Bar," etc.
The maps frequently include the names of multiple landowners, especially adjacent to Lake Tahoe. Most of the land shown on the maps remains unsurveyed. It appears the data gathering stopped about 1868-1870.
In addition to pencil annotations showing early owners, the arrival of the Central Pacific Railroad is in evidence, with references to CPRR land on several map sheets.
Lake Tahoe
Of particular interest for Lake Tahoe collectors and historians are the townships along the shore, and nearby Tahoe.
MTP (16N 16E) contains Squaw Valley, along with the town plats for Claraville and Knoxville along the Truckee River above and below the junction of Square Creek. These two communities are not listed in the big California Place Names book. Other communities shown include Wisconsin Hill, Damascus, Indian Springs, and Independence Hill.
Several sawmills are shown nearly the Georgetown Trail, northwest of Suga Pine Point on Lake Tahoe.
Tahoe City and Saxton's Mill are shown on MTP (15N 17E).
The lands of the Carson & Tahoe, Lumber & Fluming Co. are shown on MTP (16N 17E).
Other Highlights
Georgetown Trail: Currently called the Foothill Road, the road was originally named Georgetown Trail and the Dagget Pass Trail and Pass, named after Charles Dagget who acquired the land at the base of the road in 1854. In 1859-1860, David Kingsbury and John McDonald received a franchise from the Utah Territory to operate the toll road. The men spent about $70,000 to construct a wagon road to meet the demand for a more direct route from California to the Washoe mines and to shorten the distance between Sacramento and Virginia City by 10 miles. The new 16-foot wide road, supported in some places by granite retaining walls on both sides, made the passage easier for travelers on this main route from California. Merchants and teamsters frequently traveled this road moving goods and people in and out of Nevada. In 1863, some of the tolls were 50 cents for a man and horse and $2 for a horse and buggy. That year the estimated tolls collected were $75,000.”
Other towns shown include Elizabethtown, Michigan Bluff, Bath, Deadwood, Iowa, Hill, Monona Flat, Mt. Pleasant Mill, Sucker Flat, Yankee Jim's and Forest Hill.
Provenance
Per the auctioneer for this atlas, the original owners, the Nicolls Family, were a major banking firm that controlled the northern and eastern parts of Placer County. Most of these maps contained land under their purview, likely the reason they owned the complete book.
In 1860, brothers William and Philip Nicholls started Nicholls Bank. It was one of the longest running businesses in Dutch Flat. The building was torn down in the 1930’s. In 1883, when Congress passed the Anti-Debris Act, hydraulic mining virtually ceased, and the bank ended up owning many mining claims abandoned by their owners. The second generation of Nicholls, John (son of William) and William (son of Philip), ran the bank until closing in 1912. In order to do business with Chinese citizens of Dutch Flat, John Nicholls learned to speak Mandarin.
Since the data entry appears to stop about 1870, it may be surmised that the Placer County Courthouse in Auburn took over the data gathering after that point, as railroads were built (the great CPRR had just been completed), there were better roads, better communication (telegraph lines) and so forth.
Provenance: Holabird Auctions, 2023. Prior provenance described as th W & P Nichols Estate, Dutch Flat bankers from the1860s to past 1900.